Social media and messaging services such as WhatsApp are changing the way we communicate and as a sales professional you must respond to this. WhatsApp, for example, has experienced explosive growth. The messaging service is used by no fewer than 1,2 billion people worldwide and in the Netherlands 9,8 million people use the app on a daily basis. There is even brand dilution, because nowadays we 'app' instead of 'texting' or 'sending a message'. Using WhatsApp is therefore an opportunity that you, as a sales professional, cannot simply ignore. There are already various ways for companies to use WhatsApp for business purposes, for example as a channel for customer service. Soon it will even be possible to receive your booking confirmation and boarding pass from KLM via an app. In this blog article we focus on the business use of WhatsApp for the sales professional and explain how WhatsApp can be used within the marketing and communication mix.

Whatsapp Web

WhatsApp was originally a messaging service intended exclusively for your smartphone. However, since the autumn of 2015, WhatsApp has also launched an official web version called WhatsApp Web, with which you can chat from the web browser of your computer or laptop. All conversations are shown on both WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp itself, so you can switch seamlessly from one device to the other. For business use Web WhatsApp more speed in communication, because you don't have to constantly use your phone and you can use it again for what a phone is intended for: making calls.

Below we explain how WhatsApp fits into the communication mix of the sales professional:

Customer communication

WhatsApp offers three options for chatting: via individual chat, group chat and mailing lists. The individual chat offers the ideal way to communicate with your customers in an accessible, direct way. First of all, the customer can contact you directly and quickly for all his or her questions, provided that clear agreements have been made about accessibility so that expectations are managed.

Secondly, WhatsApp offers a solution as a follow-up channel. No customer likes to receive a call from an unknown number. A WhatsApp message, on the other hand, is personal and to-the-point and can significantly increase your response rate. The personal aspect of WhatsApp also makes communication more informal. You can keep calling, but a short and concise text about that one important quote is more likely to elicit a response.

Finally, as mentioned above, there are the WhatsApp sending lists. With a mailing list you can send a message to everyone in the list without the recipients knowing who the message was sent to. An ideal way to keep certain customer groups informed about the most important updates about your product or the company in general. Consider, for example, temporary promotions or sending a 'look book' of the new collection, as it is quite easy to send images and even PDF files via WhatsApp.

Creating a mailing list is done as follows:

1. Go to the tab Cat.
2. Tap the button Mailing lists and create a new list.
3. Select the recipients and tap

Internal communications

Many companies already use WhatsApp as an internal communication channel, especially through the use of WhatsApp group chats. A group chat for general announcements offers a solution for short updates such as sick reports. A group chat can also be used effectively for your sales team, provided that agreements are made about what will and will not be discussed within the chat. This allows quick updates to be provided within the sales team on leads, the sales process, negotiations and follow-up strategies, giving the sales manager an additional overview for monitoring results.

Would you also like to get started with using WhatsApp for business? Then take a look first dit article about the legal bottlenecks of the messaging service.