What Business Owners Can Learn From The N.Korean Missile Launch…

What Business Owners Can Learn From The N.Korean Missile Launch…

When you need to get a message out quickly, what do you do? You send everyone a text message. Using Text Messages in a Crisis!

North Korea just launched a missile over the top of Japan.

It’s a scary scenario.

Saber rattling by a crazy leader is one thing… launching a missile over innocent people is an entirely different thing.

Luckily, according to reports, the missile broke into 3 parts and fell into the ocean. But this leads many people to play the “What-If” game.

• What if they hit Japan?
• Can they reach Guam?
• What if they put a Nuke on the Missile?
• How much farther can these missiles go?
• What will Japan do?
• What will the US do?
• Or the ultimate question… could this lead to war?

We’re on the verge of crisis… and we can only hope that cool head will prevail, and a diplomatic solution to this global game of chicken will be resolved without the loss of life.

I’m sure you can agree with me… this threat is scary.

But, at the end of the day, we must soldier on.

We need to keep moving forward in times like this. You can’t be paralyzed by the “What-If” scenarios and the thoughts of with “might” happen.

Believe it or not, we, as small business owners, can learn something from this crisis.

There’s a communication lesson right here…

What’s the best way to communicate with people?

Well, the Japanese government picked Text Messaging.

According to this report in the New York Times, citizens in the northern part of Japan received a text message at 6:02 am telling them North Korea had launched a missile.

Of course TV news also alerted people…

And local announcements were made in public locations like train stations.

When it comes down to it… if you want to reach a lot of people quickly… at a very specific time, text messaging is the best.

Many people don’t know this… but text messages have a 93% read rate.

That means 93% of text messages are read within a few minutes of being delivered. No wonder the Japanese government sent their warning by text.

Compare text read rates to email messages that might only be read by 15% or 20% of the people.

Crazy… Right?

Let’s focus on that 93% number for a moment.

How might your business change if you knew 93% of your prospects would see a particular offer or discount?

Do you think your sales might increase if you sent a special offer to your current customers… maybe up-selling them something special?

What about a focused message to your VIP customers, giving them something special with their next purchase.

Imagine the extra store traffic, inbound phone calls, or online orders you might see.

Here’s a simple real world example.

We have a client at Betwext who is using text messaging to communicate with a very focused group of prospects.

They wanted to keep these prospects engaged and waiting on the edge of their seat for their next messages. So they did something special.

They wrote an article just for these prospects.

It was highly focused, and on a topic these prospects wanted to read about.

Then they sent their prospects a text message.

This is what it said:

“I wanted to let you know about my latest trade idea. XXX-LINK-XXX Check this out… i’m going to buy some in the next few days. If you love it, text me back… if you hate the idea, let me know why. XXXXX at XXXXXXX. Reply STOP to cancel. Msg & data rates apply.”

I blocked out the name and the link to protect the sender.

But their message is simple.

They are providing a link and asking their prospects for feedback.

The responses were staggering.

Of the 251 people on their list… what percentage do you think clicked the link, or responded to the message?

Was it 10%…

Or 20%…

Or 30%…

Or 40%…

Or 50%…

Or 60%…

Would you believe me if I said, just a hair over 60% of the list clicked on the link?

The next time you see your IT guy, I want you to ask him how many people clicked a link in your last email. I bet it’s less than 2%… and probably under 1%.

Think about it for a moment….

How might your business radically change if you suddenly had access to 60% of your prospects with one single message.

What if 60% of your prospects responded to a specific offer, or special deal?

What if 60% of your prospects suddenly decided to start buying on the spot!? Could you handle the new business?

Can you see the POWER of text messages?!

Now, here’s another thing I want you to consider… If you’re not texting your customers and prospects, what happens when your competitors do?

Sending out text messages isn’t hard, or complicated, or expensive.

So you don’t have any excuse NOT to start texting today!