Two-way texting

Two-way texting means the customer can reply, and the reply comes back to the business as a conversation you can continue. It is not a one-way blast, and it is not an email with shorter sentences. The thread is the record of what you asked and what they said, attached to the person, not trapped in one employee's pocket.

Customers already prefer this for small questions: "Thursday still work?", "gate code is 1234", "we are ten minutes out." Those messages should not create a new lead every time. They belong on the existing customer. A new inquiry that starts as a text is a lead. Telling them apart is the CRM's job. One inbox for both, with the customer attached, beats a personal phone that holds the only copy.

Two-way texting starts when a person, or a rule you approved, sends or answers. Missed-call text back is the automatic first text after a call you did not answer. After the customer replies, you are in a two-way conversation. Keep it in one place so the owner and anyone else who might call them sees the same thread. A side text from a tech's own number splits the truth.

Registration matters. Carriers filter business texting that has not been registered. A2P 10DLC is that registration in the United States. A thread that never arrives is not a conversation. Set the number up properly before you promise customers you will text them.

Write like a person from that company. Short, named, one question. Do not drop a sales footer on a message about tomorrow's arrival. Puffly's texting sits with the lead and the customer so the reply is visible to the shop, not only to the phone that sent it. The free CRM holds the record. Texting itself follows the phone setup you turn on.

If a conversation includes a decision — they want the job, they want to wait — put that on the deal and set the next task. The thread is evidence. The task is the plan.