Business texting: two-way SMS for sales teams

Texting is the channel most sales teams use badly. Some never text leads at all and lose them to the competitor who did. Others text from personal phones at 10 p.m., forget who opted out, and send the same “just checking in!” five times.

This guide covers how to use two-way SMS well on a small sales team: when to text instead of calling or emailing, the consent basics, reply etiquette, ready-to-use templates, quiet hours, and what US 10DLC registration means for you. Where it touches the law: this is general information, not legal advice.

Why texting matters for sales

Almost everyone you sell to carries a phone that can text. In a 2026 Pew Research Center survey of 5,511 US adults, 98% said they own a cellphone of some kind and 91% own a smartphone (Pew Research Center).

That doesn’t mean texting beats every other channel. It means texting is available for almost every lead, and it fits the moments when someone can’t take a call: on a job site, in a meeting, at their kid’s game. A short text they can answer in five seconds often gets a reply when a voicemail doesn’t.

When to text, call or email

Use each channel for what it does best.

Situation	Best channel	Why
New inbound lead	Call first, then text if no answer	A live conversation qualifies fastest; the text gives them an easy way to reply
Confirming or rescheduling an appointment	Text	Short, time-sensitive, easy to answer
Sending a quote or proposal	Email (with a text heads-up)	Detail and attachments belong in email
Quick question (“Is Thursday at 2 still good?”)	Text	One question, one answer
Negotiating price or handling an objection	Call	Tone matters; texts get misread
Follow-up after no response	Alternate text and email	Different channels catch people in different moments
Bad news (delay, price change)	Call, then confirm in writing	Respectful, and you keep a record

For a deeper look at the first contact with a new lead, see texting vs calling new leads.

Consent basics

Consent rules depend on what you’re sending. The CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices (May 2023), the wireless industry’s voluntary guidelines, group business texts into three types (CTIA):

Message type	Example	Consent CTIA expects
Conversational	A lead texts you first and you reply with an answer	Implied: the consumer started it, so no extra permission is expected
Informational	Appointment reminders, quote-ready alerts, welcome texts	Express consent: they agreed to texts for that purpose, for example on a form or verbally
Promotional	Seasonal offers, discounts, “book your spring cleanup”	Express written consent, such as a signed form or an online checkbox

CTIA also notes that adding a call-to-action, like a coupon code, to an informational text “may place the message in the promotional category.” So a reminder that also pushes an upsell may need the stricter consent.

On the legal side, FCC rules define prior express written consent for telemarketing as a written agreement, signed (electronic signatures can count), that clearly authorizes the business to send advertisements, and the person can’t be required to agree as a condition of purchase (47 CFR § 64.1200). The SMS consent management guide covers what evidence to keep, and TCPA-friendly texting covers the rest of the basics.

Honor opt-outs everywhere

People must be able to stop your texts easily. Under the FCC’s 2024 order on revoking consent, replying “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel” or “unsubscribe” counts as a per se reasonable way to revoke consent, and requests must be honored within a reasonable time not to exceed 10 business days (FCC). Other wording that clearly asks you to stop counts too.

Treat 10 business days as a legal ceiling, not a goal. The safe habit is to stop immediately, across every rep and every automation.

Texting etiquette for sales

Good business texts look like they came from a person, not a blast tool.

• Say who you are. “Hi Dana, it’s Marcus from Ridgeline Roofing.” First messages especially.
• One idea per text. If you need three paragraphs, send an email.
• End with a clear next step. A yes/no question or two time options.
• Reply in a reasonable time. A text conversation that goes quiet for two days feels abandoned.
• Match their tone, within reason. Short answers to short questions. Skip slang and emoji until they use them.
• Don’t send links you wouldn’t click. Use your own domain. CTIA’s guidelines recommend that any URL shortener be dedicated to the sender’s exclusive use.
• Never text anything sensitive. No full card numbers, passwords or medical details.
• Log it. If it isn’t on the customer record, the next person won’t know it happened.

Templates for common moments

Adapt these to your business. Keep the merge tags (shown in braces) and add one personal line when you can.

Moment	Template
Missed call from a lead	Hi {first_name}, it’s {rep_name} from {company}. Sorry I missed your call. Is now a good time to talk, or should I call you at a set time?
After a web form	Hi {first_name}, {rep_name} from {company} here. Got your request about {service}. Do you have 5 minutes today for a few quick questions?
Appointment confirmation	Hi {first_name}, you’re booked with {company} on {date} at {time} at {address}. Reply C to confirm or R to reschedule.
Day-before reminder	Reminder: {rep_name} from {company} will see you tomorrow at {time}. Anything we should know before then?
Quote sent	Hi {first_name}, I just emailed your quote for {service}. Happy to walk through it. Any questions so far?
Follow-up after no reply	Hi {first_name}, checking in on the {service} quote. Want me to hold the {date} start, or should I release it?
Closing the loop	Hi {first_name}, I’ll close out your file for now. If anything changes, just reply here and I’ll pick it up.

For more, see the sales follow-up templates post. The exact merge-tag syntax depends on your tool.

Quiet hours

FCC rules bar telephone solicitations to residential subscribers before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., measured in the called party’s local time (47 CFR § 64.1200). The FCC treats a text sent with an autodialer as a “call” under the TCPA (FCC). Some states set narrower windows or extra limits.

A simple policy keeps you out of most trouble:

• Send automated and promotional texts only during normal business hours in the recipient’s time zone.
• Let queued messages wait for the window instead of sending at 6 a.m.
• Replying to a customer who just texted you at 8:30 p.m. is a different situation from starting a campaign at that hour, but keep it short and professional.

10DLC registration in brief

If you send business texts in the US from a standard 10-digit number (a “10DLC”), carriers require you to register. Twilio’s documentation describes A2P 10DLC as “the standard that United States telecom carriers have put in place” and says anyone sending SMS or MMS over a 10DLC number from an application to the US must register (Twilio).

Registration has two parts: a brand (who you are) and a campaign (what you’ll send and how people opt in and out). Skipping it has consequences: Twilio’s error documentation says it blocks messages to US numbers sent from a 10DLC number that isn’t associated with an approved A2P 10DLC campaign (Twilio).

The 10DLC registration guide walks through the process and common rejection reasons.

How Exa helps

Exa’s unified inbox handles two-way SMS through Twilio, threaded per contact alongside email, WhatsApp and call history. Reps can use templates with merge tags and saved replies, start from an AI-suggested reply, and assign, snooze or close conversations so texts don’t sit unanswered. Quotes can be sent by SMS too.

Compliance is built into every send. Consent is stored per channel with its source and evidence, STOP, START and HELP replies update consent automatically, opted-out numbers are blocked server-side, and quiet hours are applied in the recipient’s time zone, so automations wait instead of texting at the wrong hour. See security and compliance for more.

Final thoughts

Texting is a sales tool when it’s short, timely, consented and logged. It becomes a liability when it’s sent from personal phones, outside quiet hours, or to people who already said stop.

If you’re setting this up for the first time: register your number, put a clear consent line on your forms, write five templates for your most common moments, and agree as a team on when you call instead. Then measure reply rates for a month and adjust.