B2B SMS marketing works when the person you text already knows you and the message saves them time. It fails when it is used as a shortcut past a decision maker's inbox. This article answers how firms that sell to other businesses, such as agencies and consultancies, should use texting: which moments in a longer B2B sales cycle suit a text, how consent works for business contacts, and how to set it up on the levelpartner.ai platform without damaging relationships worth far more than one reply.
Why B2B texting is different
In consumer texting, one sale is small and lists are large. In B2B, deals are larger, cycles are longer and each contact matters more. Annoying one finance director can cost a six-figure account.
That shifts where texts belong. They are strongest in the middle and late stages of a deal: confirming meetings, sharing a short update between calls, nudging a stalled proposal, and keeping key contacts warm after the work is delivered. They are weakest at first contact.
The B2B moments that suit a text
Meeting logistics come first. A confirmation and a reminder for a discovery call or a pitch meeting cut no-shows, which in B2B often happen because a calendar invite was buried. Next, proposal follow up: a short text two days after a proposal goes out, asking whether there are questions, often gets a reply when the third email does not.
After a sale, texts carry project milestones and invitations to client events. For established relationships, a well-timed personal text from the account lead is welcome in a way a newsletter is not.
Consent for business contacts
The rules depend on where the contact is and what kind of number you hold. In the UK, texting a corporate subscriber is treated differently from texting an individual, but many business contacts use personal mobiles, and sole traders and partnerships are treated as individuals. In the US, consent rules apply to mobile numbers regardless of whether the person is acting for a business.
The safe practice is to ask. Add a consent checkbox to forms and booking pages, and record it on the contact. Take legal advice for your own lists.
Before you start
- Contacts linked to companies in Contacts, so you can see the whole account.
- A pipeline in Opportunities for the B2B sales process, with clear stages.
- Consent recorded for each contact you plan to text.
- Agreement on which stages of the deal allow texts and who sends them.
How to set up B2B texting
First decide where texts belong in the deal: usually a confirmation and a day-before reminder when a sales call is booked, and a short follow-up two working days after a proposal is sent, from the deal owner's own number. Add a consent question to your enquiry and booking forms. Each of those texts is then a workflow built with the same platform steps.
- Go to Automation > Workflows.
- Create a new workflow or open an existing one.
- Choose the trigger that should start the automation.
- Add the Send SMS action.
- Enter the message you want to send.
- Add personalisation or a template where appropriate.
- Add Wait steps, conditions or other actions when needed.
- Test the workflow and SMS content.
- Publish the workflow when it is ready to run.
Add a condition at the start of each workflow so it never texts contacts without consent, and test both with a colleague acting as the prospect.
Writing for decision makers
Short, specific, and signed by a person they have met. "Hi Claire, Ben here. Following up on the proposal we sent Tuesday. Happy to walk your finance team through the numbers if useful. Ben, Arden Consulting." No links unless necessary, no marketing language, no urgency.
Never text a senior contact at a business you have not spoken to. It reads as intrusive, and in many cases it breaks the rules.
Say the firm sends around 25 proposals a month and about 10 of them stall with no response. A single follow-up text two days after each proposal would reach the decision maker away from a crowded inbox. If it restarted even three of those 10 conversations, the sales lead would also learn earlier which deals are cooling. The inputs are hypothetical; count your own stalled proposals before you estimate.
What it replaces and the time involved
B2B texting replaces chasing emails that go unread and voicemails that go unreturned. It does not replace calls or meetings. Setup is about three hours. After that, the time cost is mostly replies, which in B2B are fewer but each worth more.
The mistake most people make
Using B2B text marketing as a broadcast channel. A firm texts its whole list of business contacts about a webinar, and twenty senior contacts quietly decide the firm does not understand them. In B2B, broadcast belongs to email. Texts belong to individual relationships. If you do want a wider send, the SMS marketing strategy guide covers when it can work.
When not to use SMS in B2B
Do not use it for cold prospecting. Do not use it for contract terms, pricing changes or anything procurement will want in writing. And do not text contacts at large organisations who have only ever dealt with you through a procurement portal or formal tender. For cold approaches generally, read what to consider before cold SMS.
Troubleshooting
Contacts reply asking how you got their number. You are texting people who did not give consent or do not remember doing so. Stop and review how the numbers were collected.
Follow ups go to the wrong person at the client. The opportunity is linked to the wrong contact. Make sure the decision maker is the primary contact on the deal.
Replies get lost between account managers. Assign each company to one owner and route texts from their number. See two-way SMS reply handling for routing.
Texts land outside office hours. A wait ends in the evening or the contact's time zone is wrong. Adjust the waits and check time zones for clients in other regions.
Frequently asked questions
Is SMS appropriate for B2B at all?
Yes, for contacts you already have a relationship with and for practical moments in a deal. It is the wrong tool for first contact or for broadcasting to a business list.
Do UK rules allow texting business contacts without consent?
The rules for corporate subscribers are looser than for individuals, but many business contacts use personal numbers and some business types count as individuals. Asking for consent avoids the question.
Should B2B texts come from a person or from the company?
From a person, using a number assigned to them. Business buyers deal with people, and replies should reach the person who owns the relationship.
Can we text multiple people at the same client?
Only where each person has a reason to hear from you. Texting four people at one company about the same thing looks like pressure. Coordinate through the account owner, and see team rules for business texting.