My business must have…Text messaging

For the past 15 months commercial property agent Van de Berg has used a messaging service from SMS solutions provider Esendex to keep its staff abreast of all new property listings and day-to-day business occurrences.


For the past 15 months commercial property agent Van de Berg has used a messaging service from SMS solutions provider Esendex to keep its staff abreast of all new property listings and day-to-day business occurrences.

Chris Braun is founder and managing director of commercial property agents Van de Berg, which sources properties for clients such as JD Wetherspoon. For the past 15 months the company has used a messaging service from SMS solutions provider Esendex to keep its staff abreast of all new property listings and day-to-day business occurrences.

‘We are always on the lookout to acquire suitable properties for Wetherspoon and early responses are crucial in this competitive market. I have around 20 staff and they are always on the road, so email is no good. With text messaging, once a potential property comes up, we simply text the details to everyone and whoever is nearest can view the property immediately,‘ comments Braun.

He adds that using the phone on its own is time-consuming and it would not be possible to call everyone at the same time.

Esendex offers a service that allocates businesses a unique mobile number enabling them to send texts, by group or individually, to staff. This is done through the internet or email to phones on any mobile network.

Replies can be received as a mobile text message, email or online message. Each account costs £25, although discounts are given for additional accounts purchased. There is a 7p charge for each text message sent.

‘It’s amazing that the big mobile phone networks don’t offer this service, it’s probably saved me a fortune,’ says Braun. ‘The service is also invaluable to me as I can confirm and cancel meetings quickly and get accurate details such as phone numbers and names when I am out and about.’

Leslie Copeland

Leslie Copeland

Leslie was made Editor for Growth Company Investor magazine in 2000, then headed up the launch of Business XL magazine, and then became Editorial Director in 2007 for the online and print publication portfolio...

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