Social media messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp have become a normal engagement channel for consumers to engage with businesses and we’re now seeing that spill into B2B Sales. Just like consumers, businesses looking to purchase technology and services from other businesses expect fast and knowledgeable service. But what do you do after hours? For a lot of companies, it’s impossible to keep all social media channels monitored 24/7. This is where the Facebook Messenger Response Assistant shines.

The Facebook Response Assistant allows you to create automatic replies to your business pages incoming Facebook messages. What is more powerful is the ability to change that auto-reply based on pre-defined business hours so you can let people know when you’re unavailable and to connect with them the next day.

To really blow your prospects and customers out of the water you can add your TimeTrade Click-To-Schedule links to your after-hours auto-reply to not only engage prospects and customers after business hours but to also turn those missed messages into booked meetings with the right person on your team.

Your first step is to copy your TimeTrade booking link. If you don’t have one, you can sign-up and create one here.

1. Login as your Facebook page administrator and select Settings > Messages > Response Assistant

2. Select schedule to set up your off-hours auto responder. Here you are selecting the times you are not going to be available. You can see how we have ours configured to be open from 8:30AM – 5:30PM Monday through Friday.

3. Finally, under the Message tab, create your own custom message and paste in your TimeTrade Click-To-Schedule link. You can either use your own direct booking link or use a round-robin SmartMatching link to evenly distribute appointments across a team of people.

That’s it, you’re now enabling your after-hours automated custom message to engage with prospects and customers who send inbound inquiries through Facebook Messenger giving them the heads up that someone will respond to them when you open, and even further allowing them to book a pre-qualified guaranteed meeting with the right person in your company.

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