Palby CRM
Updated 9 min read

WhatsApp for sales: sell in the chat without getting blocked

Your buyers already answer WhatsApp faster than email. The hard part is the rest: getting them to message first, what to send back, how to qualify and follow up without being a nuisance, and how to stop deals disappearing up a long thread.

By Leo Tan, founder of Palby CRM

Why WhatsApp works for selling

If your buyers are on WhatsApp all day, a message there gets read. An email can sit for days, which is why so many small businesses now take most of their enquiries in the chat.

It also brings three problems email never had. Chats are mixed in with family and friends. Deals vanish up long threads. And a message someone didn't expect feels far more intrusive on their phone than in their inbox.

That last one sets the rules. WhatsApp's page on using it responsibly says to "only send messages to those who have contacted you first or have requested you contact them on WhatsApp", and not to bulk message, auto-message or auto-dial. Cold outreach is out. You sell to people who came to you, and every step below starts from there.

Pick the right version

Most sellers start, and stay, on the WhatsApp Business app. WhatsApp's own guide says it's free to download. Its features page lists what it adds for selling: a business profile with your hours and website, an automatic greeting for new chats, away messages outside your hours, quick replies, labels and a catalog of your products and services.

The WhatsApp Business Platform (the API) is for businesses sending at scale through software, usually through a vendor who adds their own fee. WhatsApp's platform pricing page says businesses pay per message delivered, by the recipient's market and the message category. When someone messages you, a 24-hour window opens for your service replies, and each new message from them resets it.

The two pages Meta publishes disagree on what those replies cost. WhatsApp's pricing page says it doesn't charge for service messages. Meta's developer page, updated for the prices in force since 1 October 2026, says each number gets 1,000 free service messages a month and pays from the next one.

For a seller that comes down to one thing: replying to people who wrote to you is cheap and easy, and starting conversations at scale is the part that costs money and carries rules. To choose between the two, read what is WhatsApp Business?

Get people to message you first

The best WhatsApp sales chats start with the buyer. They tap a button, say hi, and you're talking to someone who asked.

Make that easy wherever buyers find you:

  • A click-to-chat link on your website, email signature and social profiles. The WhatsApp link generator makes one with a QR code and a message already typed.
  • The QR code on your business card, quote PDFs and shop counter.
  • "Message us on WhatsApp" in your ads, instead of a form they have to fill in.

A pre-filled message helps you as much as them. "Hi, I saw the kitchen quote page and want to ask about timing" tells you where they came from before you've said a word.

Answer the first message

Your first reply should answer them, then ask one question that moves things forward. Don't send a brochure.

Hi [name], thanks for getting in touch. I'm [you] from [business].

[Answer their question in one or two lines.]

So I can give you something useful: [one question, e.g. "roughly when are you hoping to start?"]

Then set up the Business app's greeting and away messages, so nobody gets silence. The away message should say when a person will reply, and then someone should.

Speed matters more on WhatsApp than anywhere else, because buyers can see you've read the message. Enquiries that land at night or mid-meeting need that reply too. Here's how to answer leads at night from your own number.

Qualify one question at a time

Before you quote, you need four things: what they want, when they want it, who else decides and what they expect to spend. Ask for them one at a time, across a few messages. Four questions in one message reads like a form, and people answer one of them or none.

What are you hoping to have done, and by when?

Is anyone else involved in the decision, like a partner or a boss?

Do you have a rough budget in mind, so I can show you options that fit?

Ask in the order they're easiest to answer: timing first, money last. If the answer to "by when" is "next year", say so kindly, set a date to check back, and spend today on the buyers who are ready.

Follow up without being a nuisance

Most WhatsApp deals die quietly. The buyer got busy, nobody wrote back, and a week later the chat has scrolled out of sight.

A few rules keep follow-ups welcome:

  • End every chat with a next step and a date. "I'll send the two options by Thursday" gives you a reason to write on Thursday.
  • Follow up with something new: the quote, an answer to their question, a photo of similar work. "Just checking in" gives them nothing to reply to.
  • Two or three follow-ups over two weeks is plenty. After that, ask plainly whether to close the file.
  • Write in the hours a business would. An 11pm message reads as pushy unless they wrote to you at 11pm.
  • Use labels in the app for the stage each chat is at, like "new", "quote sent" and "follow up". Then filter by label each morning.
DayWhat you sendWhy
0Your first reply, the same hourThey're still looking at their phone
2The answer or quote you promisedSomething new to react to
7One short question about timingEasy to answer in a word
14The close-the-file message belowGets a yes, a no or a date

Hi [name], I haven't heard back about the [thing], so I'll assume the timing's not right. Shall I close this off for now, or check in again in a month?

You'll be surprised how often that one gets an answer, because it asks a question people can reply to in a word. Copy more like it from the WhatsApp message templates: 16 messages, from the first reply to the review request.

Close in writing, then ask for the next one

When they say yes, put it in the chat: what they're getting, the price, the date and what you need from them. One message they can scroll back to settles most arguments before they start.

Great, thanks [name]. To confirm: [what], for [price], from [date]. I'll need [deposit, address or document] by [day]. I'll send a reminder the day before.

After you've delivered, ask while they're pleased: "Glad it went well. Who else do you know who'd want the same?" Past buyers who asked for your updates can hear from you when something new fits them, and the ones who didn't ask hear from you when they write first.

Broadcasts: only to people who said yes

Sending one message to many buyers is where WhatsApp selling goes wrong. WhatsApp's responsible-use page says broadcast messages only reach people who saved your number, that frequent broadcasts lead people to report you, and that it bans accounts reported multiple times.

WhatsApp's pages pull in two directions here. The features page now offers Business Broadcasts, available to eligible users in select countries, which reach people even if they haven't saved your number. The responsible-use rules above still apply to every account.

For the platform, Meta's opt-in guide says businesses must get opt-in before messaging people, must say clearly that the person is opting in, and must name the business they'll hear from. The same page notes that people can block or report a business, and that businesses with low quality for a sustained period get rate-limited.

Treat those as good manners for the app too: ask before you add someone to a list, send only what they asked for, and stop the same day they ask. If you sell in Singapore, WhatsApp for business in Singapore covers broadcasts and the Do Not Call rules in full.

Keep every chat on the client's record

The Business app keeps chats tidy. It doesn't remember for you. In three months, what did that buyer say about their budget? It's up the thread somewhere.

Keep a record per buyer outside the chat: what they want, what you've sent, what's next and when. That can be a spreadsheet at first. Once you have more than 30 or 40 live conversations, it's CRM territory, and a CRM that pulls in the WhatsApp chat saves the copying.

Made-up example: a two-person kitchen renovation business gets 20 WhatsApp enquiries a week from its ads and website.

Monday: 6 new chats came in over the weekend, and the greeting message told each of them someone would reply by 10am Monday. Dan answers all 6 by 9:40, each with one question about when they want to start.

Tuesday: 4 of the 6 write back. He books 2 site visits, sends rough prices to the other 2 and labels those chats "quote sent".

Wednesday: he filters by "follow up" and finds 5 chats from last week that went quiet. He sends each one something new, like a photo of a similar kitchen or an answer to a question they'd asked. 2 reply.

Thursday: his partner Mei takes the site visits, but the chats are on Dan's phone. She asks him for the notes on one buyer, and he scrolls for ten minutes to find what they'd said about the budget.

Friday: they count the week: 20 enquiries, 16 answered within two hours, 4 site visits, 1 signed. The count is fine. The Thursday scramble is the problem, so they decide the notes need to live somewhere both of them can see.

When a team shares the selling

One person, one number, one phone works. Two people sharing one phone doesn't, for long.

There are three ways to set it up, simplest first.

  1. Each seller keeps their own business number and their own chats, and the team agrees on who handles which buyer.
  2. A shared inbox where every number shows up in one place, and chats can be assigned to whoever's handling that buyer.
  3. The WhatsApp Business Platform, through a vendor, for many people on one number or software sending at scale.

Most small teams are best served by the second. ActivityTracker's inbox works that way: it links each number you use as a device, the way WhatsApp Web does, and puts its chats on each client's record. That isn't WhatsApp's own app or its Business Platform, and WhatsApp's linked devices page warns: "Linking your device through unofficial apps or websites may put your account at risk." To keep that risk down, ActivityTracker spaces out the messages a number starts on its own, and stops if WhatsApp warns the number.

Whichever you choose, write down who owns each buyer, so nobody gets two different answers from the same business.

When more than one person sells on WhatsApp, ActivityTracker's team inbox puts every number you use in one place, shows who's waiting, lets you assign a chat to a teammate, and lands every chat on the client's record.

See the WhatsApp team inbox

Count three numbers on Friday

Your labels already hold most of this. Each Friday, count three things: how many first messages got a reply, how many replies became a call, visit or meeting, and how many quotes turned into a yes. The lowest one is your weak step.

What's lowThe weak stepWhat to change
Replies to your first messageThe first replyAnswer faster, shorten it, ask an easier question
Meetings from repliesQualifyingAsk about timing sooner, offer two times to meet
Yeses from quotesThe quote and follow-upCheck the scope, follow up on day 7 and day 14

Change one thing, then watch it for two weeks before you touch the next.

What to do first

  1. Move selling chats to the Business app on a work number.
  2. Fill in the profile, and set a greeting, an away message and three quick replies.
  3. Add labels for "new", "quote sent" and "follow up", and filter by them every morning.
  4. Put a click-to-chat link everywhere buyers find you.
  5. Start a simple record per buyer with the next step and its date.

Keep reading

Questions people ask

Sources

Reply first. Follow up on a date.

And keep every chat where you can find it.

Book a walkthrough

30 minutes. You choose the day and the time.