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How to Nurture Leads and Save Time with Scheduled Manual Texts

Queue personalized, 1:1 text messages to send at the perfect time, ensuring consistent and timely lead follow-up without being tied to your phone.

Table of Contents

  1. Why This Feature Matters

  2. How to Schedule a Text

  3. How to View or Cancel a Scheduled Text

  4. Best Practices for Scheduled Texts

  5. Troubleshooting Common Issues

  6. FAQ

Why This Feature Matters

As a busy agent, you can't always send a follow-up text at the exact right moment. You might finish a call late at night or want to check in with a lead after a showing tomorrow, but you risk forgetting or getting pulled into another task. Before, your only option was to set a reminder and hope you had time to act on it later.

Scheduled Manual Texts solves this by letting you "set it and forget it." By queuing up a message in advance, you ensure every follow-up is sent exactly when it will have the most impact, helping you nurture more leads with less effort.

Real-world Examples:

  • Post-Call Follow-Up: After a great evening phone call, schedule a text for 9:15 AM the next morning to say, "Great chatting with you last night! As promised, here is the link to the market report..."
  • Post-Showing Check-In: You just finished a showing. Schedule a text to go out two hours later: "Hope you're having a great afternoon! What were your initial thoughts on the home we saw earlier?"
  • Relationship Building: Schedule a text for a lead's birthday or the one-year anniversary of their home purchase to stay top-of-mind.

Scheduled Manual Texts do not require opt-out language because they are manual and not automated. You must still:

  • Respect any prior opt-out from the lead.
  • Send during reasonable hours for the lead’s local time.

📃 Ensure Compliance with Text Messaging Regulations Using Sierra


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How to Schedule a Text

Requires the Sierra Dialer to be enabled on your account.

Ready to plan your follow-up? Here’s how to schedule your first text.

To Schedule a Text Message:

  1. Navigate to the lead you want to message and open their profile.
  2. Click the Text button to open the message window, just as you normally would. 
  3. Compose your personalized message in the text field.
  4. Instead of hitting send, click the Schedule Text button located below the message box. 
  5. Use the date and time pickers to choose exactly when you want the message to be delivered. The system defaults to 10:00 AM the next day, but you can customize it to fit your strategy. 
  6. Click Save to confirm. If the lead has an active Action Plan, the system will show you a warning. You can review it and still choose to proceed. That's it! Your message is now queued.

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How to View or Cancel a Scheduled Text

If your plans change or you want to write a different message, you can easily cancel a scheduled text.

To Cancel a Scheduled Text Message:

  1. From the lead's profile, navigate to their Communication History.
  2. Find the message, which will be labeled "Scheduled Text Message" with a "Scheduled" status. 
  3. Click the three-dot menu icon (•••) on the right side of that message entry.
  4. Select Cancel Scheduled Text from the dropdown menu. 
  5. A confirmation window will appear. Click Yes to permanently cancel the text. The message will remain in the history but will not be sent.

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Best Practices for Scheduled Texts

  • Plan Your One Key Touchpoint: You can only have one scheduled text per lead at a time. Use it for the most important follow-up, like after a showing or a significant phone call, to ensure that critical touchpoint never gets missed.
  • Respect Business Hours: If you're working late, schedule your messages to arrive during normal business hours (e.g., between 9 AM and 5 PM). This respects your client's time and makes your communication feel more professional.
  • Review Before You Reschedule: You can't edit a scheduled text. If you need to make a change, it's best to cancel the existing message and create a new one. Always give it a quick proofread before you hit save.
  • Use in Tandem with Action Plans: If a lead is on an Action Plan, you'll see a warning before scheduling a text. This is a helpful reminder to ensure your scheduled message complements, rather than conflicts with, any automated outreach.

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Troubleshooting Common Issues

I do not see the Schedule option

  • Confirm that texting is enabled for your account and that you have permission to send SMS.

My text did not send at the scheduled time

  • Check the lead’s phone number format and that it is a mobile number.

  • Confirm the selected time zone.

  • Review carrier delivery status on the message detail. If it failed, edit and resend.

The Schedule toggle is disabled

  • You may be viewing a conversation that is locked or the lead is missing a valid phone. Add a phone number, save, then try again.

I scheduled the wrong time

  • Open Scheduled, select the message, and choose Reschedule.

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FAQs

Q:Does this replace Drip Campaigns or Action Plans?
A: No. Drip Campaigns and Action Plans automate multi-step outreach. Scheduled Manual Texts are for single, personal messages you write yourself.

Q: Is opt-out language required?
A: Not for Scheduled Manual Texts, since the message is manual, one-to-one, and not automated. You are still responsible for honoring opt-out requests and applicable laws.

Q: Can I bulk schedule manual texts?
A: This feature is designed for individual follow ups. For scaled outreach, use contact templates with Action Plans or Drip Campaigns.

Q: Where can I see upcoming scheduled texts?
A: Open your Scheduled messages list or view the Lead Timeline for that contact.

Q: What happens if the lead replies before the scheduled time?
A: You can edit or cancel the scheduled message to avoid sending something that is no longer relevant.

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