In this episode of the Transform Sales Podcast: Sales Software Review Series, Eddie Bello and Martin Villafuerte talked about how SMBs can use FlowChat to fix low outbound response rates by organizing, automating, and tracking social media DMs across 14 platforms. Many small businesses and agencies struggle to maintain a consistent and effective outbound sales strategy through DMs. FlowChat helps simplify and humanize the outreach process, offering a single dashboard to automate and manage direct messaging while keeping the human touch alive.

When it comes to outbound sales, what alternatives were SMBs most often using before buying FlowChat?

Before FlowChat, SMBs often relied on the following solutions to manage outbound DM communication:

• Spreadsheets: Many teams used Google Sheets or Excel to manually track leads, message status, and follow-ups across different platforms.

• Native Messaging Apps: Most SMBs tried to manage DMs directly in LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram, but lacked structure and tracking tools.

• One-Platform DM Tools: Tools that only supported a single platform (e.g., LinkedIn automation tools, Messenger bots) forced agencies to juggle multiple solutions depending on where their audience engaged.

These options were fragmented, hard to scale, and often led to lost leads and inconsistent messaging.

What challenges were SMBs running into that FlowChat helped them overcome?

• Missed Follow-Ups and Disorganized Pipelines

Without proper tracking, messages were lost in inbox clutter, and follow-ups were missed.

• Low DM Engagement Rates

Generic or bot-like messages weren’t resonating. Prospects often ignored or flagged these DMs as spam.

• Platform Fragmentation

Using multiple tools for different platforms made it impossible to get a unified view of conversations or performance.

FlowChat provides a unified system that brings structure and automation to DM outreach across all major social platforms.

What are the key features of FlowChat that help overcome the outbound sales challenges?

How FlowChat Overcomes Missed Follow-Ups and Disorganized Pipelines

• Situation: SMBs need to track thousands of social media DMs and manage follow-ups efficiently.
• Problem: Manual tracking in spreadsheets leads to dropped conversations and lost opportunities.
• Solution: FlowChat’s pipeline view gives SMBs a visual CRM-style board where every conversation has a stage. Team members can assign messages, create templates, and track deals in progress—all in one place.

How FlowChat Overcomes Low DM Engagement Rates

• Situation: Prospects often ignore cold, templated DMs, resulting in low reply rates.
• Problem: Existing automation tools act like bots, sending impersonal messages that lack human connection.
• Solution: FlowChat maintains the human touch by requiring a human to initiate and approve the message. The system automates repetitive actions (like clicking, pasting, opening DMs) while allowing users to craft personalized messages and sequences. Users can also filter and qualify leads before messaging them.

How FlowChat Overcomes Platform Fragmentation

• Situation: SMBs want to manage outreach across Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and others without jumping between tools.
• Problem: Most solutions only support one or two platforms, making it hard to scale across different channels.
• Solution: FlowChat supports DMs on 14 platforms with a single interface. With its universal import feature, teams can pull leads from group members, commenters, poll voters, and more—all into one dashboard.

What tasks, deliverables, and/or people need to be involved in setting up FlowChat for this outbound automation process and how long does it typically take to reach full productivity?

• Key Processes/Assets Needed: SMBs should prepare their messaging sequences and identify their ideal customer profile (ICP) for qualification filters.

• Team Setup: While FlowChat can be used by solopreneurs, it’s best suited for teams. Each team member can be assigned permissions based on role.

• Integration: FlowChat integrates easily with CRM systems like GoHighLevel and HubSpot via webhooks.

• Implementation Ownership: Most agencies manage setup in-house. FlowChat also provides onboarding and support to speed up ramp-up time.

• Time to Productivity: SMBs with existing cold outreach processes can see results within 2-3 weeks. New teams may take 3-4 weeks to reach full productivity.

Costs

• License Cost: Starts at $97/month per user for access to core features and supported platforms.

• Additional Fees: Add-ons like more platform integrations, usage-based automation credits, or CRM webhook connections may apply.

What KPI’s should SMBs use to evaluate their success with FlowChat for outbound sales, and what quantifiable outcomes can they expect?

Sales teams and agency owners using FlowChat should track:

• Response Rate: Track percentage of initial DMs that get a reply (expected uplift of 30-50% over generic cold outreach).

• Conversation-to-Call Rate: Number of DM conversations that result in booked calls.

• Call-to-Close Rate: Analyze how many booked calls from DMs become paying clients.

• Lead Qualification Score: Percentage of leads that meet your ideal customer criteria based on FlowChat filters.

• Average Deal Time: Time from first message to conversion.

Expected Outcomes

• Up to 5x increase in response rates compared to unmanaged cold outreach.

• 15-40 booked meetings per rep/month, depending on campaign quality.

• Greater visibility and control over team performance via tracking dashboards.

• Improved lead quality due to customizable filters and qualification automations.

Conclusion

Low response rates in outbound DMs can stall even the most promising sales campaigns. FlowChat solves this for SMBs by providing a centralized platform to manage, automate, and track direct messaging across 14 social platforms. With tools for qualification, personalization, and analytics, FlowChat acts as a CRM for social media DMs—helping SMBs stay organized, scale their outreach, and increase conversions.

If you’re an SMB looking to fix low outbound response rates and scale conversations across channels, FlowChat is the tool for you. Start your free trial today and explore how FlowChat can become your pipeline for social sellers.