I’m going to start right off with the down & dirty, quick tips:
- one messaging statement or idea per message
- 35 words or less including contact info
- go back to at the messaging ideas you developed as part of prospecting tip 1 and 2 – start there
- be sure you can write down your contact info while you leave it
- if there isn’t a call to action – why would you think they would call you back?
Recently I saw a huge Q&A string on a LinkedIn sales group that talked about voicemail, so I am going to address what I consider the Top 3 Voicemail Myths
#1 no one returns messages
Anytime you give an absolute “always” or “never” I’m suspect about your motivation, but I digress….
People call me back, so I know this myth is false. Not everyone, not even most people… but some do. So if I didn’t leave a message no one would even have the opportunity to call me back!
Start with the intention to craft voicemails that tell the prospect (or customer for that matter) how it will help them to call you back NOW:
- be successful in their daily job struggles
- solve a problem they currently have
- remind them that time is tick, tick, ticking away to their deadline
- what ever YOU know matters to them
#2 leaving voicemail gives up control of the sales process
What? Seriously, I am still shocked that people think leaving a message gives up control. That is like saying asking tough questions that I might not like the answer to gives up control of the sales process.
I’ve been known to call people I just talked with RIGHT BACK because I thought of something that might be important to them. Why is voicemail any different?
If your messaging targets the prospect (I have to say it again… or customer) in a way that calling you back will HELP them be successful, you could leave messages every 5 minutes… ok that is an exaggeration, but you know what I’m saying.
If your message is self serving and has no value to THEM
it doesn’t matter if you’re leaving voicemail
OR its a live conversation,
the customer has still deleted you!
I have even crafted little campaigns where I leave a message on Friday, then another one on Monday “over the weekend I realized…” where I also send an email with more info. Which of course came from a real life scenario where I did think about someone over the weekend and figured out an additional piece of info they would find useful!
#3 voicemail is like a commercial for my business
Its not a commercial if you want them to call you back. Unless you want to be a late night infomercial “if you call back in the next 5 minutes, we will throw in a set of steak knives.”
You do need to give them a reason for calling you back, but it isn’t the story of you or your company that will do that. Voicemail is a tool, not a strategy!
Strategy is to create long lasting relationships that bring both parties business gain (or what ever it is YOU’RE trying to accomplish). That takes conversations between human beings – not a message from a human onto a recording device.
Now let’s go back to those down & dirty, quick tips:
- one messaging statement or idea per message – you’re not having a conversation PLUS believe me you’ll have another opportunity to leave that second thought on another message
- 35 words or less including contact info – truly it is the first 5, maybe 10 words that will get you a call back or deleted are you wasting those with “junk”?
- go back to at the messaging ideas you developed as part of prospecting tip 1 and 2 – start there. I mean it, start your message with what you can help increase or decrease – then leave your contact info
- be sure you can write down your contact info while you leave it – you know your phone number, if you can’t write it down neither can they!
- if there isn’t a call to action – why would you think they would call you back? Commercials don’t call us to action, solutions get you to do something with the information
With your new found confidence in voicemail, draft – craft – revise all those messages you’ve been leaving. If even one person calls you back, I believe it is worth leaving a message!
If you have ever had to say “I’m sorry what?” in your career, stay tuned for our 5th prospecting tip about listening.
Need a preview? Check out A Chip Off the Block: Go Fly A Kite Edition
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