Are you frustrated by voicemail? Do you ever feel like your sales calls are getting screened? If you’re taking a disciplined approach to cold calling, you’re probably listening to a lot of voice mail messages. What should you do?
- Call back later. I tend to make at least three attempts to get the person live before leaving a message. Try calling at different times during the day – early morning, right before or after lunch, after 5. If that doesn’t work, I typically leave a brief message on the third attempt.
- Be brief. When leaving a message, the goal is to get them to call you back. It’s NOT to go through your opening pitch. So the shorter and more direct you are the better. Try “Hi Dave, this is Mike Carroll. Please call me at 414.727.9813 at your earliest convenience.”
- Be prepared. The trouble with leaving a message is you put some control in the prospect’s hands. When cold calling you can get your “game face” on and be completely focused on the prospect you’re calling. When they call you back, you’ll be in the middle of something else and it will take you a moment to get into sales mode. Keep track of where you’ve left messages and have your notes or files handy so you can grab them when they call back.
- Wait two days. Once you leave a message you need to give the prospect a chance to return it. However, if they have not called you back within two business days, put them back in your calling queue and dial again on the third day.
- Repeat and don’t give up. If you keep getting their voice mail, keep making your calls and start leaving more details on the message you leave every third attempt. Your persistence will pay off. A busy executive once told me he doesn’t even pay attention until a sales person calls at least 7 times. Most sales people give up after 2-3 attempts.
- Slow down. Make a conscious effort to relax and speak clearly. Take a deep breath. Be confident and smile. They’ll hear it on the message you leave and will be more inclined to call you back. On the other hand, if you're nervous or rushed it just gives them a reason to delete your message and ignore you.