- JUST ADDED: FOUR VOICEMAIL TIPS to GET IMMEDIATE CALLBACKS!
1. Do not leave a message that is more than 15 seconds. Prospects will lose interest and immediately delete your message. You will smell like a salesperson if you leave a message that is longer than 15 seconds.
2. It's really not necessary to leave your company name - just leave your first name or full name. Make your prospect curious.
3. Tell your prospect that you want to update them on a new product or service relevant to their industry or business success. For example if you're a banker targeting architects you could say the following: "This is John, I just wanted to speak with you about your banking and give you a few updates on solutions available for architects. My number is (repeat twice)."
4. Sound confident or lose their interest with a delete of the button.
- Time Stamp the messages that you leave with sales prospects. Yes, in your voice mail leave the day, date and exact time that you left a message. It will be perceived by your prospect as being more official and as a result, your time stamped message may create a sense of urgency for them to immediately respond.
- Have you ever thought of calling your business phone number and leaving a message as if you were leaving a message for a prospect? After you listen to your voice mail message ask the following question: "Would you be motivated to call back?" Here are a few quick tips: Always keep your messages under 20 seconds, focus on inspiring curiousity, be clever, leave your first name only, include your company name (optional), ask or pose a question that engages a response (i.e. callback), speak slowly (say your phone number twice), and finally, pay attention to how you leave your message (ie. tone and inflection).
- Buy a mini tape recorder and practice your voice mail messages before you leave a LIVE ONE with your prospect.
- Always review your prospect's website prior to each call. If you come across a catchy phrase or slogan from their site then find a way to incorporate their message with your message. This is so important because it shows your prospect that you took the time to review their website and what they do. Find out what Plato thinks about this?
- Did your prospect just win an Award? If so, then open your voice mail with a big CONGRATULATIONS! Was your prospect quoted or featured in an offline or online medium? If so, then reference where you saw them in your voice mail message. "Your Prospect is a MOVIE STAR!"
- Learn how to code your voice mails so that you can effectively optimize those voice mails that receive the most callbacks from prospects. How does this process of coding work? As you leave messages for your prospect write down what you had said on their voice mail. This coding system will help you to really find out what is working and what is not working well.
- Let your prospect know right off the bat that you genuinely appreciate their time. Thank them for taking time out of their busy day to listen to your voice mail.
- Did you make a mistake on your voice mail? Try pressing the # button on your phone to re-record your message OR if that doesn't work then try the * button.
- "(First name of prospect), this is (Your full name), I"m a (List what you do or your profession) calling from (Your company) and I've been reviewing your website and I wanted to see if you might be open to a few ideas that I had that could help (Insert one benefit of your product or service here), please call me back at (Your number here), speak with you soon!
- "(First name of prospect), this is (Your full name), I"m a (List what you do or your profession) calling from (Your company) and I've been researching many of your competitors and wanted to speak with you about my findings, please call me back at (Your number here), speak with you soon!
- If you left a message yesterday for your sales prospect then try out this voice mail message: "I'm taking a BIG risk here calling you yesterday and then calling you again today. Again, this is (Your name) from (Your company) and two things are going to happen here. One, is you might get this message and say that this (guy or girl) is completely annoying and just too much. Or, you might get this message and say that this (guy or girl) is persistent and you will respect my tenacity and perhaps call me back? I'm hoping that you will pick my second choice and call me back. Let me know your thoughts, I"m a bit curious now.....I can be reached at.........."
- End your voice mail message with "(First name of your prospect), if you wouldn't mind, as a courtesy, can you call me back today either way? This way I know for sure if you may be interested in hearing more (or possibly meeting)...."
- If you have left multiple voicemails for your sales prospect with no response then you could leave the following voicemail message: "(First name of prospect), I've called you so many times that I'm not sure what else I can do? The reason why I'm trying to contact you is (State the exact reason for your call) and I was hoping that you could call me back and let me know what I would have to say to inspire you to call me back me? Any suggestions? I've run out of ideas, but I still haven't given up yet. I hope that you admire my persistence and call me back at (Your number), once again, my number is (Your number). I look forward to your return call and I'm eager to hear your suggestions. Take care...
- Inject your personality when leaving voicemail messages. Remember that boring voicemails get deleted.
- Always be positive and enthusiastic when you leave a message. If you are not excited about what you sell then how can you really expect your prospect to get excited and call you back?
- If you can pull it off then try to say something funny on your message. For example, if your prospect indicates that they will be in Maine on vacation you could say something like, "(First name of prospect), don't forget to bring some lobster back for me, ok?"
- Keep your voicemails to about 30 seconds in length.
- Repeat your phone number at the end twice and do it slow! So many reps just want to get off the phone so they can move on to the next one and say their number too quickly!
- Try starting your voicemail off with a question. For example, (First name of prospect), I was just curious, have you thought about........)
- If you have left multiple messages for your prospect then at the beginning of your voicemail says, "(First name of prospect), I hope that you admire my persistence here, I don't know any other way. This is (Your name) calling from (Your company) and I've been trying to reach you since (List day, date and year) and the reason for my call is....."
- At the end of your voicemail try saying, "(First name of prospect), if you could call me back one way or the other I would really appreciate it. This way we make good use of not only your time, but mine as well." (smile on the phone as you are saying this)
- Look at your prospect's website and try to incorporate an aspect of their site into your message. This could be a "shared interest" that both of you have that you saw on their biography. Or, perhaps you saw a recent news story or new product that they introduced. Do whatever you need to do to show them that you have a genuine interest in speaking with them!
- At the beginning of your voicemail try saying, "(First name of prospect), I think this will be the most important call that you return today. This is (Your name) calling from (Your company) and the reason for my call is......."
Copyright 2007 MR. COLD CALL SEMINARS - All rights reserved.
Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call™
Mr. Cold Call™ is a worldwide sensation and claims to have made over 80,000 cold calls to date. He has been quoted by numerous national publications such as Selling Power Magazine, Investor's Business Daily, Successful Fund Raising and Advantage Magazine. He has written over 65 articles on cold calling, developed a sales ratio calculator that automatically calculates your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly sales ratios, offers a custom sales script service called "The Script Responder" and finally, is the author of four best-selling ebooks with FREE email support and these titles include:
For more information on Mr. Cold Call™ and to sign-up for his free weekly cold calling tips visit www.mrcoldcall.com
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