We’ve been looking at 5 Ways Voicemail Can Work for Prospecting, including the first tip: Make sure voicemail is only one of your prospecting tools.
This brings us to tip #2:
Keep prospecting voicemails short. Never more than 18 seconds and preferably as short as 12 seconds.
The last thing a prospect wants to encounter is a lengthy message. Only one thing happens to a lengthy message — it gets deleted!
Even worse than being deleted is having the prospect remember it was you who left the lengthy message.
Brevity with voicemail is key.
This means you must be tight and concise with no wasted words, even your title! Get real, okay? Do you think the other person cares you’re a “vice-president of the north-south district in the western region.”
Your message should contain 3 elements:
1. A tight greeting / introduction. “Robert, this is Joe Washburn of Southern Mechanical.”
2. A call-to-action and reason for the call. “I have new information regarding changes to the metro building codes. I would happy to share this with you.”
3. Third part is asking them to contact you. “Robert give me a call at 402-445-2110 and we can discuss. Again this is Joe Washburn, 402-445-2110.”
Notice how I gave my phone number twice. This is a personal touch I believe has big mileage.
How many times have you had to listen to a message several times to get the phone number correct? By merely leaving it twice, you’re making it as easy as possible for them to call you, defying the odds of few prospecting calls ever being returned.
To get your messages down to the 12-18 second timeframe takes effort, but the beauty is that once you master it, the flow becomes very easy.
The keys to a tight voicemail message are:
Don’t waste time upfront with an excessive greeting.
Keep the message about something the prospect will value.
State your phone number twice, clearly.
Finally, never forget to remember what you said in the voicemail message. The last thing you want to do is have the person return your call and you not remember what you called them about.
Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
