Sales Prospecting Perspectives

Sales Prospecting Perspectives is pleased to bring you a guest blog from Greg Klingshirn, Content Marketing Manager at SalesLoft. 

Cold calls are the bread and butter of successful sales development reps. But what about the times you call and don’t get an answer? Leaving a message is a hard starting point to a demo or qualified appointment.

Instead of being dejected when you don’t get an answer, use it to your advantage. When you’re confident in voicemail, prospects that don’t answer can be your silver bullet.

Leave a voicemail to remember with these five tips:

1. Be Intriguing.

Don’t sell. Intrigue a prospect so that he or she is motivated to pick up the phone and call you back.

Don’t give enough information for the prospect to make a decision on the spot. Rather, offer a taste to pique their interest or let them know you’d like to ask a quick question.

2. Don’t Assume Or Guess. Always Know.

When you sound hesitant on the phone, you don’t provide a value proposition that motivates the prospect to return your call.

Don’t overstep the boundaries of a stranger by claiming to understand all the prospect’s business challenges.

Instead, start by building a relationship.

Be polite and assertive to start building trust. As you do, prospects will feel comfortable sharing their challenges with you.

3. Stand Out, Be Memorable.

The absolute best (and most difficult) way to stand out in a voicemail is to be truly memorable.

Don’t sound like every other drone whose voicemail goes something like this: “Hi, Bob. This is Greg from Company X. The reason for my call today is to discuss blah blah blah…”

Use inflection and tone to project your interest, and leave a message that’s personalized.

Make your prospect need to call you back. Just like in emails, you have the opportunity to add a short personalized quip about the prospect’s business, alumnus, or favorite sports team to set yourself apart.

4. Don’t Be Pushy

There’s a time and place for battling objections and asking edgy questions. Voicemail is not one of them.

Don’t dig yourself into a hole by outlining your entire product in detail and repeating how much your prospect needs it. Because they might not.

The less you pitch, the better the voicemail will be received. Remember, always try to intrigue the prospect, not overwhelm them. Also, no one likes to be sold to.

5. Keep It Short.

Say what you have to say, and hang up. Keep it to 30 seconds or less.

When was the last time you listened to a three-minute voicemail and thought, “I’m glad I did that. Everything I heard was important and impactful?" Probably never. In fact, most people have probably made a decision about whether or not they’ll return the call after 30 seconds.

To keep voicemails short, cut out any reference of failed attempts, such as, “I tried to call yesterday,” or “I sent you an email and never heard back.”

With a time limit, you’ll avoid rambling, and with practice, you'll be able to provide a compelling and concise voicemail that warrants a call back. Finish with your phone number. Repeat it twice, so your contact has a verification and can easily copy it down in a single listen.

With these five tips under your belt, you’ll be able to take advantage of voicemail opportunities by enticing prospects to call you back.