How To Leave Voicemail Messages That Have Prospects Begging To Meet You

Jill Konrath, founder of Selling to Big Companies – a web resource that helps professional services providers, consultants and salespeople win big contracts in the corporate market wrote a great article on how to leave a voicemail that I think is perfect.

Voicemail is a powerful marketing tool in two ways; if you leave a compelling, interesting voicemail you already stand out from everyone else and leaving a great voicemail will earn you valuable, uninterrupted time in front of your prospect or client.

I am also writing on this topic as I find myself returning too many calls only to find out I could have handled the request if I had been provided more details originally. Here is an example:

Fred: “Hi Mike, it’s Fred. Give me call when you are free.”
Mike: “Fred. It’s Mike. How are things?”
Fred: “Glad you called back so quickly. Would you please email me the photo of me?”
Mike: “$#%#&@#Q&”

If Fred’s original message had asked for the photo I could have emailed it to him and saved the time of calling for both him and me.

Jill’s points about email are a little different. She asks “Sick and tired of prospective clients never calling you back? Then it’s time to take a good hard look at what you’re doing – or not doing – that’s creating these results for you.”

Her example of a boring voicemail is as follows:

Hello, Mr/Ms __. This is __ calling.
I’m an account executive with __ company.
We do __.
Our service is leading edge, high quality and __.
I’d like to get together to learn more about how you do __.
And tell you about how our __ can help your business.
Please call me at __ to set up a time.

Jill goes on to write about making your emails ENTICING! “Being enticing is about saying or asking something in a manner that truly piques a prospective decision maker’s interest or curiosity.”

You must read the whole article to get the most out of it. The five key strategies she recommends are.:

1. Reference Your Research
2. State A Strong Value Proposition
3. Share An Insightful Idea
4. Dangle Important Information
5. Conclude With Confidence

Here is the example Jill uses highlighting all five points in a voicemail. It is not meant to be an actual message, but gives the tone:

“In reviewing your company’s website and marketing collateral, it became apparent to me that a critical issue you’re facing is…”

“After working with our firm, our average accounting client sees their prospect meeting-to-signed contract conversions increase by 35%, and their average dollar amount of services contracted increase by 13-18%.””Over the past month, I’ve invested a great deal of time studying your website and what you’re trying to accomplish with it. Based on my analysis, I have some interesting ideas regarding how you could leverage it to create additional revenue opportunities.”

“We recently conducted a study of how your clients’ needs are changing relative to decisions on group life insurance. I’d like to set up a time to review some of the key points with you. I know people in your firm will be very interested in what we’ve uncovered.”

“While I can’t promise you the exact same results, I can assure you that it will be worth your time. My number is 651-429-1922. Give me a call and we’ll set up a time to get together.”

Jill offers a course available in an Audio Download on Creating Enticing Voicemails that focus on what it takes to create a customer-enticing voicemail message.
Specifically she covers:

1. How to avoid the most common mistakes sellers make that cause messages to be deleted before they’ve finished talking.
2. What it takes to immediately establish credibility with someone who would just as soon hang up the phone.
3. Three things that always pique a decision maker’s curiosity and are great to include in your voicemail messages.
4. What it takes to “close with confidence.”
5. Why preparing a script is absolutely essential and throwing it away before you call is just as important.
6. How to fine-tune your message so that it “zings”, but also sounds conversational.
7. How to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of your voicemails.

While I have never taken the course it sounds like a great idea for only $ 79.00.