If your small business relies heavily on contacting clients, customers, or other business owners often, you should look at your voicemail behavior. Voicemail techniques are an often overlooked way to improve productivity, especially for sales people.
1 – Voicemails need to be short and to the point.
Forget about leaving a long message as many people will simply skip it. Try and keep it less than 15 seconds. Remember that many voicemail systems will cut a message short and the majority of a longer message probably won’t be heard anyway.
How many times have you received a voicemail that has cut the message short? Or you’ve become distracted (if not annoyed) listening to the whole thing? It happens.
Whatever you say, give your name and number clearly at the beginning, and repeat it again. Don’t make the recipient listen to the message more than once just to get your info. If you know the recipient has your information, don’t leave it at all.
2 – Use texts or email instead.
Can’t get ‘em on the phone? Voicemail is slow and cumbersome compared to texts and email. With smart phones, it’s common for people to respond to emails and texts more readily than voice messages. If it’s that important, hang up when the voicemail greeting starts and just type a quick message, which is faster and easier for most recipients, and more likely to get a response.
3 – Don’t plead your case, ask for help.
Do you think it’s possible to make a compelling pitch to someone in a 15 second voice message? Then why do you try? Here is a very simple approach to get more call backs.
“Hi Joe. This Mike Smith, I have a… I wonder if you can help me. My number’s xxx-xxx-xxxx. Again, Mike Smith, xxx-xxx-xxxx. I’ve got some questions. I think you can help me, I’m not sure. Anyway, talk soon.”
It doesn’t matter why you’re calling. You need the other person’s help, it’s true! Otherwise, why would you be calling them? Regardless if you have a service you want to pitch, or you want to get an appointment with someone at their office, asking for help in making a connection, and finding out about their needs is a welcome departure from all the salespeople who just want to blurt out their features and benefits.
Notice also that the message will leave them hanging, like you have more you want to say. If you say everything, they’ll assess that they don’t have time for you. Instead, evoke feelings of curiosity and their desire to be helpful.
4 – Cut off your message.
This is a little theatrical for some, but it really works. After you start with a quick intro like the above message, start to talk about why you called, but hang up. “I was hoping to figure out if y…”
Silly? Yeah. It’s disarming and further induces the recipient to want to find out what it was you were going to say– which is all you really wanted, if you could just get them on the phone.
If you’re in marketing, leaving a detailed voicemail is akin to sending all your brochures, which, without a meeting, will just end up in the trash. Prospects think they have all they need, and they dismiss you for other priorities. Don’t let your voicemail put you in the same place – the trash.
5 – Don’t leave specific callback instructions.
It may seem counterintuitive, but another way to limit the chances of having your voicemail ignored or not returned is not to ask the person to call you back at a certain time. You are giving them an opportunity to avoid you. It can be easily turned into an excuse. Besides, people don’t like adding things to their schedule or listening to unnecessary details.
In the same regard, it’s best to not mention that you will call again. Why would they call you back if you are just planning to call back anyway?
6 – Stick to a technique and track what works.
Leaving voicemail is often a seat-of-the-pants reaction without a clear plan, but you can’t manage what you can’t measure. So, pick a simple script and log what happens to help you and your team figure out which ones improve your callback rate. Whether you “like” leaving messages in certain ways is beside the point– you’re in the business of doing what works, and your voicemail behavior can be tracked and improved, just like everything else.
Hopefully these tips will help you perfect your voicemails and improve your relationship with people you call. You’re a professional with value to lend after all, not someone who should be ignored.
About the author: Neal Lacy works for United Call Center, handling live order taking in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He is an expert on professional answering services.
Credits: Photo courtesy of Radu Andrei Dan.