Of the four billion voicemails left every month in the U.S., only eight-percent get returned.
The next time you’re sent to voicemail, think about the following ideas when leaving your message:
Be brief, 20 seconds or less, and train yourself by putting a stopwatch in front of you. Don’t ramble on about your business—it’s not very interesting to most people.
Say your name, company name and phone number at the end of the message. If you leave it at the beginning, you’re giving the potential client permission to delete your message before they can hear the value you can add to their event.
Speak slowly – This is the chief reason why the callback rate is such a paltry eight-percent. Many people quickly give out a phone number and the listener has no time to write it down. Complete the communication circle and speak carefully, repeating your phone number.
Tell the client you will call them back. If you leave a message on Monday, at the end of the message, say “If I have not heard from you, I will call you back on Thursday at 9:19 AM.” Why would you do that? Because they are going to challenge you to see if you really call them back on Thursday at 9:19 AM. It creates a level of interest – is that vendor really going to try to call me at 9:19? It may not be a convenient time for them, but if you do call and get their voice mail and they hear you called at 9:19, you’ve created a level of trust with that client that will help you win their business—driven not by price, but by trust.
Thanks to Jerry Bazata.
