Should you leave a voicemail every time you reach out to a prospect? That depends, but data tells us that reps who only leave a single voicemail may be missing out on vital sales opportunities: a first-time call yields an 11 percent call-back rate, while 33 percent of prospects call back after a third message.
Not leaving a voicemail is like casting a hook without bait—you may still catch a fish, but your odds are much better with something attractive on the end of your lure. Effective voicemails may even help with converting leads by making your prospects excited to speak with you about your solution. The obvious question, then, is what makes an effective voicemail?
There’s no secret formula or script to follow—in fact, scripts can actually hurt your chances by making you sound stiff and robotic—but we have learned a thing or two about leaving great voicemails over two decades of B2B telemarketing.
Don’t Sell
The optimal voicemail length is 18 to 25 seconds. No matter how good a salesperson you are, that’s not enough time to convince a prospect, so don’t try to turn your voicemail into a sales pitch. The idea is to get the prospect to return your call, so you can have a more in-depth conversation about their needs and explain how your solutions might fit.
Instead of trying to “prove” your solution, explain the benefit of calling you back or provide a timetable for following up so the prospect knows when you’ll try again. If you’re requesting a callback, make sure you provide your contact information and the best time to reach you (you’d be surprised how many salespeople forget to include their phone numbers).
Do Your Homework
You’re not the only one trying to reach the buyers you’re calling, which means your message won’t be the only one they hear. If you want your message to catch their attention, make sure you do your homework before you call. You don’t have much time (18 to 30 seconds), but you can try to reference a specific business challenge or something more personal about the buyer, like where they went to college or a recent promotion. Anything that shows you’ve done your research is better than sounding like another generic sales voicemail.
Forget Past Calls
You might have to make multiple attempts before you reach your prospect. Even if you’ve left messages before, don’t reference your previous attempts. For example, “This is John again from XYZ Co., I left you two messages previously wondering if you’d be interested in learning more about our solution.” If the prospect didn’t care enough to call you back the first few times, why should they care now? By referencing your past attempts, you automatically get the prospect thinking about why they didn’t call you back before instead of focusing on your offering and the reason you’re calling.
Better Prospects, More Conversations, Less Messages
What if your pipeline was full of decision-makers who were actually looking forward to speaking with you? What if you could spend more time talking to prospects and less time looking for prospects? That’s the power of having better business connections. That’s the power of working with The Business Connection Company.
If you’re looking to transform your sales pipeline, reach more quality prospects and have better connections with leaders and decision makers in your market, you’ve found the right partner in Intelemark. Our professional B2B lead generation and appointment setting agents are passionate about one thing: delivering high-quality connections that drive outstanding results for your company. Contact us to learn more about our B2B lead generation and appointment setting services or to schedule a test campaign.