Hit a Home Run with Your Cold Calling Voicemail Message

As a salesperson, you know the value of marketing. Your company sends emails, mails out postcards, runs ads on the radio, television and along the highway on billboards. The whole goal is to get a positive representation of the company out in front of as many people as possible, expecting that although most wont, there will be some people who will respond.

Cold calling voicemail messages serve the same purpose.

A Power Hitter Cold Calling Voicemail Message

Consider your cold calling voicemail message like a piece of audible direct mail being delivered to a lead’s phone mailbox. Significant amounts of money are spent every year on direct mail campaigns. Time is spent honing the message down to powerful, succinct phrases and calls to action. However, direct mail campaign statistics say that a good response rate is between 1% and 3%!

These odds are almost like baseball… even if it seems that most swings are a miss, the ones that connect are what make you a champ! This is why every lead you leave a voicemail message for should be treated like the perfect pitch.

Every swing has the potential of hitting it out of the park!

Using automated outbound dialing software, you can record your best voicemail scripts and leave the same perfect pitch in every phone mailbox you reach. Track call-back results – the same way you would any targeted marketing campaign – and celebrate when you achieve that 1-3% rate!

Make the Most of the Odds

The goal of your voicemail is the same as any other piece of marketing: engage the prospect, open an opportunity to start a dialogue, and lead them further down the sales funnel until they buy from you.

However, according to sales strategist Jill Konrath, 97% of all business calls will go to voicemail. This is why it’s essential that you learn how to master the art of leaving a good one!

Here are a few tips and tricks:

• Use Bullet Points.

If you’re leaving a live voicemail (or recording one to easily leave with one click as you power dial through your leads list!) avoid sounding wooden or bored by using bullet points. This helps keep your delivery casual and not overly scripted. These bullets should include:

Your name
The reason for your call
A benefit of calling you back
Your contact information
An indication of a follow-up email

• Timing is Everything.

Typically, the best times to call a business lead is between 6:45 – 9:00 AM and 4:00 – 6:00 PM, except for on Mondays and Fridays. According to RingDNA, Monday mornings until noon and Friday afternoons are the worst times to call a business!

• Provide options.

Some people would rather have the option to learn more via email, rather than over the phone. That’s perfectly okay! At the end of your cold calling voicemail message, leave a warm, “I’ll also follow up with an email,” promise… and then be sure to do so!

• Slow Down.

Often, sales reps want to blaze through leaving a cold calling voicemail message in order to move on to the next dial. However, if you treat your voicemail like a key piece of marketing material, this is bad form! Prospects want to feel as though you’re taking the time to connect with them. Without that expression of value, they will simply delete your message and carry on with their lives! Consider the calm, smiling faces of people on marketing postcards… project that same emotion to your prospects over the phone.

Batter Up!

Jenny Cartwright, author of the book Don’t Get Hung Up! How to Sell Products and Services By Phone, offers these four tips to position your cold calling voicemail message to hit a homer:

1. Talk directly into the mouthpiece of the phone, and not out to the side.
2. Sit up tall or stand up when leaving a message so there is more energy in your voice.
3. Speak your name slowly so people can understand it and write it down.
4. Always leave your telephone number. However, if you provide a mobile number, always ensure you have enough credit and room in your voicemail inbox so people can reach you, when they do call back!

Now, step up to the plate and empower your telesales team with the tools they need to reach more people with their calls and stellar voicemails! Connect with Call Logic today!