Call management software with pre-recorded voicemails isn’t merely a convenience—it’s a must-have if you want to save time and grow your sales network.
When pre-recorded voicemails first came along, most people didn’t think much about them as a way to grow their sales businesses. Now, however, working without voicemail drop will almost certainly leave you lagging behind the competition.
Think about some simple numbers: Let’s say you have a team of five sales reps who all make approximately fifty calls a day. Of those fifty calls, let’s assume that thirty-five, or seventy percent, go to voicemail. If each voicemail takes fifteen seconds to leave, that’s nearly nine minutes a day that each rep spends just leaving voicemails. That adds up to forty-five minutes a day, almost four hours a week, and almost twenty hours per month. That’s a lot of time that could be spent elsewhere.
Pre-recorded voicemails have cut that down to a fraction of the time. With this incredible feature, following up on leads and getting in touch with clients is easier than ever. That said, some best practices will help you to maximize the effectiveness of your pre-recorded voicemails and hopefully lead you to more telesales success.
See Call Logic’s voicemail drop feature in action, along with many other helpful features, by signing up for a free demo! We can’t wait to show you how you can revolutionize your sales business.
How to create perfect pre-recorded voicemails for sales success
If you’re not already familiar, pre-recorded voicemails are exactly what they sound like: Using call management software like Call Logic, you can record messages you intend to leave for customers when you don’t get through on your call attempt. When you make a call that goes to voicemail, click a button, and your message will drop into their mailbox while you’re already well on your way to your next call.
Of course, it’s not quite that simple. You do have to manage your pre-recorded voicemails, not to mention craft them carefully. Still, in the long run, once you get them set up, you’ll find yourself with a lot of newly found time that you can dedicate to building relationships with other customers and developing new leads.
One of the challenges of leaving voicemails in the first place is that you have a limited time to leave a message meaningful and interesting enough to warrant a call back. Even for veteran sales agents, that’s hard to do on the spot. Using voicemail scripts can help—and we do recommend using them for your pre-recorded voicemails—but the spotlight is still on you during a live message. There are plenty of opportunities for the tiniest infractions—flubbing a word, forgetting a key point—that might cost you the return call.
Pre-recorded voicemails, on the other hand, bring with them the fantastic benefit of being able to write scripts, practice them, and record them until you get them right. Now, you may be thinking, how does this save me time? Well, it will take a little work in the beginning. But once you get your voicemails in order, that investment of time will return dividends over the course of a quarter or a year.
Here’s the catch, though. If your pre-recorded voicemails sound, well, pre-recorded, your chances of getting a call back diminish significantly. No one wants to feel as though they’re just a number, even if they understand you work with many clients.
As you write scripts for your voicemails, pay close attention to word choice. Sales reps have realized over the years that clients respond more positively to some words than others, and some words can have a negative effect. For a non-exhaustive list, check out this guide from Hubspot.
A good voicemail should only be about 15-20 seconds long, so you not only have to choose your words carefully, but your content as well. State your name and company, the purpose of your call (which should be interesting enough to pique curiosity), and close with a clear call to action. Honestly, that’s about all you can fit into 15 seconds, but that’s why it’s so important you nail it!
Finally, review your pre-recorded voicemails to listen for tone, clarity, etc. You want to sound enthusiastic, warm, and eager to hear back from them. It may take a few tries to get this right, but again, it’s well worth the investment of time.
Next steps: Leaving voicemails that will win over the toughest customers
By now, you’ve probably considered that pre-recorded voicemails are not one-size-fits-all. You’ll need a couple of different templates, and you’ll need to tweak them frequently so that they still come across as specific to the client. You may want one for cold calls, one for and initial follow-up, and one more for additional follow-ups. It can also be helpful to have one for check-in calls, as those can be an essential part of your sales funnel even though you may not actually be selling anything just yet.
Unless it’s a cold call, try to include something referencing a topic you discussed in your initial interaction. People love to be remembered and are more likely to trust you if you recall details about your discourse. Especially if your client raised an objection or two in the initial call, mention ever so briefly how you think you’ve found a solution for whatever problem. That will almost certainly get you a call back!
Using pre-recorded voicemails can do wonders for both productivity and even call-back rates—both good signs that you’re heading towards more sales success. Just remember, though, that while leaving a voicemail isn’t usually something people give much thought to, in your case as a sales rep, there is definitely an art to it. Don’t leave voicemails on the back-burner, thinking they aren’t an important part of what you do. Write your scripts, rewrite your scripts, practice reciting them, get critiques from colleagues or others knowledgeable about such things. Again, it’ll take some work initially, but once you master it, you will be all that much more equipped to edge out your competitors and bring in more business for you and your teams.
Find out how a call management CRM like Call Logic can completely change the way your sales company does business. Schedule a free demo to learn more about pre-recorded voicemails, click-to-call features, setting up call campaigns, whisper coaching, and so much more!