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Leave Voicemails That Generate Call-Backs To Increase Sales Prospecting Success

How to leave voicemails that get C-Level buyers to return your phone calls...
Be relevant... be valuable... and be likeable. These simple guidelines can help you to develop trust, rapport, and interest when leaving sales prospecting voicemails.

Author:
Scott Trunkett
  1. Match the tone and pace of that of your prospect. Pay attention to the tone and pace of the outbound message and mirror it. You may even want to listen to it a few times BEFORE you leave your message in order to get it right. People like people like themselves. This technique for sales prospecting voicemails helps a recipient to 'relate' to you personally.


  2. Get permission to speak. Please, please, please...get a referral whenever possible. Don't start your campaign at the top. If you work your prospecting campaign properly, you will have collected not only valuable situational insight, but a collection of internal contacts. Make friends with them, and ask them if you can drop their name to the Big Cheese. It's best to use a referral that your prospect will immediately recognize by name and does not require an introduction.


  3. Once you have permission to speak, pay attention to ROA - Return on Attention. Your prospect will use the first 8 seconds or so to screen you out, so make sure to to catch his attention this quickly. Your research and networking have, presumably, given you some key business issues that will be on your prospect's mind.
    "Hi, Mr. Cheese, Rhonda Referral indicated that you might be facing Armageddon, and that our Antimatter Destripulaters might be able to help you to save a Bazillion dollars in the first month."
    Okay...got his attention. Now deliver...


  4. Be Likable again (still)... "I know that you are very busy, and that's why I'm calling. I believe that we can help you improve this situation, and I can tell you everything you need to know in a 5 minute conversation so that you can decide for yourself if it's worth pursuing further. Call me at 555-1212. I promise that this will not take more than 5 minutes."


  5. BE prepared with a 3-minute pitch for when (s)he calls back.


  6. When (s)he calls. KEEP your promise! You may, of course, take more than the 5 minutes promised, BUT ONLY if you ask for and receive permission first.


Happy Hunting!
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About the Author:
Managing Partner of Sales RaceHorses, Scott has over 20 years of direct experience in industrial equipment manufacturing, sales, and services. Scotts industrial equipment sales expertise comes from a breadth of experience including a variety of direct sales and executive leadership roles.

As a Sr. Manager for Accenture, Scott managed comprehensive sales strategy programs for Fortune 500 firms such as Lucent Technologies, Exxon-Mobil, and Philip Morris. During the height of the dot.com formation era, Scott led the development and rollout of Accenture's firm-wide web developer training curriculum.

Scott has also led significant sales change initiatives for small to medium sized industrial equipment aftermarket manufacturers and service organizations, such as TurboCare and Turbine Generator Maintenance. With an engineering education from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and equipment design engineering and field engineering experience at General Electric, Scott is able to quickly develop a deep understanding of his clients technical offerings, enabling him to deliver high impact sales diagnostic results that drive profitable business change for clients.
© Sales RaceHorses 2007 - Sales Prospecting | Voicemails