Three
Ways to Get Return Calls
Many sales professionals
have found that the little technological marvel known as voice
mail can be both a blessing and a curse. Voice mail allows
us to leave messages for colleagues, prospects, clients, managers,
friends and others without having to trust an administrative
assistant to decipher your message. Unless an assistant listens
to and deletes an individual’s voice mails, one can rest assured
that the message will end up in the right hands.
At the same
time, voice mails are awfully easy
to ignore. Many sales
professionals find themselves banging their head against the
wall trying to get prospects to return
their calls. Even warm
leads can be difficult to reach via voice mail. Listed below
are two ways to leave messages that will increase your chances of
a return call.
Association
Voice Mail
“Good morning,
Steve. This is Dave Dialer at 703-555-8047. I’m calling from Boheme
Chemicals regarding the success we’ve had working with Performance
Tires. I look forward to hearing from you.”
This type of
voice mail succeeds because it immediately
perks the ears of your intended target. The
goal is to be able to reference a successful
relationship with one of your clients in the prospect’s industry.
This is crucial. If you’re calling a construction company and you
mention your success with an airline, your call will fall on deaf
ears. Calling Ford? Mention
your successes at General Motors. Calling Coca-Cola? Mention
how you’ve built a strong
relationship with Pepsi. If you truly have a good story to tell,
once the client calls back, you’ll
be on your way.
Vague
Voice Mail.
“Hi Sue. This
is Greg Pitcher at 415-616-2407. It is Tuesday morning and I’ll
be in the office today. Thanks!”
Who? Greg
Pitcher? I think I know the name but… let me call and find out.
Well… clearly, this is a vague message. You haven’t stated
who you’re with or why you’re calling. Quite a few prospects will
call back out of sheer curiosity.
Tag
Team Voice Mail
“Hello, this
is Sally LeQuota. I wanted to speak with you about Greg Pitcher,
one of our account managers who spoke with you in May. If you could
please give me a call, I can be reached at 415-616-2498.”
Let’s make one
thing clear – before you use this, you have to make sure your rep
actually spoke to the prospect. This generally will get you a return
call. One effective
approach is to ask
a client where things went wrong since the company had decided
not to work with you. This will cause the prospect to open up to
you and will give you a
possible “in.” It’s very likely that nothing went wrong… but
you’ll know soon enough.
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