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To leave a voicemail or not - here is my take on the subject

by DaniMc
13 replies
I've heard plenty of people ask if they should leave a voicemail. Usually the response is "NO, they will never call back." I used to say the same thing.

Here is the deal, being afraid they will never call back is not a good reason. This is FEAR OF REJECTION talking to you.

I leave voicemails. Not boring, average voicemails. When I am on the phone, I am excited. I am talking fast and having fun. I am fired up. When I leave a voicemail, I let it rip. I promise not to waste their time and tell them to call me.

Now, do many of them return my call? NOPE. So why leave a voicemail?

I just gave them a commercial! I follow up relentlessly and I will not stop calling someone until I can pitch them directly. If they are even a little interested I continue to call and send letters until I get an appointment.

You can't let something like voicemail stop you. If you leave them 30 voicemails, they will eventually call you back or hear you out!!

You just have to attack, attack, attack like a hungry dog chasing a hot dog truck.

Become a machine. Let nothing stop you. Follow up relentlessly. Persist until they either cuss you out or they hear you out. If they are hesitant to make an appointment but don't hang up or tell you no, continue to follow up with them until they agree to see you or they get a restraining order against you!

It can all begin with a voicemail, and it is just another opportunity for them to hear from you.
#leave #subject #voicemail
  • Profile picture of the author deu12000
    I've had moderate success with voicemails. If I'm lucky one out of 100 or so voicemails calls back on my current campaign. From there conversions are fairly high. I use a power dialer so I don't have to actually leave the voicemail, my recording is left when calls go to voicemail. I already paid for the phone call, might as well leave a voice mail.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joel
      Facts:

      - If you don't leave a VM you will NOT get a call back

      - If you leave a VM you MAY get a call back ... plus, you start to build name recognition

      Which is better?

      Joel
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      • Profile picture of the author Tracy411
        Originally Posted by Joel View Post

        Facts:

        - If you don't leave a VM you will NOT get a call back

        - If you leave a VM you MAY get a call back ... plus, you start to build name recognition

        Which is better?

        Joel
        Exactly! I was going to say, even if that 1 in 100 calls back, you still have to leave 100 to get that call.

        Tracy
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    Yeah I'm not even thinking about them calling back. I use it as a commercial.

    I once had a seminar promoter call me and leave messages about 10 times. It was irritating at first but eventually I started to learn more and more. I started listening to see "what's so damn important."

    I eventually spoke to him. He didn't make sale because I wasn't a fit.

    You miss 100% of the shots you don't take!
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    • Profile picture of the author Tracy411
      Originally Posted by Dan McCoy View Post

      Yeah I'm not even thinking about them calling back. I use it as a commercial.

      I once had a seminar promoter call me and leave messages about 10 times. It was irritating at first but eventually I started to learn more and more. I started listening to see "what's so damn important."

      I eventually spoke to him. He didn't make sale because I wasn't a fit.

      You miss 100% of the shots you don't take!
      Dan,

      I love your enthusiasm. If anywhere near as much energy translates across the phone lines, you're golden.

      I also agree with the idea that it serves as a commercial. The older I get, the more I ask myself what I have to lose. Most of the time, the answer is 'nothing important' or 'nothing at all.' We can psych ourselves out of most things by imagining worst case scenario or placing too much emphasis on what the other person may think if we stumble. I've come to feel that everything serves us in some way. If you do stumble, sail over it, make a joke...bottom line, use it in some way. And focus on what you have to gain.

      Great stuff, Dan

      Tracy
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      • Profile picture of the author JacobS
        Like Dan said, it's important to follow up with them, and not just leave the voicemail and leave the ball in their court.

        About a month or two ago, I was on the phone with a prospective client and he actually played somebody else's voicemail for me to listen to and asked if I could provide the same service for the same price. This person listened to the voicemail, saved it, and was very interested. If the other salesperson had followed up, it would have been an easy sale.
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  • Profile picture of the author PaulintheSticks
    Interesting topic and lots of good points. I leave a message if using a pre-qualified list. If the list isn't, I'm not sure it would be worth the effort depending on how long the message is. Unless of course you're using a power dialer.
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  • Profile picture of the author KingOfContentMarketing
    Check it out- this same topic on a LinkedIn thread got over 900 comments:

    When cold calling do you leave a voicemail? | LinkedIn
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  • Profile picture of the author DWaters
    If you do NOT leave a message they will definitely NOT call you back.
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    • Profile picture of the author RRG
      Voice mail is a fact of life in B2B.

      If you know going in you're going to get voice mail instead of a live conversation nine times out of ten, why wouldn't you leave a message?
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  • Profile picture of the author iAmNameLess
    So let me ask you a question...

    Do you believe that those people that don't answer their business phone are an ideal prospect, and deserve your services? It baffles me the amount of people that don't answer... but run a business.

    Next, do you believe that leaving 100 voicemails, which if you just leave a short 30 second voice mail, you're spending 3,000 seconds leaving voicemails just to get one call back that was actually interested in the voicemail and not just calling back because they saw the missed call... that it is more beneficial than just going to the next number? You also have to figure in the additional 15 seconds you're on the phone in order to leave a voicemail. That puts you at about 75 minutes... an hour and 15 minutes leaving voicemails when you could be talking to live people but instead talking to a machine.

    I'm not knocking it... I launched my office in January and have sales people that leave voicemails because they think the same way as you, but those voicemails never turn into anything interesting.

    My personal take on the matter is that businesses that don't answer their phones, have deeper issues than lack of visibility or lack of marketing. I don't believe in the efficiency of leaving voicemails for cold calling, but if it works for you then that's great.

    The person that said it builds name recognition... That is an interesting take on it. I didn't really think about that, but how important is name recognition to someone that doesn't take their business serious enough to answer their phone?
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    • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
      Originally Posted by iAmNameLess View Post

      So let me ask you a question...

      Do you believe that those people that don't answer their business phone are an ideal prospect, and deserve your services? It baffles me the amount of people that don't answer... but run a business.

      Next, do you believe that leaving 100 voicemails, which if you just leave a short 30 second voice mail, you're spending 3,000 seconds leaving voicemails just to get one call back that was actually interested in the voicemail and not just calling back because they saw the missed call... that it is more beneficial than just going to the next number? You also have to figure in the additional 15 seconds you're on the phone in order to leave a voicemail. That puts you at about 75 minutes... an hour and 15 minutes leaving voicemails when you could be talking to live people but instead talking to a machine.

      I'm not knocking it... I launched my office in January and have sales people that leave voicemails because they think the same way as you, but those voicemails never turn into anything interesting.

      My personal take on the matter is that businesses that don't answer their phones, have deeper issues than lack of visibility or lack of marketing. I don't believe in the efficiency of leaving voicemails for cold calling, but if it works for you then that's great.

      The person that said it builds name recognition... That is an interesting take on it. I didn't really think about that, but how important is name recognition to someone that doesn't take their business serious enough to answer their phone?
      First off...congrats on your new office. Exciting stuff.

      I agree with what you are saying in a certain respect. It all has to do with why you are leaving the message.

      If you are hoping for a call back, especially for a lower dollar sale, that is a waste of time.

      As the value of the sale goes up, the sales cycle typically increases. If you are targeting a largish sale to a mid-size company, there may be many reasons the DM didn't answer at that time.

      I take the voice mail as an opportunity to let them know it is me. In these types of sales, where the choices are very important to the business, it is amazing how few sellers follow up effectively.

      I have had people say "wow, you are really serious about this." My reply is always "Yes, I KNOW I can help you in a big way. I feel an ethical duty to you and your employees to do all I can for your business. When I feel this strongly about a company, I will continue to follow up until I get a real opportunity to show you what we do."

      This is very, very impressive to them and very different from their usual experience.

      Now, if this was a sale under $5k, I would just move on and not leave a message. But, I am prospecting for a big sale. A business changing experience for the company. I want them to know all the followup I am doing.

      I'll meet with their managers and employees to continue to learn about the company and come up with a more complete presentation. I WILL sell them eventually.

      It doesn't take that much time to leave these voicemails. I am not a drive by marketer. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that at all. I am a farmer. I am looking to build those 250 clients who I KNOW inside and out, I KNOW I can help them, and the value I bring will be tremendous.

      Think about it, how many sales worth $25-50k annually do you need to make? And if you figure out how to make 20 of them per year...you can scale it up to 100 eventually.

      EDIT: Now that I think about it more, forget almost everything I said above about the size of the sale!

      I think it has more to do with your prospecting philosophy overall. If you are looking to make those quick sales and move on, a voicemail probably won't help. It can't hurt, but it probably wont help much.

      I am just one of those people who believes in ridiculous amounts of followup. I'm trying to build a market for myself and that means cultivating deep relationships in my community of prospects.

      Even with a 3-5k sale, they still go into my CRM. They still go into my sales process. I still followup up with them like crazy. If I know someone is a fit for me, I keep hitting them over and over.

      I'm sure at some point time will not allow me to do this alone, at which point I will bring in some help. Although, it really doesn't take that much time to follow up.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rearden
    Look at it this way.

    The person who doesn't answer their phone, or who is generally hard to reach, probably never gets follow ups, as most sales people don't follow up anyway.

    I leave voicemails at every opportunity I get when cold calling (but not off of lead cards).

    Seems I get 1 call back off of a voicemail left after every 200 cold calls placed.
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