Using Voice Mail to Get Appointments

A lot of people don’t believe in leaving voice mail, and that’s alright – but if you do, you’ll get more appointments.

There are a couple of dynamics at play. A lot of reps say “I never get a call back”; “No one ever returns voice mails”. Not true, I get return calls from 5 out of 10 messages I leave.

But you can also benefit from the ones that do not call back. Studies have shown that it may take anywhere from 4 to 7 approaches for someone to respond or deal with a new matter. Other studies have shown that most sales people give up after three attempts at reaching someone (usually with a manager saying  “move on” in the background).

Now if you do not leave a message, then you may have tried 3 times, and let’s say you’re one of the keeners who tries 4 times, as far as the prospect goes you’re at zero, because they have no way of knowing that you called, because you didn’t leave a message or “calling card” telling her you want to talk to her. You also don’t want to be at the other end of the spectrum, wasting your time dialing someone dozens of times, not leaving a message, then finally connecting and letting built up frustration out on the prospect, as though it was their fault that you called and called and called, instead of leaving a message and having them call you, like every other person I leave a message for does.

Another thing to consider is that a vast majority of reps, who do not leave messages, still listen to the entire outbound message on the voice mail, so why not take a few more seconds and leave a message.

It’s a no brainer, on the one hand, even if they don’t call back (within 72 hours), you are on the prospects radar (yes initially at the fringe) but still better than the superstars who don’t leave messages; on the other hand a 50-50 shot of getting a call back, good odds, and certainly many more conversation leading to more appointments.

If by chance you do miss a return call from someone you left a message for, not the time of their call to you, and aim to call them back in the same time frame, another way to shifting your calling hours, in addition to those detailed above.

Plain and simple, the goal of a voice mail is to get a return call not the appointment; once you are talking to the prospect, you can go for the appointment. So get the call back, and then go for the next step.

Part 2 of the SalesMarks Sales Guide: 5 Ways to Get More Sales Appointments