The reason prospects aren’t returning your sales reps’ messages is because they’re garbage, says Mark Hunter (thesaleshunter.com). While many salespeople feel voicemail is a waste of time, Hunter argues in his new book, “High-Profit Prospecting,” that a tightly constructed message left for a prospect or current customer provides reps an opportunity to raise awareness, and share the energy and confidence they have for whatever they are selling.
He sets the time limit for a voicemail at 18 seconds and prefers 12. Hunter’s ideal voicemail message opens with a tight greeting, provides a call to action and ends with an invitation to call back, but don’t expect one. “View your message as one of a series you’ll use to reach your prospect across different mediums.”
“The biggest mistake people make is leaving a message with zero value to the person receiving it,” Hunter says. Messages aren’t about trying to convince them how great your company is. They must offer something of value to the recipient. The best way for a salesperson do this is to look for information the prospect has most likely not seen, but would be of great interest.
Reps should write out strong messages they develop, but never leave the same message twice for the same prospect. Use the person’s first name twice and leave subsequent messages on different days at different times.
