How to Leave Voicemails When Your Cold Call Attempt Fails

Hey guys, thanks for stopping by! I set a goal to learn everything that I could about succeeding in sales in one month. I read books, listened to podcasts, did a ton of research, and put what I learned into practice. And I documented my process for it. This is one piece of my project; check out the entire project here!

Is it essential to leave a voicemail, or can a salesman’s time be better utilized doing something else? I have found that this is a common topic of debate in the sales world.

I think voicemails can be the ultimate strategy if you do it strategically. Sales is simply people buying from other people. Voicemails are one of the only ways that the prospect gets to hear a person’s voice. I think they are undervalued because it makes the sales process way more human. Plus, you did all the research to prepare for the call; why would you waste an opportunity and miss out on a touchpoint?

But just like a cold email or cold call, voicemails need to be done in a certain way to have the most significant impact. Here are my top tips for crushing a voicemail:

Start with something personal to the person.

Starting with your name and company is the quickest way for the prospect to end the voicemail and delete your number. You are basically starting the voicemail by saying, “this is a sales call, and I am calling to sell you this.” If you don’t spark their interest in the first few seconds of the call, they are not going to hang around. If you’re contacting them, other salespeople are likely contacting them as well, so you need to lead with something that is compelling, or they will just move on to the following voicemail.

Use your normal tone of voice.

Anything that makes you sound like you are an overly enthusiastic and excited salesman is going to be a turn-off for your prospect. It makes it sound like they are just another one of your cold calls for the day.

You need to make the prospect feel like the message is meant for them and only them. When you randomly call your friend, do you change your tonality or just talk in your normal voice? The message has to come across as genuine. You need to show you are making this call to help them instead of sounding like someone trying to sell them something.

Many cold callers rush through their voicemails because they have a quota to hit and need to move on to their next task. But, a way to differentiate yourself from the pack is by actually slowing down a bit. This not only shows that you are confident in your ability to articulate what you’re saying, but it shows that they are important to you because they will be able to tell you aren’t rushing through it.

Tell them when you plan to call them back.

As the prospector, you need to control the communication and take the decisions out of their hands. Tell them a specific time and date that you are going to call them again. Still leave your contact information, but don’t just rely on them to call you back. Plus giving an exact time will make them remember you better because now they have a future date in their mind. This shows them that you are dedicated to them specifically. You’re also indicting this isn’t going to be your last attempt at contacting them. Doing this will hopefully make it less likely that they will ignore you because you are indicating that you will continue to contact them.

Call back after you leave a voicemail and leave another voicemail.

They don’t answer the first time you call? Leave a voicemail and then call back. It’s possible that they weren’t right next to their phone and just weren’t able to get to it. Show them that this is a call that matters and they are not just another prospect. And if they don’t answer again, leave another voicemail with some additional information. For example:

“Hey Dave, it’s me again. I forgot to mention that we have helped “x company” double their conversation rate in 3 months. Again, I’ll call you Thursday at 9 am. Have a nice day!.”

The more they hear your name and are familiar with you, the better. Prospects are likely getting several cold outreach attempts daily, so you have to find a way to be different and get remembered.

Leave voicemails at the end of the day

Most people make their calls throughout the day, so if you wait until the end of the day to make your call, you are more likely to show up first when they look at their voicemails. The serial position effect is a psychological phenomenon that says people remember the first and last items on a list the best. Being the first voicemail, they look at might be the strategy that helps ramp up callbacks.

Don’t skip out on leaving a voicemail.

Voicemails, when done the right way, can be a game-changer. Sometimes prospects forget that they are interacting with people when they only see emails and LinkedIn messages all day, so remind them you’re a person by leaving a good voicemail. Again, people buy from people, so the more human you can make the sales process, and the more a prospect hears your voice, the better.

Thanks for stopping by; check out my entire project here!