It doesn’t have to be that way, though. First of all, leaving a voicemail isn’t that big of a deal. It’s just a message. Less than a minute of you talking, and that’s it. It’s doesn’t call for panic.
Now before we jump into one possible solution, let’s cover an additional step you may want to add to your repertoire:
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Voicemail #1: "Hi Jerry, I recently attended one of TrustPilot's webinars. I didn't receive any follow-up emails, which made me wonder if you have a marketing strategy in place for nurturing webinar leads. Folks who attend a live event are 30% more likely to convert, according to my team's research. What strategy, if any, do you have in place today?"
On the Phone tab, click the voicemail icon below the dial pad, and then click Change Greetings. Skype for Business calls your voicemail and guides you to record a personal greeting.
Wondering why this is? We can thank the serial position effect. This psychological phenomenon says when you show people a list, they'll remember the first and last items the best. That means when you're trying to grab a prospect's attention, you want to be one of the first or last things they hear.
Salespeople who call and hang up screen themselves out of the process. No matter if you're prepared to leave the perfect voicemail or not, you need to leave one every time. However, if you do record a few messages with the same ultra-specific question, the prospect feels a twinge of guilt each time you call back because they feel they owe you an answer.
Hello Joan, this is Susan with XYZ Company. I’m calling to get price quotes on your shipping rate. I’d appreciate it if you could call me back at 333-333-3333. Anytime during the work week would be great. Thank you.
Call the voicemail system to change your password: From your AT&T wireless phone, press and hold 1. For AT&T Wireless Home Phone, dial 1. If prompted, enter your voicemail password. If you have new messages, press the * key to skip to the Main Menu. In the Main Menu, press 4 for Personal Options. Press 2 for Administrative Options.
There’s a potential of up to 3 quick touches right off the bat to help you get on your prospects radar:
You can also erase any of your existing recordings associated with your voicemail box. To delete your name recording, unavailable greeting, or temporary greeting: Dial *98 on your OnSIP-registered phone. Enter your voicemail box number. Enter the PIN/password for your voicemail box. Press 0 for voicemail box options. Press 1 for unavailable greeting, 2 for your name, or 3 for temporary greeting. Press 2 to delete the existing recording on file.
Most cell phones show the number and voicemail duration when a call is missed. So if the recipient sees the message is from an unknown number and only a few seconds long, they'll assume it's not important and hit delete. Since the message doesn't appear to be substantive, they're not prompted to listen.
6. After the message has played, you’ll be given some options for what to do with the message e.g. delete or save it, etc. along with the corresponding number to press.
Finally get an answering machine. Now how does this thing work? Hmmm. Press record button, I did that, and the light should be on. I wonder why it’s not working right. Hmmmm, I wonder what this button does……
It might be a straightforward approach, but it's not effective in the slightest. As soon as the prospect realizes this voicemail is a sales pitch from a salesperson, it's getting deleted. And if you lead with your name and company, the prospect's finger hits the delete key almost immediately.
Unfortunately, preventing spam callers from leaving a voicemail on your cell phone can be tricky. We've researched the options from each carrier and tested a number of call blocking apps to see
Something along the lines of, "You have reached the answering service of . I am unfortunately unable to take your call at this time, however if you leave a message after the tone I will return your call as soon as I have an opportunity.". That's about a 12 second message if spoken in a slow and calm fashion. The message that this article advises is about 4 seconds.