So, consider changing your voicemails. Leave behind the typical “give me a call back when you can,” and instead expand on your services and purpose.
If you have voicemails saved on a non-smart phone, your best bet is to record them on a computer. This is a method that requires some equipment, but not as much as you might think.
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Too many reps are the inside sales equivalent of chatty grandmas—pitching solutions, discussing features, and offering value propositions over a voicemail.
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If you’re contacting the same people with marketing voicemails and emails, you shouldn’t repeat information verbatim. By mixing up your approach, you make it more likely to get a response to at least one method. Also, your voicemails should be more personalized than your emails. For example, you could send an email to a contact – and 500 others – asking for feedback about a specific product they recently bought.
Most importantly, have fun with it. If you don’t enjoy leaving a voicemail, you might not be in the right job. Voicemails can add value, whether or not a prospect calls you back right away. Even if it triggers an email response or call-back six months down the line, it’s valuable. The better your voicemails, the more likely you’ll get a response. This article was originally published on Hubspot. It has been republished here with permission.
Pro tip: Only use first names. People of authority call each other by their first name only. Using the contact’s full name or saying Mr./Ms. [last name] can make you seem less confident and important than the person you’re calling.
If you’re making several calls, make sure you document your messages so you can be on top of it immediately if/when your call is returned. Nothing worse (or more stupid) than getting a returned call and having no idea who it’s from.
To fix your voicemail not working on your iPhone, another method you can try is changing your voicemail password.
Before you make any calls, start with setting a goal. Will you be working on your tone? Your passion? The length of the message?
Your voicemail PIN can be any number 4 to 15 digits long. Be sure to make note of it because you'll need it to access your messages in the future.
Conducting extra research on your prospects before you call them is always a good idea. This script from Mike Brooks is a great example of how you can use this additional information in your sales voicemails.
When using a Cisco phone, you can record and change your voicemail greeting directly on the phone. For the following instructions, to select an option, you can use the phone's blue toggle button to scroll down and highlight the desired option, and then press the Select soft key. Press the Services (globe icon) button on the phone.
While missed calls aren’t ideal, you can let your caller know you’re still there for them by having a great voicemail greeting. The best business voicemail greetings let your customers (and potential customers) know why you’re not available and how they can best get in contact with your business. They are also short and to the point. You usually want to keep your greeting between 6 and 24 seconds long so callers don’t hang up halfway through.
Those who know me know I can hold a conversation. I love people, and my desire to share with them carries over to leaving cell phone messages. Sadly, I know better than to leave long messages, and I have no excuse, but I tend to chatter on, and on, and on, enjoying a conversation with, essentially, myself.
“Hi, this is Luke. Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you.”
5.) If you’re calling a home line, and know the family, it’s nice to say a group “Hello” before leaving a message specifically for the person you called. Say something like this: “Hi everyone, it’s Maralee. Hope you’re enjoying Spring Break! Janet, I wanted to see if you and I could meet for lunch one day next week. My schedule is pretty open, and we could pick a restaurant near your office. I know your lunch schedules are tight. I’ll give you a call back at 7:00 tonight. Or I’m around all afternoon, so give me a call!” (Boy, home lines are becoming rare, aren’t they? We gave ours up a couple of months ago.)