This is a Guest post by Art Sobczak.

“I leave voice mail messages all day long for prospects,” the salesperson bemoaned. “Why don’t people call me back?”

I didn’t need to listen to his calls to give an answer. The same reasons apply to all telesales people leaving voice mails. Pick any three (or more) of the following reasons:

• The message is too long. Grab their attention within 10 seconds or you’re “sixed” (or whatever their delete key is.) Picture someone picking up their voice mails in a busy, noisy airport; they don’t have time to listen to your life story.

• It’s not about them. They don’t care about you, your products, or that you’re their new “account manager.” And really, why should they?  They’re just like Toby Keith in his song, “I Want to Talk About Me.”

• You sound salesy. Mention that you have a new product, a service, that you want them to advertise with you, or that you want to meet with them, and you evoke the same resistance as when the retail store sales rep says, “May I help you?”  Face it: most people run the other way when a salesperson approaches them.

• Most people don’t return voice mails from telesales reps. News alert: They’re swimming upstream as fast as they can just to stay up with their daily piles of work. Very few say, “Oh, good. Another call from a telesales rep. Move that to the top of the to-do list.”

• You only called once. Even if someone returns the occasional voicemail, who do they call? Probably not the one-time caller. A buyer I interviewed told me that he never returns calls, and the only sales reps who have the remotest chance of even getting through his screener next time are those he recognizes as having left several interesting voice mails.

So is voice mail a lost cause for sales reps?

On the contrary, it’s a great tool to separate you from the majority of reps making mistakes. Here’s what to do:

• Learn about them first. Be a detective. Glean info wherever possible. Go to their website. Enter the company name and prospect’s name into search engines. Use LinkedIn and other Sales 2.0 methodologies. Read trade publications, your local Business Journal, and the ones in your territory. Then use that information in your message as it relates to how you might be able to help them get or avoid something.

• Talk to others in the company. Anyone and everyone. Continue your info-gathering. Identify yourself and company and say, “I hope you can help me. I’m going to speak with Ms. Byer, and I want to be sure that what I have would be appropriate.” Then ask questions.

• Be prepared. Voice mail is not new technology. It shouldn’t be a surprise that you will be asked to speak after the tone. So why not be dead-on prepared for what you’ll say?  (Just notice how many messages you get that begin with, “Uhhh.”) There’s no excuse to not be smooth and confident.

• Use a “possible results” statement. This is the grabber. Mention what you might be able to do for them. Personalization increases their interest level: “I understand you’re now looking at ways to increase the number of long-term leases at your Highland Park property. We specialize in some unique marketing methods that help property managers minimize vacancies…”

• Use a multi-media approach. Don’t rely on voice mail to carry the entire load. Back up your message with an email, a fax, a letter, or a message that you ask the screener to write on the pink message pad and give to the boss. And don’t overlook the lowest tech, but highest touch approach: handwritten letters.

• Say YOU’LL call back. You need to control the communication. It’s your responsibility to reach them. Tell them you’ll call back Thursday morning. Then DO it. But do give them options to reach you, leaving your phone number and email just in case they want to contact you.

• Use a “last resort.” At some point of repeated futility, depending upon their future potential and the size of your prospect pool, you need to punt and leave a final, firmer message. What is that point?  If you sell office supplies, everyone could be a prospect, so the magic number at which you let go would be smaller than for someone selling train locomotives to railroads. What to say?

“… I’ve tried several times to contact you about how we might be able to help cut your cost of customer acquisition by 20% like we have for B.O. Industries. If I don’t hear back from you I’m going to assume this is not something you’d like to discuss at this time …”

This often elicits a response (I’ve even heard apologies) from people who are interested and simply were too busy to reply.

While most sales reps are ensuring they never get through because of their voice mails, you can set yourself apart and pave the way for a productive conversation. Avoid these mistakes, use these ideas, and the sound of the tone will be like the music of a cash register!

Art Sobczak has helped sales pros say the right things by phone for over 27 years.  Get a free ebook of tips at http://www.BusinessByPhone.com, and see more free sales and prospecting tips, hear recorded calls, and watch videos at http://www.TelesalesBlog.com.

This is a Guest Post by Mark Hunter.

Many times when I’m working with inside salespeople, I hear the common complaint how they don’t feel they’re at their best until later in the day. The first few people to whom they talk on the telephone wind up being disastrous calls. What makes this painful is these same salespeople are usually the ones who are not making their numbers. These are the same salespeople who spend way too much of their time – and the time of their fellow salespeople – complaining about how screwed up things are.

Rather than wasting the first several calls on customers you know are going to answer, take the first 10 minutes of each day calling people you know won’t be there. In other words, their voice mail will pick up. In fact, go one step farther and make the first call to yourself – yes, yourself. Here is why: By calling yourself first, you have the opportunity to engage your mouth, to get your brain working and to warm up. Consider it similar to the way an athlete warms up before a game.

Make the first call to yourself as if you were a prospect and leave a voice mail. But don’t just leave a quick voice mail to yourself. Go ahead and share with yourself one key benefit as to why you should buy from yourself. By leaving the message to yourself, you’ll get a chance to hear yourself later when you get the message. More importantly, you’ll start warming yourself up by sharing a benefit of what makes you different.

After you have left yourself a message, then call 2- 3 people who you know will not answer their phone. Leave your normal voice mail message.

Using voice mail as a way to warm up will help you be more focused and engaged when you do talk to somebody live. It will prevent you from stumbling through your first several live calls. Only after you’ve had several live conversations and you’re fully engaged should you then even think about sitting down.  Yes, that’s another tip: Standing up when making a phone call will always increase the strength of your voice and help you be focused. It gets your energy going!

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter,” helps individuals and companies identify better prospects, close more sales, and profitably build more long-term customer relationships. He is a consultative selling expert, specializing in custom-tailored sales programs. You can read his blog at http://thesaleshunter.com/blog.

This is a Guest Post from Peter O’Donoghue of  Sales DNA.

One of the long standing debates in telesales is the question:

“Should I leave a voicemail?”

It is a question I hear over and over again in my sales training. My answer is a definite yes as long as you implement the magic voicemail that I am about to share with you.

Before I give you this golden nugget that will change your telephone prospect forever, let me tell you why, I think you should leave this voicemail.

Reasons:

•   It is proven to get results. A recent training attendee left 4 voicemail messages and received 4 call backs, which resulted in 2 new appointments. That’s a 100% success rate. What’s your call back success rate?

•    People calling back are allocating you time. I hate to break this to you but no matter how good you are, how valuable your service is and how prepared you are, when you ring someone, you are an interruption. They do not sit by the phone waiting for you to call. You are always going to be interrupting something they are doing. The beauty of getting a returned call from a voicemail ID is that they have allocated you some precious time in their schedule. For 1 or 2 minutes, you have their undivided attention.

•    It arouses curiosity: The single biggest reason why voicemails fail is because you give the entire purpose for wanting to speak to the other person. You provide all of the information so they don’t need to call you back. Make sense? Think about your voicemails and how much information you give. Why would they call you back? What you have to do is peak the human driver of curiousity to get the other person calling you back.

OK, so here is a simple and drastically effective voicemail that will get you over 50% call backs:

“Hi John, it’s Joe Bloggs from ACME INC., I was in a meeting this morning and your name came up. I have a couple of quick questions that only you can answer. Can you give me a call back on 0000000000?”

That’s it! Guaranteed to get you over 50% call backs if you deliver it with confidence and a solid voice.

The reasons why it works:

1)   It appeals to the curiosity of the person. Why were they talking about me in a meeting? What were they saying? I really must know.

2)    The psychological emphasis on – “Only you can answer my questions. ” This is specifically raising the level of importance of the person and showing that it is them specifically you want to talk to.

So what do you say when they call you? Firstly – develop an answer that is professional and has real meaning.

Have a think about what you could say in your business. Once you have had some time to think about it, I will share some ideas that are proven to work in my next blog post.

Make sure you look out for my posts to complete the story!

Peter O’Donoghue is the Director of Sales DNA who help Business To Business Sales Professionals increase sales profitability with Sales Training and Telesales Training.  Sales DNA work with clients in Europe and Worldwide through their Online Sales Training.  Visit his blog at  www.salesdnaltd.com/blog.

The following is a Guest post by Mike Brooks, AKA Mr. Inside Sales

I don’t know about you, but I’m shocked every time I listen to a voicemail message left for me by telesales reps, prospects and even clients. They are filled with ‘um’s’ and ‘ah’s', they ramble on and on, they leave no compelling reason for me to call back, and they almost always leave their number so fast that I have to listen to it two, three, sometimes four times to make it out! It’s no wonder so many voice mail messages get deleted and never called back!

If ever there was a situation that begged to be scripted, it’s your voicemail message. Isn’t this the time you want to sound your best, be perceived as a professional, and prepare the most polished message you can? Of course it is. Here are seven sample voice mail messages you can start using today to separate yourself from the other 95% of voice mails that get ignored, deleted and never returned.

The first two are voicemails for prospects you haven’t spoken with yet, the next three are for when you’re calling a prospect or client back, and the last two are for situations when your prospect or client isn’t calling you back:

Sample Voicemail Message #1:

Note: The best voicemail message you can leave is one with a specific purpose that addresses the needs of your prospect or client, and offers them a solution that is worth them taking the time to call you back to learn more about. Here is the classic template – adjust and adapt it to fit your product or service. In this and all examples, leave your phone number SLOWLY:

“Hi __________, this is ___________ with (your company). I’m calling about your new office that’s opening in Houston next month, and I wanted to provide you with some ideas that may help with your networking issues.
We work with a lot of companies in the area, and I think you’ll find it useful if we talk.

You can reach me by calling area code (800) 222-0568. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568, and ask for _________. I look forward speaking with you and thanks in advance for returning my call.”

Sample Voicemail Message #2:

“Hi _________, this is _______ _______ with (your company). You and I haven’t spoken yet, but I’ve been doing some research on your company and I think you’re a great fit for (our networking solutions – your products here). We can provide you with (BREIF list of one or two benefits) and I know you’ll be happy if we spend just a couple of minutes discussing how this can help you.

When you get this message, please call me back at (800) 222-0568. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568 and ask for _________. I look forward to speaking with you, and I guarantee you’ll be glad you returned this call.”

Sample Voicemail Message #3:

“Hi _________, this is ________ ________ with (your company). Briefly _________, I need to speak with you about how you’re handling your sales tracking (Or your kind of product or fulfillment), because I have something that can (solve their unique problem). Our clients include (list some companies they are familiar with), and I know this would work for you as well. Believe me it’ll be worth a 5 minute phone call to find out why.

Please do me a favor when you get this message and call me back at (800) 222-0568. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568 and ask for _________. I look forward speaking with you and I guarantee you’ll be glad you returned this call.”

The next two examples are for voicemails left for prospects (or clients) you’re getting back to:

Sample Voicemail Message #1:

“Hi _________, this is ________ _________ getting back with you at (your company). I’m looking forward to speaking with you because we just (give an update here – you have a new special, new product update, added a new client they would know about), and I know that based on (their specific need you uncovered during the last call) this is going to make it even easier for you to (give the benefit you both discussed). I’m excited to share this with you.

Do me a favor when you get this message and please give me call a back at
(800) 222-0568, ext. 618. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568, and I’m at ext. 618. I look forward speaking with you!”

Sample Voicemail Message #2:

“Hi ________, this is _______ ________ getting back with you about (your demo, quote, etc.). Briefly, I’ve been doing some more research on how we may be able to save you even more (or make you even more – whatever your product or service can do for them), especially in regards to your (list a specific need they told you about during the initial call), and I’m excited to share that (or discuss that) with you.

I’ll be in my office the rest of today, so do me a favor when you get this message and please give me call a back at (800) 222-0568, ext. 618. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568, and I’m at ext. 618. I look forward speaking with you.”

And for the prospects or clients that seem to be dodging you or just not calling you back:

Sample Voicemail Message #1:

“Hi _________, this is _______ ________ again with (your company). For some reason we haven’t been able to connect since I sent you (your demo, proposal, etc.), and believe me, I’ve been sales long enough to know what that probably means. I’m assuming you’ve either found another solution or this has been put on the back burner for now. Either way, that’s fine.

Do me a favor though please. So I’m not bothering you anymore, could you please give me a quick call and just give me an update so I know what direction you’re moving in? If I’m not available, just leave me a voice mail. Again, either way, it will be good to know what’s going on.

Thanks in advance for that, and I’ll look for your call. You can reach me at (800) 222-0568, ext. 618. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568, and I’m at ext. 618. Thanks again, ________.”

Sample Voicemail Message #2:

“Hi _________ this is _______ ________ again with (your company). I’m sorry we haven’t been able to get back together on this – if you’re like me I’m sure you’re being pulled in many different directions and are real busy. Do me a favor, though, and when you get this message, just call me back and leave me a voice mail with what you’ve decided to do about (your proposal or demo or quote). If you’re still interested in it, great, but even if you’ve decided not to move forward with it, that’s fine as well.
Either way it will be nice for me to know.

Thanks in advance for that, and I’ll look for your call. You can reach me at (800) 222-0568, ext. 618. That number again is area code (800) 222-0568, and I’m at ext. 618. Thanks again, ________.”

There you have it – voicemail messages for most of the situations you’ll find yourself in. Once again, by using these scripted, proven messages you’ll be giving yourself the best chance to hear back from your prospects and clients. And remember, even if their answer is no that’s a lot better than chasing unqualified prospects who are never going to buy.

Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales, works with business owners and inside sales reps nationwide teaching them the skills, strategies and techniques of top 20% performance. If you’re looking to catapult your sales, or create a sales team that actually makes their monthly revenues, then learn how by visiting: http://www.MrInsideSales.com

I’ve seen a ton of emails and tweets coming through over the last couple of months on the subject of emailing and leaving voicemails in regards to telesales and inside sales calling and follow-up’s. Being that we are a telesales tips, telemarketing tips and cold calling tips blog, I sat down and put together a few things on the subject. At first it was going to be a 2 part post, but it evolved into something a lot more heavy, content wise. After a little planning and getting together with a great eBook designer, our first FREE Telesales eBook was born.

POLITE “I CAN’T WAIT, GIVE ME MY FREE eBOOK NOW!!!” MESSAGE:  If you don’t want to read this post (which is largely taken from the introduction of the eBook itself) and want to get your hands on it immediately, stop reading, and just sign-up on the top right-hand side of the site. A download link will be emailed to you right away!

Fact of the matter is, making follow-up’s should be part of the contact strategy of any telesales professional. Following up on your prospects in a consistent, professional manner leads to a profitable flow in your sales pipeline. By making follow-up’s, you convert leads to prospects and prospects to customers and get more referrals in the process.

Make no mistake, emails and voicemails will NOT ‘close’ business for you (maybe very rarely, but let me emphasize the word ‘rarely’ here!). People prefer to buy from people. Plain and simple. Even the greatest emails and the strongest, most professional voicemails left on hundreds of thousands of machines throughout the course of the day do not bring clients on board.

However, when used properly, they can greatly increase the possibility of doing so, by providing more in-depth information, and generally allowing you to look professional and seasoned, as a company or individual.

As telesales professionals it’s our job, and we know this, to help people find solutions to their problems. We’re picture painters. Artists. Helping people see that the issues and headaches that they have been experiencing can be forgotten with the help of our spectacular range of products, or services. This will almost always be done by creating rapport, engaging our clients, and helping them along in the buying process.

Remember, people LOVE to buy, they just don’t like to be SOLD!

Emailing and leaving polite, professional and thought out voicemails can drastically help us create the right mindset and platform for doing business together. However, let me stress again – you should not to make sales via email and voicemails – people will always prefer to do business with people, as I mentioned above. Simply think of them as additional ammo in your sales arsenal, that’s all.

This eBook focuses on using these two tools to help you when making your follow-up’s with prospective clients, to supplement your teleselling efforts. However, I do focus a little more on email, as we do tend to use this medium more than voicemail nowadays, don’t we..?!

Just sign-up at the top right-hand side of the site and a link to the eBook will be emailed to you directly. I hope it helps you out, and please let me know how you get on by commenting on this page.

HELP SPREAD THE WORD! If you liked this post, please ‘Be Sweet & ReTweet” by clicking the button at the top of the page, as well as bookmarking it by using any of the options below. Thanks so much!!!

This is a Guest Post from Paul Archer, of Archer Training.

Ever had the feeling that your emails or prospecting letters are never read – just binned? Well here’s a neat little tip for getting people’s attention.

“We’ve got some great news about your car” said the headline from the letter from Mitsubishi Motors, my local dealership. And they were talking about my 5 year old Mitsubishi Shogun. Boy I was just about to phone them to find out what the good news was, then suddenly realised what was going on.

I was being sucked in by the oldest trick in the book.

Living here in rural Gloucestershire and being fairly close to the River Severn which tends to flood quite often, we’ve always had a need for a 4 wheel drive car. In fact the lanes and roads are pretty swollen right now. But we refused to buy a new one recently opting instead for a smaller more carbon footprint friendly car. But I still get to use the Shogun myself and I’m quiet happy with it.

The dealership is trying to get me to trade it in for a new model and I almost got sucked in.

Very clever marketing…

But how can this help us in selling? Well the simple answer is to learn to focus on your subject line of emails or letters. Learn to be different, daring and to get attention with one or two carefully chosen words. Customers get hundreds of emails each day and dozens of letters and we all learn to scan them. Email subject headers are vital. People rely on them exclusively to decide whether to read or delete.

We do our National Lottery by direct debit every week and if we win (which is extremely rare), they send an email with the heading “Good news about your ticket”. Now you can’t see me for dust when I get these, heading off to go online to check my winnings. Usually just £10!

Another great heading to use is “Bad News”.

Curiosity will make most people read what you have to say. The first line of your email could read something like “Bad news is always followed by good news…and the good news is that we have developed a wonderful opportunity to”

A tad corny but you do have to be different to get noticed on email subject headings.

So get thinking about your subjects to claim your customer’s attention.

And let’s hope the floods here in Gloucestershire don’t wreak havoc again. We’ve had enough water here to last a lifetime. Don’t worry for us though, as we’re on a hill, but let’s spare a thought for all those who might be affected here in Gloucestershire and the West.

Paul Archer is an international sales speaker, sales trainer, author and coach based in the UK. He specializes in rapport selling and rapport coaching and can ignite his audiences large or small. For more information on Paul and his training courses, visit www.paularcher.com, where you’ll also find his own sales blog, too!

The following is a Guest post by Mike Brooks, AKA Mr. Inside Sales.

I remember a time — and it doesn’t seem like that long ago – when telesales voicemail was all the rage.  There was no e-mail, so people tended to honor and even return voicemail messages.  It was a good time…

But that’s history now.  E-mail has changed everything, and people now hit the delete button on their voicemail messages the instant they hear something they don’t like — which is usually when it’s a message from an unknown inside telesales rep.  What to do?

The good news is that there are some rules you can follow that will give you the best chance at getting your telesales prospect to maybe call you back.

And I say maybe because people are simply too busy to call people back — especially a sales call

To give yourself the best chance of being one of the lucky few who do get called back, follow the 5 Golden Rules of voicemail messages, and cross your fingers — a little luck never hurts.

Golden Rule #1 — Be specific. Continue Reading

Every professional phone sales person has to use a computer nowadays. Its not like the old days where you would cold call your prospects and use a carefully put together phone sales script to try and sell a product or service that they have never heard of before! Telemarketing has gone to a whole new level. Social Networks like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are also helping telelsales pro’s sell more (we’ll be doing a post on how these can help your phone sales soon!).

Sales negotiation must include proper email selling techniques. Its not the ONLY way to close someone, and definitely shouldn’t be your focus, but email is a great closing tool when used correctly. It allows a telesales pro to get his message across in a very soft, yet effective way.

Continue Reading