NAVIGATING VOICE-MAIL ROADBLOCKS
The greatest challenge for telephone sales
folk used to be to charm and work their
conversational skills to cajole the secretary
into getting through to the prospect. No
more. Today, even the most charming of the
charming are having a hard time getting
access. That’s because it’s tough to sweettalk
your way to the prospect when the
guard protecting most businesspeople from
outside callers isn’t human, but digital—
the now ubiquitous voice-mail system.
“The game has changed, and voice
mail is tougher than talking to a secretary,” says Wendy Weiss, a sales
trainer and coach and self-proclaimed “Queen of Cold Calling,” based
in New York (www.wendyweiss.com). “When you’re talking to a human
being, you’re having a conversation. With voice mail, there’s no give
and take, and if you’re not careful, you hand over all the power.”
Relinquishing power to the prospect is a giant sales no-no, so
Weiss has a couple of tricks up her sleeve to navigate the voice-mail
waters. Leaving messages, especially if you’re cold-calling a list of
prospects, is not the recommended approach. Weiss says if you’re
working a list with several hundred names, getting someone’s voicemail should be the impetus to hang up, move on to the next name,
and possibly try again. However, if there’s a specific individual you’re
trying to reach, Weiss encourages sales folk to leave a voice-mail
message, yet do so by complying with some specific rules.
Here are some of Weiss’ guidelines:
- Repeat yourself. Make sure to leave your name and phone number
at least twice, she says—once in the beginning and once at the end
of the message. Slow down when leaving your information so the person
on the receiving end has time to write it down.
- What’s in it for them. Make sure the message talks about a specific
benefit you can offer. “The message has to answer 'what’s in it for me'
from the point of the person getting the call,” Weiss says. “It has to
be about a benefit your company or product can deliver.” She suggests
telling a story, say, about a client that might have had a problem similar
to the prospect that you were able to solve.
- Take back the power. At the end of the message, establish that the
next move is yours—don’t leave the ball in their court. Tell the
prospect, “"I know you’re busy so if I don’t hear from you by X time
frame, I’ll follow up.” That way you leave the door open for another call.
- Don’t be a mumbler. Make sure to talk clearly and not too quickly.
- Don’t be a stalker. One of the worst mistakes is to call back too
quickly and too often. And don’t leave messages that say, “just
following up.” Again, Weiss asserts that it’s imperative to leave behind
some new information that will be of interest to your prospect.
Happy calling!
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