Outbound Expertise : Unify Your Sales Voicemail & Email

I sat in a sales meeting a couple of weeks ago and heard a great idea practiced by a rainmaker. His approach to prospecting generates interest and increases his email response rate. It also qualifies prospects without talking to someone.

If you are waiting for people to return your email or voicemail messages you might consider using them as a one-two punch, rather than stand alone messages. This approach is not to be used for every message, but should be used when dealing with busy people that you’re prospecting. It’s very simple and here is how it works.

When leaving a voicemail, market or promote your email. Here is an example: “Hi Liz, this is Rene with Sales Manager Now. Rather than worrying about calling me back or me leaving a long message I sent you an email that includes links to client testimonials, links to our services and a short message on the  return you will realize while working with us. I believe you will find it worth your time. I look forward to corresponding with you. Take care.”

Notice the voicemail refers to other information through links. This allows you to include a lot of content (through links) without overwhelming your reader with text. You can then focus your email on concise messages that target your prospect. I have seen too many wordy emails hit my inbox to only be deleted due to the fatigue I experienced trying to read them.

Why does this work?

1. Email is easier for most people to respond to and eliminates telephone tag.

2. By “Marketing” your email through voicemail you elevate your email message on the prospects priority list.

3. Concise emails with information links allow the reader to be in control of how much they want to learn, instead of being pitched by a run away message.

In your email include a question for them to answer. Keep it simple so you can begin a dialogue. Any dialogue with a cold prospect is good, as you are now warming them up so when you do speak with them, they are listening.

Final Tips:

• Test your links to make sure they work before sending.
• Practice your verbal messages to make sure you are clear.

If you want me to critique  your voicemail or email messages call or send them over to me and I would be glad to help. rene@salesmanagernow.com