Voice Mail: Good or Bad?
| Category: Sales Tips | Date: 2001-03-12 |
Voice Mail. It can be a telephone sales person’s friend or enemy. Voice mail can be used effectively or it can cause you to lose opportunities.
On Thursday afternoon someone called while I was out of the office. It was a cold call. He left a voice mail message with his name, telephone number and company name. Curiosity made me return his call and when I did, he obviously could not remember who I was or why he had called me.
After a long pause, I could hear the sound of papers being shuffled and I realized my phone number was on his cold-call list, but he couldn’t find his notes.
By this time, I had lost interest and was impatient to end the call.
After he had spent the time to add my name to his call list, make the phone call, leave the voice mail message, what could he have done to make his time pay off?
THREE TIPS
He could have made clear NOTES and kept track of all voice mail messages he left.
He could have posted these notes in a prominent place where he could easily see them when prospects returned his calls.
Next to each name on his list, he could have written
the REASON for the call. By doing this, he would have been able to immediately begin a conversation with the person calling back.
He could have left - with his message a REASON for me to return the call. Example: "I’m calling with new information about your H.P. Laser Jet 5000 printer."
Better: a referral, "Mary Smith suggested I call you about . . ." If he had done this, I would have been able to refresh his memory by reminding him of the message he left.
TIME SAVER
If you are NOT going to keep track of whom you left voice mail messages for and WHY don’t leave messages.
About the Author
Reprint with permission
(Copyright, 2000, Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com) Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears "Reprinted with permission from Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com Weekly E-Mail Sales Tips. To subscribe free, E-mail to: annbarr@sellingsupplies.com with "subscribe" in the subject line."
annbarr@sellingsupplies.com
www.sellingsupplies.com
On Thursday afternoon someone called while I was out of the office. It was a cold call. He left a voice mail message with his name, telephone number and company name. Curiosity made me return his call and when I did, he obviously could not remember who I was or why he had called me.
After a long pause, I could hear the sound of papers being shuffled and I realized my phone number was on his cold-call list, but he couldn’t find his notes.
By this time, I had lost interest and was impatient to end the call.
After he had spent the time to add my name to his call list, make the phone call, leave the voice mail message, what could he have done to make his time pay off?
THREE TIPS
He could have made clear NOTES and kept track of all voice mail messages he left.
He could have posted these notes in a prominent place where he could easily see them when prospects returned his calls.
Next to each name on his list, he could have written
the REASON for the call. By doing this, he would have been able to immediately begin a conversation with the person calling back.
He could have left - with his message a REASON for me to return the call. Example: "I’m calling with new information about your H.P. Laser Jet 5000 printer."
Better: a referral, "Mary Smith suggested I call you about . . ." If he had done this, I would have been able to refresh his memory by reminding him of the message he left.
TIME SAVER
If you are NOT going to keep track of whom you left voice mail messages for and WHY don’t leave messages.
About the Author
Reprint with permission
(Copyright, 2000, Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com) Reprint permission granted in part or whole when the following credit appears "Reprinted with permission from Ann Barrs Selling Supplies.com Weekly E-Mail Sales Tips. To subscribe free, E-mail to: annbarr@sellingsupplies.com with "subscribe" in the subject line."
annbarr@sellingsupplies.com
www.sellingsupplies.com
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