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There is an age-old question related to business: How to get prospective clients to return your call. You may think it is impossible to receive a call-back from a cold-call voice mail message. However, this is not the only problem you may deal with. Many sales people are also having trouble getting return calls from warm calls. Some even have trouble getting referrals; these should be easy because satisfied customers are already saying good things about you and the company.
If these things sound like you, the first question that needs an answer is should you LEAVE a message? The answer is yes. Next, you need to know what to say in the voice mail that will get call backs.
Your Objective
It is important with any sales call to have a well-defined objective. When you call to set up the appointment, you must SELL the meeting. However, when you get a recorded message from their voice mail, your objective changes. You are now only SELLING the return call.
How to Get Return Calls
The important thing to remember is to sell them on calling you back and no more. Sure, it may sound simple, but many people do the exact opposite when leaving a message. They think, “focus on the objective”, but their word track is off.
Here is an example of what not to say in message:
“Hello, Ethan. This is Sean at ABC Widgets. Your good friend, Sarah Edmonds said I should call. ABC Widgets offers the greatest widgets around and they will help you. Actually, Sarah recently purchased some widgets and was blown away; she thought you would like some too. Therefore, I am calling you to find out when I can set up an appointment to see you and show off the widgets. Sarah agrees that our widgets are number one. Please call me at 0800 123 4568 or shoot an email to me at [email protected]. Our website is abcwidget.com, so check us out. Next week, I will be in your town, so, at your convenience, we can set up an appointment to meet. Thank you.”
You probably think the above example made sense and sounded good. However, this sales person tried selling too much at once. These are all the things this hypothetical sales person tried to sell:
- His products
- His company
- An appointment
- An email return
- Appointment time
- Referral value
- Product justification
- His reputation
- The web site, and much more!
In the end, he tried selling the return call last. More than likely, this means he did not receive a call back.
It is a mistake to try to force a potential client to decide to buy your service or product in a message. People want to make small decisions that lead to a big one, so help them by giving them just a choice of calling back or not.
Below is a different version of the same scenario. In this scenario, the sales person knows he is only selling the call back:
“Hello, Ethan. John Smith–ABC Widgets. Sarah Edmonds, a common acquaintance recommended that we talk to each other. I gave Sarah some information that she was excited about, so she asked me to call you. Please call me at your earliest opportunity and within two minutes, you will learn what Sarah was so thrilled about. My cell number is 0800 123 4567. Call when you have a quick moment. Again, this is John Smith at ABC—0800 123 4567. I can’t wait to hear from you. Thank you.”
The sales person in this example only sold the return call. He also made it clear the call would be of a friendly nature and also quick. He did not force the potential client to make a purchasing decision in his message, he simply sold the significance of a call back and sold the fact that it would be a quick call. He also made it extremely easy to make the call by mentioning his number and name twice in the message.
In short, you will get more call backs if you only sell the call back. This can help you get more call backs and help you close more sales.
Managing Director of MTD Sales Training, Sean McPheat is regarded as a thought leader on modern day selling, management skills and business improvement. Sean has been featured on CNN, ITV, BBC, SKY, Forbes, Arena Magazine and has over 250 other media credits to his name. Sean’s Sales Blog is visited by 5,000 people every week and his 6 Sales Training Audios are free to download. Click here to follow Sean online.
