1. Being surprised by voice mail.

Why do so many salespeople leave convoluted voice mail messages?

Because for some reason they were surprised when the person they called wasn’t there.”

They were surprised when the person wasn’t there?

With past experience as a guide, why would they be surprised??

The only puzzle is why they haven’t yet learned that the person never is there!

Pick up the phone with the assumption that you’re about to leave a voice mail message.

2. Not having a clearly defined goal before you dial the phone.

You need to know exactly what you want your message to accomplish.

Obviously, to get the person to call me back.”

Okay, that’s a good start.

But when do you want the person to return your call?

How will re make the person eager to return your call?

More to the point:

Exactly what do you want the person to think when he or she hears your message?

You need to learn how to identify your prospect’s own internal motivators…and how to use those motivators to define the goal of your message.

3. Dialing the phone before you’ve decided what you will say.

I’m good at ad libbing. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

Is that approach….

Foolish?

Lazy?

Typical?

Yes.

Most of the time, it’s also:

Ineffective.

You can see the difference for yourself if you ever have the chance you compare verbatim transcripts of real messages left by real salespeople with an expert’s rewritten versions.

4. Not leaving a message that immediately attract’s the prospect’s attention.

The average business executive listens to his voice mail messages with his finger poised over the “delete” button.

When he realizes he doesn’t need to return this call, he immediately hits that “delete” button…

…and never thinks about it again.

You must learn you exactly how to command the interest of your prospect from your very first words.

5. Trying to sell in your message.

The purpose of your voice mail message is not to sell your product or service.

It’s not to give a commercial for your business.

Your single goal is to get the person to call you back.

Your message should not include even a single word that isn’t calculated to make the recipient call you back promptly.

You need to know what to say instead of leaving a sales pitch.

6. Appearing eager.

Eager salespeople do not attract customers or clients.

Salespeople who sound confident do attract clients.

A finely tuned system for getting your voice mail messages returned does the work for you by providing you with the confidence, the mindset and even the actual words you should use in your message.

7. Creating a personal distance.

At least 90% of voice mail messages left by salespeople (or other business people trying to establish contact with strangers) create a huge chasm — a great physical space — between themselves and their prospects.

And that distancing effect is achieved from the first words of the message!

They use a very common phrase that immediately signals the prospect, “This is a stranger who wants something from me. And I don’t want to give anything to that stranger.”

You also must learn which death-inducing phrases to avoid at all costs…and what to say instead.

8. Not determining where on the hierarchy of calls you want to be perceived by the recipient.

Your prospect has 20 messages waiting for her.

Does she have time to return all of those calls?

Um, not exactly.

First she determines which calls she should return.

Then she decides which of those calls to return first.

Smart salespeople know they need to be at the top of the prospect’s hierarchy of calls to be returned.

9. Not ensuring that the other person will be motivated to return your call.

How do you get a callback?

By making that person want to return your call.

Think about the messages you’re currently leaving: Do they really make the prospect want to return your call?

The secret to successful voice mail is knowing how you how to make the prospect want to return your call.

10. Ignoring the important numbers.

Cold calling is a “numbers game”.”

But contrary to what most salespeople are taught, there are two numbers that determine your amount of returned voice mail messages.

One number measures the amount of calls you make. If you leave more voice mail messages for more people, then more people will return your calls.

Most salespeople (and sales managers) focus on that number because it can be objectively determined quite easily: Keep an accurate tally of the messages you leave, and you’ve got a very accurate measurement.

You can measure the other number, too. But few people think about it.

It’s your voice mail message’s “impact rating”.

With a “zero” impact ratings, no one ever calls you back.

A “100” impact rating = Everyone always returns your voice mail messages.

Your impact rating is between 0 and 100.

If your current impact rating is high, you can make it higher; if it’s low, you can make it higher..

The choice is yours.

Do you want to double your sales by making twice as many calls?

Or do you like the idea of doubling your sales by doubling your success rate?

The choice is yours.