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How to Get Prospects to Apologize for Not Returning Your Voicemail

by Erica Stritch on October 19, 2009

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Voicemail can be a business developer’s worst enemy. You find the right target in the right company, but after many attempts you can’t get through to the person. You leave every voicemail message you can imagine, and still the person doesn’t return the call.

You may think it’s time to give up. After all, if this prospect were interested, he’d have responded to one of the 25 voicemails you left, right?

Before you throw in the towel, try a strategy I picked up from a webinar with Colleen Francis, Cold Calling 101: How to Start Setting Appointments through Cold Calling. Colleen recommends that after leaving several voicemail messages, leave one that includes a specific date and time when you will call next.

I tried this recently with a prospect I’d been trying to reach for a couple of weeks. I’d sent two emails and left four voicemail messages. My last voicemail went like this:

“Hi, Sally. This is Erica Stritch calling from RainToday. I’ve left you several voicemails and will try calling you back tomorrow morning at 10 am. I hope we can connect then.”

I then followed the voicemail up with a short email reiterating the message and time of my next call.

The result: At 10 a.m. the next day I called Sally, and this time she answered. As a matter of fact, Sally was sitting at her desk waiting for the call. And to put a cherry on top, she apologized profusely for not getting back to me after the several emails and voicemails I had persistently left.

Now, will this prospect turn into a client overnight? Absolutely not. Did it allow me to have a conversation with her when previously I was just speaking to her voicemail? It sure did.

So, thank you Colleen Francis for sharing this strategy. Based on a test case of one, it works! I will add this one to my box of tricks, and I suggest you do the same.

Topics: Cold Calling, Lead Generation & Marketing Tactics
9 Comments
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

Lorraine Craymer October 19, 2009 at 11:53 am

Hi Erica,
If you don’t have a lot of names to call, this is a great way to introduce something new into the mix of your messages and try to make a connection. The most important thing though is that if you say you’re going to call – you must be sure to follow through.

It’s also helpful to remember, that even though people will rarely call back, every time you leave a message you have an opportunity to register some small piece of information about you and your business, so think through every message and use them to start to build your story.

Reply

Erica Stritch October 20, 2009 at 5:39 pm

Lorraine,

Great points you make here. You absolutely must follow through. The WORST thing you could do is use this approach and then NOT call at the stated date and time. This is the quickest way to lose all credibility and trust (which considering it is a cold call is probably very low to begin with). And your chances of getting in touch with them after that are extremely low.

Your point about building a story is spot on. It takes multiple touches to get prospects to 1) become aware of you; 2) remember you; and 3) actually tune in to your message.

Erica

Reply

Kayla November 11, 2009 at 3:35 pm

Here’s another trick that I’ve found after leaving so many voicemails and sending emails that are ultimately unanswered: I send a meeting request from Outlook that sets a date and a time, and it offers them an Accept or Deny. They very often show up on the conference call at that time. Instead of going back and forth about what time will work for both of us, I choose a time and offer it to them. If they can’t make it, they will almost always propose a new time.

Reply

Erica Stritch November 17, 2009 at 12:55 pm

Kayla,

Another great idea to try out. And, to build on this piece of advice, if and when you do finally catch someone on a cold call, it is a best practice to always try to set the appointment by recommending a specific day or time. For example:

“ and we’d love to talk to you more about this. How does Tuesday at 11:00 AM work for you?”

This gets them looking at their calendar and changes the question they are asking themself from if I should have this conversation, to when should I have this conversation.

Thanks for sharing.

Erica

Reply

Jeff Eskow December 1, 2009 at 5:16 pm

I’ve been using that strategy for several years, as it originated in the Selling to VITO series I believe.

Here is ANOTHER way I have been successful with getting messages returned: If I have a pleasant introductory conversation with a prospect, and then find they have stopped returning calls or e-mails, I send an e-mail that says something along the lines of “I’ve had a hard time reaching you as of late and I hope I have not said or done anything to offend you. If I have, I am terribly sorry and I hope you’ll allow me the opportunity to explain or make it up to you!”

Very often, I will get an e-mail reply that says something along the lines of: “No, Jeff, you’ve not offended me at all. It’s just….” and then an explanation. Too busy. No longer interested. Plans put off for 3 months, etc.

But as long as we are able to reconnect I am better informed and can deal with a specific objection. It also allows a little ‘humanity’ to play in instead of another dry business relationship.

It’s a great strategy that I reccomend.

Reply

Erica Stritch December 1, 2009 at 5:54 pm

Jeff,

That’s a new one to me. It also allows you to uncover some of their objections and address them early on. For example, when you hear, “I’m too busy,” perhaps you need to do a better job of showing the value of your services to move it up the priority list. Or if you hear, “plans put off for 3 months,” perhaps you need to show them what won’t happen during those 3 months of them not engaging your services (losing out on cost savings over this period of time).

Erica

Reply

Kendra Lee September 3, 2010 at 6:21 am

Erica,
That’s a great tip and one I’ve had success with, too. Thank you for sharing it. It brough to mind an idea for an extension of it. When you’re not getting a response to your voicemail even after leaving a date and time try sending a meeting request instead. Your meeting request will often get an immediate acceptance, or proposal for a new time. Your contact won’t have to make the effort to call you back. Here’s what you might say in the voicemail before sending the meeting request: “Hi, Sally. This is Kendra Lee from KLA Group. I’ve left you several voicemails and will try calling you back tomorrow morning at 10 am. I hope we can connect then. I’ll send you an Outlook meeting invitation in case that’s an easier way to respond. I look forward to talking with you!”

Reply

Erica Stritch September 3, 2010 at 8:05 am

Kendra Lee – That’s a great idea, thanks for sharing your experience. I can see how that would work very well.

Erica

Reply

Boyd Butler September 4, 2010 at 4:34 pm

Try one voicemail a day Monday – Thursday.
Make each voicemail interesting, relevant and valuable, (saving or making money, time, etc).

Make the Thursday voicemail a teaser…

“Hi, it’s Thursday and if you want to find out how
x,y,z worked out then give me a call back to get the answer.

Position yourself where you have the answers and
someone simply has to find out what you know and they don’t.

Reply

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