Sales Meeting Training: The art of leaving a voicemail that will get returned

Part of running an engaging, successful sales meeting is delivering new ideas, tips, and techniques that will help the sales team succeed. Boring sales meetings just talking about “the numbers” are dreadful.  

Giving them a takeaway— actionable information they can use in their day to day— will make these gatherings more useful to the sales force. Bonus? When they find value in the information presented, your team might even be able to muster a little more enthusiasm about attending in the first place.

Here’s an example of some actionable sales training to get you rolling;

The Art of the Voicemail

Let’s face it, people aren’t answering the phone anymore. According to sales strategist Jill Konrath, a whopping 97% of business calls go to voicemail. With that in mind, today’s salesperson must be great not just at leaving a voicemail, but at leaving one that will get a returned call.

What’s going to up the chances your call will be returned? Follow these guidelines for success:

Start with a Plan - Practice, and Don’t be Afraid to Change it up!

Write down a few points that you know you need to get across – not as a script, but more of a flexible outline. Some pieces you’ll want to include:

• Leave your callback number twice. This helps make sure the prospect copies it down accurately. Change it up, though, for example “call me at five five five, one two, one two. That’s five five five, twelve twelve.” to help them write it down correctly.

• Use the prospect’s name—often. We are all conditioned to key in when we hear our name – get your prospect to pay attention by calling them by name.

• Keep it short. You have about 15-20 seconds to grab your prospect’s interest sufficiently to warrant a call back. Longer than that, and you can consider your message “Deleted.”

• Make the purpose of your call clear and have a defined call to action. Don’t just ask them to call back at their convenience. Give a brief rundown of your reason for calling, and specifically tell the the steps they need to take next.

It may feel silly, but consider recording yourself. This can be done as simply as calling yourself and leaving yourself a voicemail— see how you feel about your delivery. Would you save and call back that voicemail? What can you do better?

Have a Sunny Attitude and a Clear Voice

Would you call back a voicemail left for you by someone that sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher, droning on monotonously? If you want a call back, you need to be excited about what you have today. Your attitude will shine through your voice – your tone can absolutely make or break the voicemail.

The best content in the world delivered by Eeyore is not going to win any sales. Remember, you aren’t interrupting their day, you are taking a few minutes to share your passion with them. In the same vein, avoid sounding too “pitchy” – sure, it works for the As Seen on TV guy and used car salesmen, but in reality, buzzwords and aggressive sales-y speak is surely going to get your message deleted.

Once you’ve found that balance of excitement and energy, it’s of course important that your message is easily understood. Keep the 4 C’s in mind;

• Be CLEAR—  Get a sip of water, make sure your headset is working and well-charged, be mindful of the way you say your words and numbers.
• Be COMPELLING— Make your message interesting enough to listen to all the way through.
• Be CONFIDENT— Deliver your message with confidence and authority.
• Be CONCISE— Keep your message short and to the point.

Leaving a great voicemail is high-value skill to master. The better the voicemails you leave, the better chance you will get a response.

A great training topic isn’t enough to capture the attention of your sales team. An interactive experience will not just keep your team interested, but it will cement the information in their minds. Option Technologies  has a full range of interactive tools that will help improve your next meeting.  Talk to us about a customized solution to make the most of your next event. Request a free quote today!