Should You Leave a Voice Mail Message? You call a prospect and end up in voice mail. Should you leave a message or hang up?  What do you think?  Some sales reps tell me they hang up when reaching voicemail; others say that leaving a voicemail message counts as an outbound sales call, so they can make another check on their “to-do list.” And leaving a voicemail message is a whole lot easier than listening to objections and rejection. Over the past few years voicemail has become one of the biggest road blocks sales people face. Ten years ago sales reps ended up in a prospect’s voice mail box 10 to 15 percent of the time. Now the average is more than 50 percent. And the truth is, most voice mail messages left by sales people do not prompt a return call. If you or your sales reps have left message after message and have not received calls back there may be a good reason why. Just listen to the next voice mail message you receive from a sales rep. If the person calling sounds like a scripted, self-serving sales person, are you likely to place a call back? Probably not. And yet, that is the way most sales reps are trained; talk first about your products, features and benefits. Sell, sell, sell. That method is so yesterday and so sad because sales people are only doing what they have been told to do. We Like to Buy Yes we do like to buy but we hate to be sold. That is one of the reasons buying on the Internet has become so popular. We can buy when and what we choose to buy; no one is pushing us to buy. Don’t Get Deleted The perception of a “typical sales rep” is – unfortunately – a pushy person.  You have probably met a few of those “pushy sales people.”  The truth is, buyers avoid pushy sales reps and if prospects can easily delete voice mail messages from self-serving sales people, they will quickly delete . If your sales reps are not getting return calls after leaving dozens of voice mail messages, they need to change their messages. Instead of the most common telesales script which is all about the caller, sales people should focus on what is really important to most prospects. A typical self-serving sales call/voicemail message sounds something like this: “Hello Mr. Jones this is Jennifer with XYZ Office Solutions. We offer a wide variety of copiers, printers and imaging supplies . . .” This type of opening statement is typical and does not answer the “what’s in it for me” mental question in the prospect’s mind. Motivate Prospects to Return the Call One example of a more customer-focused sales/voice mail message: “Hello Mr. Jones, this is Jennifer Smith with XYZ Office Solutions in Houston at 555-111-2222. With the changes in the economy, a lot of people are looking for ways to cut costs. We have some ideas on how you can reduce your toner costs. One of our clients was recently able to lower their toner costs by 35 percent. Call me at 555-111-2222 and let’s set up a time to talk and see if we might be able to do the same for you.” I disagree with sales reps who say that leaving a voicemail message is a waste of time. It is an excellent opportunity to put your name in front of prospects and give them a good reason to return the call. Ann Barr is a consultant and sales coach who has written eight books on sales and marketing. Email Ann at Ann@SellingSupplies.com Get a free E-book when you sign up for her free Weekly Sales Tips e-mailed newsletter at www.annbarrblog.com