Get Out of Voice Mail Jail

Voice Mail
Friend or foe to the sales professional?

What is your instant response to the question?

If your belief is voice mail is bad.... it will be bad! You will validate that belief by making sure you get no value from it. If there is one thing guaranteed to drive consultants up the wall, it is trying to get prospects to return their calls. We are in a catch-22, you cannot drop in without an appointment, but we cannot get an appointment because nobody returns our calls. You just cannot win sometimes.

I estimate that over 50 percent of the time we are reaching voice mailboxes instead of real people. With those kinds of statistics, you would think we had be better prepared for the situation… but most of us are not.

We had better be prepared because, whether we like it or not, the telephone, voice mail, e-mail, and other technological roadblocks to reaching our clients have become a reality.

Many of us feel that prospects are hiding behind their voice mail or e-mail systems. Not so. They're not hiding behind them, they're using them to screen or filter out potential time-wasting activities.

Perhaps you put the phone down and say s*x!! And think I will call later.

What a wasted opportunity! In my mind, voice mail is great! Why?

Any idea how much people pay for a 30 second commercial during the FA Cup Final/Champions League Final...about £500,0