You must be proactive and have a plan set in place when you reach a prospect’s voicemail.

Voicemail – your best friend and your most frustrating adversary.

On one hand, it allows you to ignore phone calls that you don’t want to answer and also allows important contacts to leave a message even if you aren’t available.

On the other hand, your prospects have the same power. They can just as easily ignore your phone calls or hear your message and choose not to call you back.

Don’t worry – I’m going to outline two important things to keep in mind when connecting with a new prospect. If you embrace these ideas, you’ll have a tool that you can leverage…not one you have to battle.

1. Know The Prospect

   The odds of a potential customer who has never heard of you returning your phone call is extremely low. In today’s market, if your prospect doesn’t know who you are, you’re not going to have much luck with leaving them a voicemail and actually hearing back from them.

   The only time you should be leaving a voicemail for a new prospect is when you have been referred to them. By having a common connection that stands by your product or service, you greatly increase your chances of receiving a call back from the prospect.

2. Voicemail Is a Last Resort

   Too many salespeople reach a prospect’s voicemail, leave a message and call it quits. This is not an effective form of prospecting nor does it do much in terms of yielding results.

   Simply put, use voicemail as a last resort when attempting to connect with a prospect. Before you call a new contact, do some due diligence and research their company. You may be surprised how simple it is to find contact information for service desks or your prospect’s assistants.

If you can’t get a hold of your prospect, try calling logical contacts within the company who may have more information on your prospect’s whereabouts. Then, strategically call them when you have more information on their schedule to maximize the chances of having an actual conversation over the phone.

When you use voicemail as a primary tool and you consider a prospect “engaged” just because you were able to pick up the phone and leave a message, you set yourself up for massive failure. You must be proactive and have a plan set in place when you reach a prospect’s voicemail.

Ideally, you should only be leaving a voicemail with a prospect if you have a common bond that your prospect trusts. Otherwise, use other resources to increase the likelihood of an actual conversation with. This way, you are avoiding the frustrations of voicemail altogether.