8 years ago
February 21, 2017

Telephone Sales Skills: 3 Reasons Why Your Voicemail Needs Updating

Whether the bulk of your selling is telephone sales or you use the phone to make appointments, you need to leave effective voice mail messages.

Rhys Metler

Talking on the phone is such an everyday part of life that few of us even give it a second thought. No matter where you are, you see people talking on their phones. Taking the phone for granted is not a luxury that sales people can afford. As a sales professional, you need to be aware of the importance of your telephone sales, voice mail and calling fundamentals. This is particularly true for voice mail.

When you make a call to a potential client, you know that there is always a chance, in fact, a good chance, that you will not reach the person you are intending to call and will have to leave a voice mail message. Most of us are not prepared when the person’s voice mail kicks on. There are a number of reasons that you need to improve and update your voice mail skills. Whether the bulk of your selling is telephone sales or you use the phone to make appointments or touch base, you need to leave effective voice mail messages.

Making an impression.

Many times, the voice mail message you leave will be your first impression for a new customer. No matter what point you are at in your selling process, the voice mail you leave makes an impression. If you hesitate, speak too softly or ramble on, this is the impression that the customer will have of you.

A clear reason to call.

Many sales professionals have been taught that in telephone sales it is important to keep the voice mail messages short. While this is important, and you certainly do not want to leave overly long voice mail messages, you need to make sure that your message clearly states the objective of your call. As obvious as this may seem, if you do not leave a specific reason for your call when making telephone sales, the customer will have very little reason to call you back.

Keep it simple.

For telephone sales, it is important to leave messages that are not overly long or complicated. You need to keep your voice mail message clear and concise. Never make the message overly complicated or confusing. Voice mail messages in telephone sales that are too long will be deleted by the listener before they even hear the reason for your call.

An additional issue in telephone sales is your own outgoing recorded message when customers are calling you. The standard, “Hello, I’m not available, leave your name and number” may not be meeting your needs when you are trying to provide information to or get information from your customers.

Daily change.

In telephone sales, you should consider changing your voice mail greeting every day. Nothing is worse than an outdated voice mail message and it leaves a bad impression for the caller. Changing your voice mail message frequently in telephone sales, keeps your message fresh and allows you to update your information regularly.

Be specific.

In telephone sales, when you are recording your voice mail message, make sure to be specific about the information that you require from the customer calling you. Also, be specific about your information you provide. In telephone sales, voice mail is an important way to let your customer know information that can be helpful to them.

Always review.

A frequent oversight for those in telephone sales is not reviewing the outgoing message they have recorded for voice mail. You need to check each aspect of the message from wording to tone of voice. In telephone sales, it is important to include all of the information that you need and to include it in a way that keeps your outgoing message simple and easily understood.

Every professional sales person relies on the phone. Never take for granted your incoming or outgoing voice mail. You need to prepare to be sure that you sound professional and friendly to the customer. 

Rhys Metler

Rhys is a tenacious, top performing Senior Sales Recruiter with 15+ years of focused experience in the Digital Media, Mobile, Software, Technology and B2B verticals. He has a successful track record of headhunting top performing sales candidates for some of the most exciting brands in North America. He is a Certified Recruitment Specialist (CRS) and has expert experience in prospecting new business, client retention/renewals and managing top performing sales and recruitment teams. Rhys enjoys spending quality time with his wife, son, and daughters, BBQing on a hot summer day and tropical vacations.

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