 You're trying desperately to follow up with a client or prospect and you get their voicemail yet again Here are some tips and tricks to make sure that your phone call gets returned the next time you leave a voicemail Welcome to the pantry leaving a voicemail is never the ideal way of communicating with our clients you would always prefer Two-way conversation rather than just leaving a message and hoping that they return your call Sometimes the hesitancy of the client or prospect to return that phone call is because of the voicemail itself So we're going to go through a few tips and tricks to make your voicemails a bit more compelling and Hopefully push your clients or prospects to return your phone call a little bit faster Tip number one when leaving a voicemail is the length of the voicemail Chances are if your voicemail is over one minute in length Your client is deciding if they should spend the next minute of their lives Listening to your voicemail in its entirety and there's a good chance that they won't even listen to it So please keep your voicemail short between 30 seconds and 60 seconds in length And you'll have a higher return of those clients actually listening to the voicemail itself Tip number two when leaving a voicemail. Don't ask open-ended questions I alluded to this in my blog post about email do's and don'ts which you can find here And these are questions that we tend to get via email or voicemail that start off with how are you or Do you have any plans for the weekend? Again, a voicemail is a one-way dialogue. It is not a two-way dialogue So those open-ended questions need to be saved for when you are talking to that person in real time over the phone In-person or a back-and-forth text message So save the open-ended questions for those formats and leave it out of your voicemail Tip number three always lead your voicemail with your full name Organization and the specific reason why you're calling Your clients likely have multiple priorities and multiple projects going on all at the same time So their mind is somewhere else completely when they're listening to your voicemail Your job is to bring them back to the priority that you called about and that starts with the reason why you're calling and Where you are calling from I have a number of people calling me and leaving voicemails And often I'll get a first name only and no organization nor the name of the project and With common names like Sarah and Jennifer I'm really left scrambling trying to figure out where this person is calling from and why they are calling me What project are they alluding to when they are calling me about this voicemail? So make it easy on your client make it easy on your prospect and explain very clearly right in the beginning of the voicemail Why it is you're calling them? Another great piece of information to put at the beginning of that voicemail is your phone number Especially if your voicemail is going to be quite lengthy leaving your phone number to the end Now your client has to sit through the entire voicemail before finding out the contact information But if you bookmark your voicemail with your phone number at the beginning and then again at the end It gives your client two opportunities to write down that phone number and that again Increases the likelihood that they'll return your phone call Tip number four have an action statement again Your voicemail should be looking for some information that the client needs to respond to if it's Informational only chances are you could have delivered it in another format, but a voicemail is a call to action You need some follow-up information So make sure that action action statement is very clear in the voicemail itself So the client knows what they need to get you and knows how to return that call in a timely manner and finally tip number five Really evaluate if this voicemail is necessary or if it could have been solved by a simple email a Majority of today's clients and prospects operate by email because they control the flow of information They control the timing of the information if the information you need from your client is not time-sensitive in nature I would suggest sending an email versus a voicemail That way the client can get back to you a lot quicker as well It does save them on trying to find your phone number and figure out actually who you are So you'll get a response a lot quicker and the client will appreciate not having to listen to the voicemail In order to get some business done Don't forget to reference my blog post on email tips and tricks to ensure that email does get returned though Last tip I have for you is somewhat sensitive in nature and almost requires its own blog post to tackle the validity of leaving a voicemail and That's if a voicemail is actually the first point of real-time contact That a person has with a client or prospect often I will receive calls or voicemails where the supplier is looking for additional information to act on Project that I'm working on However, that information was actually already given to the seller themselves But they were just looking for a reason to reach out and start a two-way dialogue and get some questions answered This strategy can frustrate your client or prospect for a number of reasons Number one, they spent a lot of time putting information together for you and it can potentially show that you didn't read the Information when you're asking questions about information. They've already provided Number two, it's not respectful of their time whether it's a voicemail or a phone call Chances are they haven't carved out that a specific time of day to interact with you on that project So it is a disruption of their day another strategy may be to schedule a phone call with the client So now that client knows exactly what is going to be accomplished during that time on the phone And they've put time aside for you to talk rather than treating it as a disruption in their day and trying to refocus on the program that you're tackling with them By employing some of these tips in your next voicemail I feel you're on your way to establishing a strong professional relationship with your client and prospect that includes both Productivity and mutual respect for more advice for sales professionals check out my blog at productivity pantry dot com There you can sign up for my weekly newsletter, so you'll never miss a post that includes some valuable sales tips Thanks for joining me today. Have a great week. Bye for now