How do you leave a voicemail for cold vs. warm prospects?

One technique I've consistently found effective, regardless of the prospect, is the strategic use of the word "because." When you're asking for something – be it a callback, a meeting, or a decision – the word "because" provides context and a compelling reason. For instance, "Hi [Name], I'm reaching out because I believe our solution can address [specific pain point] you mentioned in our last conversation." Or for cold prospects, "Hello [Name], I'm calling because I've noticed [specific trend] in your industry and think we might have a unique solution for you." The word "because" not only gives your request weight but also subtly communicates to the prospect that you've considered their needs or situation.

Take the chill out of cold calling by doing your research first. There is no replacement. A quick look at their web site, LinkedIn page or news headlines matters. Compare a typical cold call with one that is fueled by preparation: Chilly Cold Call Opening Line: Is your company still researching tools like ABC? I would love to learn more about what challenges your team is facing this year and offer some feedback. Warmed Up Cold Call thru Research I understand you work with accounts in Texas. Changes in that market are going to have a dramatic effect on accounts in that market. I have some ideas and I'd love to bounce these off of you. Can we arrange a time to connect and talk? Happy selling!

Cold calling is canvassing! Imagine you are canvassing roof insulation and you walk into a neighborhood where houses are mostly owned by residents and were built 40 years ago (understand your product and your buyer) Now, if I told you, that someone behind one of those 120 doors is standing with a check to hand over to you, and all it takes is to knock on that door and disarm them (have a meaningful conversation), would you give up after the 30th "NO" or would you keep knocking? 3% of your prospects are active buyers shopping for their options, and roughly 7% have intent to explore options. Cold calling is sorting out and finding those active and intent buyers. Keep knocking. Keep calling!

Leaving voicemails for cold and warm prospects requires different approaches: For Cold Prospects: 1- Be concise and clear about your purpose. 2- Mention your name and company early. 3- Offer a brief value proposition. 4- Include a call to action (e.g., return call or email). For Warm Prospects: 1- Express gratitude for their interest. 2- Remind them of your previous interactions. 3- Reiterate the value you can provide. 4- Encourage them to take the next step or offer assistance. Adapt your voicemail based on the prospect's familiarity with you and your prior interactions to increase the chances of a response.

A few more things which I have noticed: - Never call in the first half. The second half works better. - Emails in the first half work better. - Always have a look at the territory's calendar. If it's a long weekend, my suggestion would be to not call a day before the holidays starts

Cold calling can be tricky. I've learned that timing is important. I never cold or warm call a prospect on a Monday or the day after a long weekend holiday. I've also noticed that I find the decision makers in a better mood to talk to me on Fridays? Would anyone like to share me if they feel the same way.

Warm calling involves reaching out to individuals or organizations who may have interacted with your brand in some way. This interaction could include: 1- Previous inquiries or requests for information. 2- Attendees of webinars, workshops, or events hosted by your company. 3- Subscribers to your email newsletters or marketing campaigns. 4- Users who have downloaded content from your website. 5- Individuals who have engaged with your social media posts or ads.

Warm calling leads works best when you can contextualize the previous conversation (if possible). CRM Hygiene and good note taking will work wonders here to set yourself up for future success. "Hi X, reaching out since you showed interest in Y" "Hi X, I noticed you spoke w/my colleague on Z topic" Open Ended Questions are your friend from here.

Utilize Prospect cues in order to firm up confidence and bolster credibility. Use such techniques as Feel Felt Found. For example you might say…”as previously discussed many of my customers feel the way you do and have found that our money back guarantee policy allows you to take your first sales order without fear of paying too much or not meeting your quality expectations and still try our products. This is money back guarantee I have found reduces your risk and gives you opportunity to try it before giving a full commitment.”

Let's take a prospect interacting with my cold email (multiple opens or clicks), and coming up with a brush off objection because I'm cold calling them. "{Name}, can I be 100% honest and transparent with you? (pause for permission). I called you because I saw you opened (or clicked) my email multiple times. Mind if I ask what caught your attention in that email, or if there was anything resonating with you?" Always works. They may think it's a cold call. You know it's a warm call. Let them know it is a warm call.

Just remember that part of successful prospecting is doing it in a way that is most comfortable for each individual prospect. To this point, I realize that email communication is far more comfortable for most than calling a stranger back. So I typically will leave my voicemail (there are other great posts here on how to frame that message, so check those out!) but also let the prospect know that I will be emailing them as well, with the same information or meeting request. I've had far greater success with people replying to emails that were call follow ups than I have with people calling me back from a voicemail I've left.

I guess the first question to ask yourself is- What’s your goal when you leave a VM? To get a call back? To point at an email you sent and to get a reply to that? Or is it just to clog their mailbox? I’ve seen different things working for different goals. To get a call back: - Hey {Prospect}, it’s Yusuf. Call me back. - Hey {Prospect}, it’s Yusuf. I think it might make sense for us to chat. Call me back. To get a reply (or open) to my email. - Hey {Prospect}, it’s Yusuf. No need to call me back. I’ll go ahead and send you an email with the subject line “Just left you a VM”. Cheers. - Hey {Prospect}, it’s Yusuf. Just send you an email. Let me know what you think by calling me back or replying to that email. Cheers

I treat voicemails like text since people now read the transcript of a VM instead of listening to each VM unless they're super interested.

Recently tried it: In a voicemail I left my name, the company's name, and added something from their LinkedIn profile. Asked them, if they could reply to my email. Texting post voicemail also helps.

When cold calling, you should generally not leave a message. It is better to be the driving force here and not to give up control of the action. With warm leads, on the other hand, it makes sense and is advantageous to leave a message. Here the impulse came first from the lead and a quick response time is always an advantage in sales.

Warm prospects often have an underlying need for your solution, but probably aren't actively shopping yet. Just because someone downloaded a whitepaper or registered for a webinar, doesn't mean they're eager to jump onto a demo. Much like a cold voicemail, do your research and focus on the pain-points you solve to maximize your chances of a call-back.

For a warm prospect if I had to leave a voicemail it would be along the lines of, "Hi xyz, I'll be in your area tomorrow when would be best for me to call in and show you our product/solution etc etc. let me know asap if you'd like to see any samples and I'll get them ready, if tomorrow is no good I'll be in your area again next month. let me know asap. Thanks" It gives the client a purpose to reply asap to arrange a meeting or potentially miss out for a month, but it also gives you room to move if you can be there next week it shows them your willing to go the extra mile to accommodate them and that you value their business and time.

If you don't know where you are going, how do you know when you get there? What's your reason for leaving a voicemail? What's your end goal? The problem with voicemails is that they are a medium of one-way communication. Dumping a lot is a monologue and pitching is not going to get a call back most of the time. We need to have a dialogue with the prospect. For a dialogue, we need a callback- "Hey {Name}. It's Joe. (I think it might make sense for us to have a chat.) Call me back please." Before this voicemail, their question was "who could this be?" After this VM, their question is "who the hell is Joe?" There's only one way to find out.

Maintain a friendly and helpful tone to strengthen the warm connection with the prospect. Here's a concise approach: Express Gratitude: Start by thanking them for their previous interaction or interest. Remind of Connection: Mention how you've interacted before, such as through a webinar or email exchange. Reiterate Value: Briefly remind them of the value or benefits your product or service can provide. Encourage Action: Encourage them to take the next step or offer assistance if needed. Provide Contact Information: Clearly state your contact information for their convenience.

I end every message with..."if we're unable to connect by XX/XX, I will give you a call back then. If they don't call me back I am certain to call them when I say I will to start building trust...baby steps sometimes.

Agreed. I built a tracker of all my daily actitivites with macros to measure what I manage. I look at my activities at the end of the week to see how I am performing against my goals. Remember, days to take care of your weeks, weeks take care your month, months take care of your quarters and quarters take care of your year. If you would like a copy of the tracker, I am happy to share.

Take time to review your message content for clarity and relevance. Experiment with different scripts to see what resonates best. Monitor prospect response times and evaluate the effectiveness of your calls to action. Segment your campaigns and gather feedback from those who respond. Offer training and coaching to improve your team's approach. If available, utilize technology tools for deeper insights. Always strive for continuous refinement based on data to enhance your voicemail strategy."

Experiment with different scripts and messaging. I do not like to make it too short. I want to make sure there is enough information to give them a true idea of the purpose of the call.

If you have an outreach tool that can track callback rates on VM you are golden! If not you can manually track them by segmenting out Calls where you left a voice mail in your CRM. From there simply divide the 'number of Inbound Calls' from Cold Prospects by the 'Total number of Voice Mails'. That would be your 'Call Return Rate (CRR)'. Do some A/B testing with different VM styles and measure your CRR after about a month. See what works and what doesn't.

The only time I don't leave a voicemail is when I am trying to catch someone on the phone. I'll call multiple times to try and catch. I love caller ID, bcz then they see that I am trying to reach them! ?? If I am outbound prospecting I leave voicemail. Why not? It's a mini commercial. If I leave several voicemails, I'll leave an one line value prop, maybe share an advantage to working with me or my company. Voicemail is a valuable tool. Many people screen their calls today, so it is critical to make sure that you leave a message that provides some value.

Don't leave a voicemail on your first outreach to a cold call. Reach out to them the 2nd time, if no answer leave a voicemail and let them know someone in your common network suggested you reach out to them.

For cold voicemails: 1) I keep it short, less than 60 seconds 2.) Try to add leverage a chat I had with their colleague, partner or competitor. 3.) State: a.) what we can do in 1 sentence or less b.) how it can help their business c.) while speaking in the language of that persona 4.) Give a call to action - call back or respond to email with subject header, check calendar invite (“if the content in the invite resonates, click accept to have a 15 minute chat about how we can help with XYZ relevant business issue)

If it’s a cold prospect, make sure you come off as humble and calling out the fact they don’t know you or should be surprised by your outreach. If it’s warm, get creative and personal to stand out from their daily routine. Both considered, be confident in your approach!