I Was Wrong.

I’ve spent most of my career in the brokerage training world repeating a simple rule: Never leave voicemails. It turns out that the world has changed, and that is not the best course of action to follow. In other words…. I was wrong.

I was wrong, but I wasn’t crazy saying not to leave voicemails. After all, once you’ve left a voicemail, you have to give that person a chance to call you back before you call him or her again. Think about your day. How often do you step away from your desk for a few minutes? If you call someone, miss them by a few minutes and leave them a voicemail, you won’t get a chance to try them back later that day. That’s why I and others taught not to leave voicemails – they amplify the effects of bad luck.

At the same time, the novelty of voicemail wore off years ago. People don’t like getting them and they don’t like listening to them.

But you should still leave voicemails eventually (at the end of the day after you’ve tried a person once or twice is a great time!). And here’s why….

Reason 1: Voicemails Get You Into Email Boxes

More and more people use services that transcribe their voicemails (I’m one of them!). So, when you leave a voicemail, that user gets an email with an audio file of the voicemail, your caller ID, and a transcript of what you said. If they want to listen, they can, but if they want to just read the transcript, it’s there. This means that you can get a completely different type of message into their email box, where they are likely to read it even if they’d just delete your voicemail.

Reason 2: Voicemails Can Work When They Aren’t Awful

Most people don’t leave very good voicemails, so it isn’t surprising that they don’t work very well. Here are some secrets to leaving a good message:

1.      Have a script and practice it. It’s hard to do all the things that we’re going to list out here on the fly. Before you start calling, plan what you want to say on your voicemails and stick to that plan. But don’t sound like you’re using a script….

2.      Speak clearly. Whether your prospect listens to your message or reads a transcript, the more clearly you speak, the more likely you are to convey your message.

3.      Keep it short. The best voicemails are 20-30 seconds. And you need to grab the listener’s attention in the first few seconds.

4.      Don’t be “that” guy/girl. Every voicemail starts with “Hi. This is Solomon Poretsky from SVN International,” or something like it, so do something different. Ask a question. Start with a value proposition. But don’t be that person.

Reason 3: Voicemails Humanize You

When you leave a voicemail and the prospect listens to it, they get a little taste of you and who you are. You aren’t just words on a screen anymore, and that may help them respond to you.

Reason 4: Different Strokes for Different Folks

Research can tell you how effective any given type of marketing or sales activity will be overall. It is still very hard to predict which type of activity will work with any given person, though. Some people want to be emailed. Others read their US Mail. Others answer their phones themselves every time – some of you do no matter what my email last month said. And some other people listen to voicemails. Because you can’t be sure what will work with any given person unless you know him or her well, the best solution is to try everything. Including leaving a voicemail.

Good luck on the phones. I hope your voicemails get returned!