The Magic of After-Hours Voicemails

The air is starting to chill as we move into fall – but that doesn’t mean we’re slowing down our prospecting efforts! In fact, as we move into a more family-focused holiday season, it’s important to get creative to catch the attention of our future clients.

The technique that I’m giving you this month is one that might seem completely out of the blue – but that’s what makes it so awesome. I’ll bet some of you have had a relationship with somebody, whether you set a meeting with them through your prospecting efforts, or you’ve caught them initially for the first time, and all of a sudden…they cancel the meeting. Or, whenever you do catch them, there’s no excitement in their voice. It feels like the connection that was once there is gone. It’s not good, and it actually hurts a little bit knowing this. The solution for that, for getting over those feelings, is this: After Hour Voicemails.

They’re exactly what it sounds like. I choose a night once a month, or even a couple of times a month depending on the level of prospecting that I’m doing, and I will leave loving and encouraging voice mails for my top 50 prospects. Literally. I will call their office or cell starting around 8:30 or 9:00 pm and leave loving and encouraging voicemails for each person. And these are people I’ve either initially set up appointments with, or can also be some people that I haven’t been able to get through to that I want to be getting ahold of in the future through my prospecting efforts.

I’ll mention what I appreciate about them, about how excited I am to work with them, and that I’m excited that they’re in my life. It’s only one night a month, usually on a Thursday, and I will literally just set my list in front of me and simply call each one of those people, and the voicemails usually sound something like this:

“Hey John, this is Dave Brown and I’m looking forward to meeting with you in two weeks, on Monday the 25th, but I just wanted to call you tonight to tell you how much I appreciate you, and how much I completely respect everything that you do over there. Us working together is going to be one of the coolest experiences ever, I’m going to work my butt off for you and your group. I’m going to go the extra mile for you like crazy because I know that you work so hard over there and I’m really looking forward to this whole relationship. This is gonna be fun! Have a good night, John. Just wanted to let you know how excited I was to meet you soon. Alright, bye-bye.”

It’s as simple as that. It doesn’t have to be something complex or super over-the-top, it’s just letting them know that you appreciate them and you’re excited to be working with them, when you do. When making these calls, I usually use a lower or more subdued tone of voice to reflect the time of day, and I’ll make calls all the way up to 10 or 10:30pm before I go to bed. And it’s really cool for them when they walk into their office and the first message they check is your after-hour voice mail on their office line or cell. Try it, use it, and be ready to experience positive results from it.

And here’s your golden nugget for this month: Prospecting pressure exists in the minds of people that don’t plan properly. Surprisingly enough, we choose how much pressure we feel every day. So go out there and plan like a mad man or woman, get a few after-hours voice mails in there, and cool things will start happening. Thanks again for reading along with me, and see you all here again next month. Cheers! :)