Why Your Voice Mails and Emails Aren’t Working
Feb 11
During the last 17 years I have heard hundreds of voice mail messages that sales people leave their prospects and I have read even more prospecting email messages.
When I talk to sales people I often ask them how many people get back to them. Unfortunately, it’s a VERY small number. Minute in fact.
The problem is that most sales people don’t think like business people.
They focus on their agenda which is selling something instead of changing their approach to demonstrate how they can help a prospect solve a problem. They leave messages that sound like every other sales person who calls.
One of my clients—a Vice President of a mid-size company—said, “This one sales person keeps calling and leaving me messages but as soon as I hear his name, I hit the delete button. And when he sends me an email, it goes directly into the junk folder.”
Ouch!
I seized the opportunity and asked my client what it would take for him to return a sales person’s call or respond to an email.
“He needs to give me a good reason. He needs to demonstrate that he actually knows something about my business and the problems I’m dealing with and that he might have a solution that I haven’t considered.”
Sounds simple doesn’t it?
It is and it isn’t.
If you want prospects to respond to your voice mails and emails you need to stand out from everyone else. You need to demonstrate that you have done some homework or research and that you know something about their business objectives.
A sales person I know recently sent an email to a senior executive. Prior to sending the email he did some research and he referenced that newfound knowledge in his email. In less than 24 hours received a response from that busy executive and he opened up a dialogue.
It’s not rocket science.
But it is a shift from the traditional “let me tell you about us” approach.
Show your prospect that you are worthy of speaking with them and they might return your call or respond to your email.
Unless I’m reading this wrong it would appear that you are suggesting developing a relationship with a prospective customer. If so, I applaud that suggestion. Too often the salesperson’s attitude is to play the numbers. Leave 1,000 voice messages or send 1,000 emails and think it’s a good day when 1.5% contact you back.
I’m not suggesting you should develop a huge follow-up campaign and thus get mired in a phone tag chase. Rather, consider that if you have something intelligent to say – to anyone – you’re more likely to receive a response.
Hard to have a dialogue if you’re the only one talking!
Thanks for this reminder that relationships matter!
It’s partially about developing a relationship. It is also about demonstrating your worth. You stand a much better chance of a decision maker taking your call if you can demonstrate that you have the knowledge AND expertise to solve a business problem they’re facing.
This doesn’t just apply to the calls and emails – it applies to the actual in person meetings as well. I can’t tell you how many salespeople I have seen in the last 2 years that show up and ask me what they can do to help me. I have given them the stage, pulled the people into the room and they are so woefully unprepared to provide value they never get a call back. Salespeople need to do their homework and provide value.
Gerry,
And those individual’s wonder why they don’t get a second meeting.