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not getting her phone calls returned.\nHave you – or people in your company – been\u00a0having the same problem?<\/p>\n
“Voice mail messages. Nobody ever returns my voice mail\u00a0messages. I’m on the phone all day long. Leaving messages.\u00a0But nobody calls me back.<\/p>\n
“What am I doing wrong?”<\/p>\n
Stephanie was telling me her tale of woe. She’s not closing enough\u00a0sales. Not making quota. And she thinks her problem stems\u00a0from… not getting her phone calls returned.
\nHave you – or people in your company – been\u00a0having the same problem?<\/p>\n
Let me ask you two questions:<\/p>\n
1. Is it the customer’s job to return your phone call?<\/p>\n
or\u00a0?2. Is it your job to reach your customer and give him\u00a0a compelling reason to do business with you?<\/p>\n
If you answered #1, you gave the wrong answer.<\/p>\n
Somewhere along the way we’ve gotten our priorities mixed\u00a0up. We think that by leaving dozens of voice mail messages\u00a0we’re selling. We are not.<\/p>\n
First off, when you’re calling someone you’ve never spoken to\u00a0you need to have a great Elevator Speech. A brief description of\u00a0who you are and what you do.<\/p>\n
An Elevator Speech is short and concise – under 10\u00a0seconds – and rolls off your tongue.
\nA great Elevator Speech is important because it encourages conversation\u00a0?and keeps the person you’re calling from saying “Thank you very\u00a0much. We don’t need any. Bye!”<\/p>\n
Secondly, it’s your job to get the customer on the phone and sell yourself.<\/p>\n
Think about this for a moment. How many phone calls do you get\u00a0each day from people trying to sell you something? How many\u00a0of them do you return?<\/p>\n
And even if people did return your phone call, what’s the likelihood\u00a0you’ll be available to answer the call? Chances are you’re out of the\u00a0office, in a meeting, away from your desk, or on the phone yourself.<\/p>\n
So if you choose to leave a voice mail message do it for the purpose\u00a0of introducing yourself to the customer, but don’t expect him to\u00a0call you back. Then call back in a day or two.
\nBetter yet, if you don’t leave a message you can try again later in the day.<\/p>\n
This brings up another point: Some people are not reachable. You\u00a0probably have a bunch of them in your database.<\/p>\n
These are the folks who are always in meetings, on the phone or away\u00a0from the office. They never return calls. Don’t respond to letters,\u00a0faxes or e-mail. And are for the most part unreachable.<\/p>\n
If you should be fortunate enough to get them on the phone, they say\u00a0something like, “I’m in a meeting now. Could you call tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
And you’re all excited because you think you’ve got yourself a real\u00a0prospect and are finally going to close that BIG case. When you arrive\u00a0at the office the following morning the first thing you do is call this\u00a0‘wonderful’ prospect that you’ve been trying to reach for months.
\nThe phone rings and rings. Finally you get a voice mail recording\u00a0that says “I’ll be on vacation for the next two weeks and\u00a0will be returning on Monday the 19th.”<\/p>\n
Like he forgot about his vacation when you spoke with him\u00a0the day before… Right!!!\u00a0 He was just blowing you off.<\/p>\n
Instead of calling these people over and over, draw a line in the\u00a0sand. Try to reach them a certain number of times. Five. Seven.\u00a0Ten. Fifteen. You set the limit.<\/p>\n
If you’re unable to get through, it’s time to move\u00a0on and look for a new prospect.
\nWhich leads me to my third point. Look for new prospects. It’s\u00a0too easy to get trapped into calling the same people over\u00a0and over again.<\/p>\n
Call people you’ve never spoken to before. Get out of your comfort\u00a0zone. Work to improve your cold calling and telephone techniques.<\/p>\n
Over the past few months Stephanie’s been working the phone.\u00a0She’s got her Elevator Speech down. She’s not leaving voice mail\u00a0messages. She’s calling new people. And she’s closing more sales.<\/p>\n