COMMENTS
agree 100% - feel precisely the same way.
I totally agree. Leaving a voicemail when cold calling is absolutely a waste of time! I have even found that leaving a voicemail when it's a "warm" prospect is wasteful unless, as you said, it was an appointment and basically you're just leaving the message as "proof" you called them. I prefer to speak in person with a prospect, but if not possible then definitely any other type of "live" conversation whether via web or phone.
Well, now for an opposing view... although I am open to change my opinion. Being in the telecom industry for 15+ years, and having sold voicemail systems... I am often frustrated when folks call me back who have not listened to my voicemail. Many vm greetings often say "leave a detailed message" or something to that effect, so I do. And when they call back and have not listened, I've just wasted my time and brain cycles having to repeat the point of my call (not to mention, my voicemail messages are often entertaining). So my suggestion would be, if someone takes the time to leave you a voicemail, you should take the time to listen, if you plan to call them back anyway...it will save time for both parties. My two cents from an admittedly biased "telecom sales" opinion. Hope this helps.
100% Totally agree. I'd rather read a message via e-mail or text than hold a phone to my ear and listen to blah blah blah. I don't have time for that and it bores me to tears. Talk to me people and interact. If you just need to advise me of something, send a SHORT e-mail or text message.
Good comments
I agree that most technology professionals dont listen to voicemails....I choose to leave them for the fact that if I am making a call, which is always followed up by an email of course, I may as well leave a message for the one out 100 chance someone gets a wild hair and wants to call me because I hit a bullseye (very rare) , but you never know you might get lucky..The flipside being if you ramble and come across as a goof or unsavvy in your market...your doing more harm than good
I leave voice messages as opposed to just hanging up when I get transferred to the voice mail system. If there voice message begins and you hang up, the person can see (caller id) who called and hung up. Doesn't seem like good business.
I leave a vm so that the person understands why I am calling. However, I do get frustrated when someone leaves me a long vm. It is best to be short and concise.
Good post, and good comments. I think VM is dead (or dying). I am not a sales person, but I do call a fair number of people, and leaving messages has become useless to moving communications along. I am becoming much more of a keep hunting person.
On my last office phone (I just moved to a new company), my greeting mentioned that I in general NEVER check my VMAIl, and that it is best to call my cell. I still got plenty of people leaving messages. Weird.
Geoff
I was just debating Mike's comments in my head when I got a VM call- back from a bank executive prospect. He couldn't give me my "five minutes" then but we scheduled a time for next week.
I do use voice mail in my outbound business introductions, but my firm's positioning is precise and my offering is targeted to that prospect. In a no-pressure way I try to say in 30 seconds why there's a good business case for him/her to call me back.
In the large pool of non-callbacks there are, in my BD context, two kinds of folks: those who have no interest and those who do. I can't force the former. But when I finally reach the latter, there's a shorter ramp-up time in the qualifying conversation because my VM had spurred something in the exec's mind that encouraged him to (eventually) take my call.
Most current, manufacturer (and carrier-based) voicemail systems are virtually featureless and inept as a primary personal or corporate voicemail. Newer, third party systems have considerably enhanced capabilities to connect a caller to the called party regardless of location, connective device, or current disposition. This concept of Unified Messenger allows the called party to totally control caller's abilities to contact them depending on time of day, day of week, meeting schedule, appointment schedule, or available device (office phone, cell phone, home phone, hotel phone DID, PDA, etc., while maintaining call control and centralize messaging. A good sales/installation team can provide a superior solution.
Voice Main can now be converted into text and be sent as an SMS and/or electronic mail... So the user will read it instead of having to dial-in, enter the access information etc.... And besides, with Visual Voice mail on the iPhone you can navigate as you with e-mails
Completely agree that voicemail is a least useful medium for me. Even when I leave one, I also send an email with specifics. I find people don't listen fully to voicemails mostly because they take too long. Written communications are usually more clear in both directions. Voicemail is a last resort, whether sending nor receiving.
I agree with Greg Womble, and disagree with George Quebbeman. Some people will listen to a brief vm and it will shorten your ramp-up time when you do reach them. Leaving a vm is not a last resort, but a first. A few parameters...No more than 1 per week, no more than 3 total, and create curiosity per the book entitled "The 7 Keys to Effective Business-to-Business Appointment Setting"
What is the alternative? E mail doesn't work either.
Rarely does anything work alone. VMs, Outlook appt reminders, Emails and B2B live conversations would together. To leave out one is to trip yourself up.
I believe you should be doing all of the above, afterall prospecting is, in general, a numbers game and so the more you do of each method(vm, email, txt) the better your odds are.