When prospecting for new clients or trying to find a buyer/tenant for your listing, does it make sense to leave a voicemail?
In a word, yes!
The vast majority of prospecting calls go to voicemail. Some agents gripe and grumble when they’re automatically routed to a prospect’s voicemail. They complain, “nobody ever answers the damned phone!”
Don’t be frustrated when calls go to voicemail. Don’t consider voicemails to be a bad thing, because they’re actually little blessings in disguise. See them as opportunities, little advertisements that can be customized exactly to each prospect’s unique situation. Because you’re most likely going to get voicemail whenever you call, put a lot of thought and effort into each voicemail.
Decision makers you are trying to reach are extremely busy, so it’s taking multiple prospecting attempts (phone calls, emails, voicemails, office visits, social media interactions, etc.). Let’s refer to these attempts at “touches.”
In a recent article entitled, “The Case for Leaving Voicemail Messages on Prospecting Calls,” sales guru Jeb Blount says, prospecting is rarely a one-and-done activity. It takes persistence and many touches to get a decision maker to engage with you.
Blount shares data his company, SalesGravy, Inc., gathered that show just how many touches it takes to get a decision maker to talk to you. Prepare to be shocked:
- 1 to 3 touches to re-engage an inactive customer
- 1 to 5 touches to engage a prospect who is in the buying window and is familiar with you and your brand
- 3 to 10 touches to engage a prospect who has a high degree of familiarity with you or your brand but is not in the buying window
- 5 to 12 touches to engage a warm inbound lead
- 5 to 20 touches to engage a prospect who has some familiarity with you and your brand—buying window dependent
- 20 to 50 touches to engage a cold prospect who does not know you or your brand
Let those numbers sink in a little bit.
You have to initiate quite a bit of communication in order to attract clients and move properties. If you don’t leave a voicemail each and every time you call, how on Earth will you ever get enough touches with enough prospects to build a decent book of business?
If you want to learn much more about how commercial real estate brokers can win new business over the telephone, check out my free sample training lesson on Telephone and Voicemail Prospecting.
This free online training program covers:
- The components and qualities of effective telephone selling
- The best way to structure prospecting voicemails and where you can get the information to use.
- Best practices of leaving voicemail.
- How to develop actual voicemails and telephone call scripts you can use in your future prospecting efforts.
This free sample program includes a video and workbook. It’s part of our new Dealmakers online sales training program designed specifically for the commercial real estate industry.
To experience this prospecting lesson, click HERE. You’ll be asked to enter your name, company and email, but then you’ll be taken right away to the program.
