Sales has always been about connecting with people at the right time. The challenge is, the right time is seldom when the phone actually rings… prospects are in meetings, on the road, knee-deep in a lengthy report or simply turning their phones face down because they don’t want to take a call from an unknown number.
That is the appeal of ringless voicemail for sales, then. Instead of prompting the phone to ring, forcing the recipient to answer, the technology allows businesses to push a voice message into voicemail in real-time when the carrier infrastructure supports it. It is less intrusive, and that counts.
Nobody likes to be hassled when they are on a deadline. To be able to drop the message in a box and have something to play on their own time provides a new prospect touch. While it can never replace a face-to-face chat, it offers an alternative option for people who may have difficulty sticking to a strict schedule of calls.
Why Traditional Sales Calls Are Getting Harder to Manage
Cold calling is not dead. Anyone proclaiming it is clearly exaggerating. It is without a doubt much more difficult though. Potential customers have caller ID, spam filters, caller screening tools and generally too little patience than 10 or even 5 years ago.
A sales rep can spend an hour on the phone and barely have a meaningful enough discussion. That can start to get very annoying very quickly. On the rare occasion when you get someone on the phone, they might not have the capacity to listen to the whole pitch. The sales person then has to start building the relationship, explain why they are calling, ask questions, handle objections and somehow keep the customer interested. It is quite a lot to ask from a complete stranger in thirty seconds.
Voicemail is a little different. The prospect doesn‘t even have to pick up. They can listen at their convenience. A quick message that describes the company and gives the prospect an easy call to action is all it takes. That is some contrast to call after call that go to voicemail or the silent phone rings forever, either way, even when no one answers. It provides sales teams with another opportunity to stay fresh at the prospect‘s side during long selling cycles. Not every prospects is ready to buy right now. Some might take many touches before the company is even recognized.
Why Is Ringless Voicemail Valuable for Sales Management.
The biggest benefit is easy: it offers a sales touch while not requiring your prospects’ immediate attention. That may seem like a trivial benefit, but it significantly alters what prospect outreach feels like. A straightforward call on the phone asks the prospect to, “Stop whatever you are doing and talk to me,” where-as a voice mail message is “Here is why I was calling, look at this when you get a chance.”
For sales teams that kind of distinction can be very helpful for prospecting and nurture campaigns. Suppose a rep has already sent an email to a prospect and wants to follow up on a cold call without actually making an additional interruption. A quick voicemail can help to fill the pipeline. “Perhaps the prospect” downloaded a white paper” solicited” information” watched” a webinar” or” had a previous conversation” with the sales team. Then a rep can leave a relevant message” associated with the information the prospect already provided.
The actual message should not come across as a radio commercial. That‘s where many campaigns fall flat. Make it brief. Be a real person. Say who you are calling them up on behalf of and make the next step clear. A quick call back, reply via a sales channel, etc. Can be much more effective than a lengthy sales pitch
Another useful concept is consistency. Sales teams lack follow-up, often because reps get busy. A prospect receives one call and suddenly rep X has another task to do and three weeks go by. Sales automation can keep those touches more organized. When used correctly, voicemail can be one part of an outreach process.
How Ringless Voicemail Software Supports Sales Teams
Technology is key to making bigger campaigns work. Top ringless voicemail software will allow your salespeople to structure their contacts, build campaigns, deploy campaigns, track activity, and schedule follow-ups all in one user-friendly package. Managing this kind of outreach manually without software is not possible.
The sales manager may want to run different campaigns to different groups of audiences. New leads could get an introductory message. The professional list could get a reminder. Clients could be offered an upgrade or more services. These audiences shouldn‘t all hear exactly the same recording. Context.
Systems may also assist in managing campaign information. Rather than having sales people remember the dates and contacts, software may provide assistance in coordinating activity. In certain cases, where the platform and integrations allow, teams may be able to link voicemail campaigns into customer relationship systems and other sales tools.
However, there‘s an important caveat. Automation does not necessarily make a campaign good. It just enables you to do your work quicker. If the message itself sucks, software allows you to transmit that suckiness to a wider audience. That‘s not a victory.
Most sensible method is to automate the repetitions and leave the sales talk in the prospect‘s hands. Record a believable message. Don‘t exaggerate. Don‘t cram five different offers into a one minute message. Give them a reason to want to listen.
Creating Voicemail Messages That People Actually Listen To
A voicemail doesn‘t have much time to make an impression. That first sentence counts. If it doesn‘t seem personal, they‘ll delete it before they get through it.
Open with the reason for the message. Don‘t spend ten seconds identifying every last detail about the company. The prospect perhaps doesn‘t care that much at this point. First, provide some background:
For instance, a sales message might include a reference to a prior contact, a particular business requirement, or related service. [Presumably, the thing is to] impart a sense of purpose. A few personal touches can go a long way.
The tone does too. A lot of salespeople can be very prescriptive when they take a message for a voicemail; it’s like everyone has gone through a new Legal Voice course and everyone is reading from a script. No one talks like that.
No reason to have formal explanations included in the voicemail, on the voicemail, no reason to give all the info. The voicemail is not the sales meeting. It‘s the way to the next meeting.
A convenient framework is to tell your name, state the reason for your contact, reference the pain point, solution or benefit you are offering and close with one clear call to action. Then.. STOP. Really.
Here‘s the thing about long voicemails, they tend to cause more problems than they solve. If the prospect requires a ten-minute discussion, then book one. The message must be intriguing enough or relevant enough for the prospect to respond.
When can sales teams use voicemail drops in the buyer journey
There are a variety of points in the sales process where a message can be left. Voicemail prospecting works well when prospects require a number of touchpoints before making a decision.
For instance, in the early part of the funnel, a message can be used to introduce the service, or to explain the reason of the sales person‘s contact. At this stage it is not really to closing any sales. It is just creating awareness.
In the consideration stage the message is a little more detailed. Perhaps the prospect has already shown an interest in a product. The salesperson can now follow up with some information on a shared problem, a useful feature or a consultation.
Later in the sales process, voicemail can be used as a way of following up. The prospect who said they needed longer has already received a hard sales message a few times. Voicemail is a subtle and non aggressive way of getting back in touch.
Furthermore, communication post-sale is another area of benefit. If the message is relevant and by the script, then salespeople can utilize voice messaging for customer care calls, renewal reminders, new customer education, and upsell campaigns.
But this is where many companies miss the bigger story. The outreach for sales isn be about calling into someone then forcing them into a meeting. It needs to be about being in front of the prospect all the way through the buying process. Source the different channels work great together. Email, the call, voice mail social outreach as well as targeted content.
How do I Merge My Voicemail and Email with Other Sales Platforms
Using voicemail only can restrict you from taking advantages from it. The more effective approach is to cross over variety of communication channels with voicemail.
One example is a prospect receives an e-mail explaining the service, you can also have a voicemail follow up with a short personal message and then the sales person can make a traditional call. If the prospect does respond to your e-mail then the automated mail sequence will (by default) stop or change so the prospect isn‘t bombarded with selling messages from you.
This is how the role of sales workflow design plays an important role. The goal is not to contact people maximum numbers of times. That is a sure shot path of pissing them off. The goal should be to make each contact worthwhile.
Timing: A message that is immediately in reaction to a relevant activity makes sense. A random voicemail left weeks later doesn‘t.
The buying teams need to monitor each activity and make modifications accordingly. What is successful? If a certain message gets a response then investigate the reasons why. If another piece of recorded sales message is ignored then change it. Do not assume a campaign is successful just because you have sent a number of messages.
And bear in mind, the numbers can be deceiving too. A high response rate is good, but it is the responses themselves we need to look at. Ten impactful conversations can be better than hundreds of less valuable ones.
Compliance, Consent, and Responsible Sales Messaging Matter
Not as exciting as the rest of voicemail marketing is the less exciting aspect of compliance. Communication regulations and rules for carriers are often different depending on the country, audience, communication type and goal of the campaign, enterprises should know what rules to abide by according to their targeted campaigns.
This is particularly relevant when reaching out to end consumers, utilizing automation technology or communicating in mass volumes. Firms need to keep adequate records, respect opt-out requests and not reach out to people that should be excluded from a campaign.
Responsible engagement is also good business. No one wants to feel caught in an infinity sales loop. If someone writes a “please no more” on a dome request, respect it. It is not difficult.
Salespeople should also ensure their messages are honest. Do not generate false sense of urgency. Do not refer to a relationship that is not there. Do not make promises the company cannot fulfill.
A responsible campaign is as protective of a brand as it is of the prospect. Numbers that achieve a short-term response are not worth damaging brand trust.
Measuring Whether Voicemail Outreach Is Actually Working
The moment a sales team begins to use voicemail campaigns, the question arises: does it work?
The reply has to be based on data, not guesswork. It is possible for teams to track campaign level performance, and determine how the IVR campaign stacks up relative to other sales calling activity. Data points could include delivery activity, responses, callbacks, conversions, downstream sales successes and so on, depending on what software is being used.
And don‘t get too caught up on one metric. One voicemail may not result in a immediate callback but it might help close an email response or sales conversation later. The buyer‘s journey isn‘t quite that simple.
Testing works. Use different openers. Experiment with messages that are more or less than a few lines long. Test to see if a more personal opening is more effective than a Company introduction. Change one major factor at a time if possible, otherwise you will not know what made the difference.
Also, have your sales teams listen to their own recordings. Surprisingly, very few do. Listen as if you were the potential client. Is it professional? Can they hear the purpose of the call? Are there to many facts? Is it what you would expect to receive?
Such little exercise can quickly reveal issues.
The ultimate mission isn‘t to develop an automated voice mail machine. Its to develop a repeatable sales process that leverages technology to complete tasks that are repeated over and over while it leaves the more meaningful interaction to the salesperson.
Conclusion: Make it easier to do sales outreach without making it more annoying.
But “sales prospecting” isn‘t just calling people over and over until they pick up. People already get enough interruptions in their day to day lives. The best technique is to provide value in a considerate manner.
ringless voicemail software may be one piece of that strategy. It can provide a differentiating touchpoint between more traditional calling, follow-up emails, and other automated sales strategies. With strong, compelling messaging and reasonable timing, this can allow salespeople to maintain touch points without constantly hitting prospects with a hard sell.
It‘s not the technology that‘s the magic part. It‘s the message. A badly recorded message will be ignored anyway, no matter the nature of the software associated with it.
Use Ringless Voicemail Software to automate where it makes sense NOT to take the place of good sales instincts. Short recordings. Be relevant. Provide a purpose that appeals to your prospect. Honor quit rules and the law. But most of all, honor the person on the other end.
This is the part sales technology sometimes misses.
FAQs
what is ringless voicemail for sales
Ringless voicemail for sales refers to a method of message delivery where sales message in the form of a recording is directly deposited into person‘s voicemail inbox without an incoming telephone call ringing their phone in accordance with the features of the technology and network.
Cold calling can be replaced by ringless voicemail.
Not really. It would be utilized more effectively as a secondary sales checkpoint. Conventional phone calls are great to engage when the prospect is open to dialogue, whereas voicemail can act as a more passive back-up method.
In what ways does ringless voicemail software assist sales teams?
Ringless voicemail technology can allow your team to better organize contacts, run campaigns, plan out schedules, and automate mundane prospecting tasks, in addition to tracking what campaign activity is available. This will vary from platform to platform.
How much time should a sales voicemail be?
Keep it brief. The message will be a short explanation of who you are and the reason for your call to the prospect, how you may be able to help, and what you‘d like them to do now. Avoid turning the voicemail into a detailed sales presentation.
Could every prospect benefit from ringless voicemail?
No. Audience, consent, communication preferences, applicable laws, carrier policies, and campaign purpose are all critical considerations. You should ensure your intended communications are feasible before contacting people on a large scale.
