Messaging: You can leave it, if it is the right one. Part 2 – Grab me, or I will delete you

Posted on July 14, 2008 by Karl Goldfield.
Categories: Messaging, Sales Training.

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Your Message Is Boring Really, this image more or less says it all! I am in awe that I found this, and yes it is a real company. To continue with the concept of leaving a message we are going to ease down to the most dangerous of all messages. The one that is so dull, monotone, pointless, or irritating that your prospect remembers you…but for all of the wrong reasons. If you ask people in a Sales training whether or not they leave boring messages, almost everyone will deny it.However, if you walk the sales floor, especially later in the day, you can hear gems like:

“Hi, this is Karl, “spoken in robotic I just finished a really heavy lunch and might fall asleep in the middle of this message tone, “I wanted to call you today and discuss my company’s product, Put You To Sleep Widgets, here at Boring Inc. we pride ouselves in getting deleted before you make it to the end of the message.”

SEVEN SECONDS. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7

That is it, period. So get your act together and lead with something that matters. My favorite involves research, and guess what? In this day and age you have to do research to leave a message. You have to have some idea who you are dealing with, what they care about, what event may create an urgency. If you are leaving messages for top level executives, hit them where it hurts, IN THE FINANCIALS.

Look at their financials, peruse news articles, make a call to a competitor or buyer of their product. Learn something is causing them problems and relates to your product then deliver.

“So, Ms. Top Level Exec, I was reading today how you are experiencing a decline in your annual inventory turn. Companyjustlikeyou.com was having the same problem last year, but now after working with us, they have had two quarters of record breaking turns. “

“I was speaking to Mr. Uses YourProduct yesterday, and he informed me that he waited over three hours for a technical support representative. The clients of the people we work with average less than five minutes on hold when waiting for support.”

DID I GET THERE ATTENTION? Probably. DID I GET A CALL BACK ? Probably not.

What usually happens is three or four calls later, I get them on the line, and guess what? My name sounds familiar and they would like to connect and discuss more in a few weeks.

Now, stay on top of the important prospects and change up the message. DO NOT LEAVE THE SAME MESSAGE TWICE! Finally, always send an e-mail within 24 hours of your voice mail outlining the same message. I admit, this is one I need to remind myself to do, as it is easy to forget. Almost as easy as that boring message I just deleted.

Want to talk about how to integrate messaging into your sales training? Drop me a line.

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3 comments.

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Nesh Thompson | Sales Performance

Comment on July 15th, 2008.

Great post Karl. I guess this falls into that same territory of going that extra mile. With customers getting savvier about information gathering, they aren’t going to appreciate laziness in sales people who don’t return the favour. However, this is not a new phenomenon, those who research and put more effort into connecting with someone, in whatever medium will do better than those who don’t.

Ian Brodie | Professional Services Consultant

Comment on July 16th, 2008.

Nice post Karl – persistence is everything (again).

Great picture too. Reminds me of something which used to amuse me no end: In the UK Yellow pages under the heading “Boring” it used to say “See Civil Engineers”. As a lot of my family are enginees it never ceased to amuse me. Sadly they’ve removed it now at the request of the Institution of Civil Engineers – how boring of them.

Ian

Tim Rohrer - Sales Loudmouth

Comment on July 16th, 2008.

Karl, this is right on! leave a great message but don’t rely on it to cause the prospect to call you back. Rely on it to breed familiarity for when you get them on the line.