What is Your Voicemail Delivery Strategy?

How much time do you spend in a typical day leaving voicemails? Statistic show roughly four in five sales calls don't reach the intended prospect. While you can always attempt to call back a prospect at a later time, you are more likely to reach the prospect if you leave a voicemail.

However, you should optimize your voicemail delivery strategy so that you aren't spending too much time on this sales tactic. While leaving voicemails can help you reach and connect with more prospects, it can also divert your time and resources away from other important tasks. Here are a few ways to maximize your voicemail delivery strategy.

Aim for 20 to 30 Seconds

Try to keep your voicemails between 20 and 30 seconds long. According to HubSpot, this is the sweet spot for effective, conversion-driving voicemails. At 20 to 30 seconds, you should have enough time to explain who you are, as well as what you are selling, while keeping the prospect's attention in the process. If your voicemails are shorter than 20 seconds, you'll struggle to convey your message. If they are longer than 30 seconds, prospects may stop listening to your voicemails before they've finished playing.

Call the Prospect's Direct Phone Number

If you know a prospect's direct phone number, call it rather than the company's general phone number. Research shows that B2B sales reps are 46% more likely to reach a prospect when calling his or her direct number. You won't always have the luxury of calling a prospect's direct phone number. Some prospects can only be reached via their company's main number. With that said, it's still a good idea to try and identify a prospect's direct number before calling him or her and leaving a voicemail.

How can you find out the direct phone number? Try our Target Account Sales Intelligence database. Since you know the contacts name, look up the contact's name in our database and you'll get their phone number along with their email address. Now that'll be perfect for follow up with email (see below). 

Call at the Right Time

The time of day when you leave voicemails will affect whether or not prospects listen to them. Studies have shown that Wednesdays and Thursdays between the hours of 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. offer the best results for sales calls. But in our industry, early may be better such as 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Prospects are more likely to answer their phone and check their voicemails if you call during these hours.

Send an Email Reminder

Before attempting to call a prospect, consider sending an email (now that you have it with our database of contacts) to remind him or her of the upcoming sales call. Even if the prospect doesn't answer, he or she will know to check their voicemail. As a result, you'll generate a stronger response from your voicemail strategy by sending email reminders.