How Authentic Voicemail Scripts Increase Responses by up to 22%
With over 80% of sales calls going straight to an answering service, voicemail is a huge part of the prospect-to-customer conversion process. Consider, too, that fewer than 5% of voicemails get a response at all on average, and you can see how leaving ineffective voicemails can have a drastic effect on your sales performance.
Thankfully, with just a few tweaks to your voicemail script, you can increase your response rate significantly. Research by a marketing company found that, on average, small changes to a voicemail script can improve the response rate by 4.8%. In some outlier cases, the improvement can be as much as 22%.
The Best Business Phone Voicemail Script
What makes for a good voicemail script? Every company is different, so every business voicemail script will be unique. Yet there are some facets every voicemail script should attempt to include.
Every voicemail script should include who you are, why you’re calling, your contact details, and when you can be contacted. Your voicemail script can be as simple as this, and most people do prefer a voicemail that doesn’t ramble on.
Your voicemail script should include a call-to-action. It defines the step the customer should take to get in contact with you or learn more about your value proposition.
Finally, it’s great to include the reason why the customer should be excited about calling you back. Briefly mention the pain points you can solve for them or the results you’ll be able to achieve to show the value you will be able to offer the customer.
Sales Voicemail Script Example
Let’s create a simple template that covers all these bases:
“Hi [customer name], this is [your details]. I’m getting in touch with you because [reason]. I know we can help you with [pain point], as we’ve [results] in the past. Please call me at [your number], and I’ll get back to you in [timescale]. Thanks for your time.”
This covers all the most important things you must leave on a voicemail. You could use it like so:
“Hi Edward, this is George at IT Corp Austin. I’m getting in touch with you because we talked at DatabaseCon 2022. I know we can help RibbonGen with your email system transfer, as we’ve completed similar transfers for IBM and Microsoft in the past. Please call me at 555-1980, and I’ll get back to you within 12 hours. Talk to you soon.”
The voicemail is specific, actionable, and demonstrates your value to the customer. This is just the beginning of what you should look to achieve from your voicemail script. We’ve put together 5 effective voicemail scripts you can use in different situations to give you an idea of how to perfect your own voicemail script.
How to Leave a Cold Call Voicemail
With cold calling, you often don’t know so much about the customer. You may not have met them or even be sure if they have a good reason to choose our products or services. A cold calling script should still attempt to include as many of the key elements discussed, even if you can’t be quite as personal.
“Hello, this is Isobel at Rare Marketing. I’m calling because I saw your company is new on social media and we help businesses build a following quickly. On average, we get 15,000 new followers per month for our clients. Please call me on 555-2000, or check out our website www.raremarketing.com. Thank you.”
Be sure that the value you suggest you can offer the customer will apply to most of the people receiving the call.
Even using this more general approach, you’re still able to leave a message that will entice prospects to get in contact if they’re interested in the value proposition. And because the message isn’t highly targeted, you can use it in automated voicemail drops, which we’ll discuss next.
Utilize Voicemail Drop
On average, sales reps spend around 15% of their day leaving voicemails. It’s a tedious and repetitive task that can suck all the energy out of calls, waste agents’ time, and can be a factor in high employee turnover.
Voicemail drop is a powerful system where sales reps can leave a pre-recorded voicemail at the touch of a button. They don’t need to wait on the call while the voicemail is being left, saving a massive amount of time.
Not only does Kixie’s voicemail drop software save your reps huge amounts of time and effort, but it’s also a tool for ensuring the perfect professional voicemail script is left each and every time. You can even record multiple voicemail drops for reps to choose from so that every eventuality is covered – improving personalization and increasing response rates.
What About Incoming Voicemail?
It’s important to think about not only your outgoing business voicemail script but also your voicemail greeting. When you’re not available and customers are instead met with your voicemail, it pays to have used a voicemail greeting script that keeps the sales process firmly in motion.
We’ve put together our top tips for crafting the perfect voicemail greeting for sales, which includes some great voicemail greeting script examples you can base your greeting on. The most important things to include in your business voicemail are:
- Identification of who you are,
- An acknowledgment of the time the caller is using to contact you,
- Guidance on the next step the customer should take, and
- Information on how long they should wait before getting a reply.
The Importance of Business Voicemail
Voicemail is a huge part of any multi-channel sales effort, and it should be treated as such. Improving both your incoming and outgoing voicemail scripts can result in much higher response rates, which ultimately means more profit for you.
Use voicemail drop to leave voicemails more efficiently and to ensure the perfect script is used every time. And don’t forget your own voicemail greeting for when customers contact you. This all comes together to make voicemail a powerful asset in your sales and marketing toolkit.
