Voicemail Magic: Turning Missed Calls into Opportunities

Voicemail Magic: Turning Missed Calls into Opportunities

Kelly Kennedy: Welcome to episode 157 of the business development podcast. And today's episode is all about voicemail. Stick with us. You are not going to want to miss this episode.

Intro: The Great Mark Cuban once said business happens over years and years. Value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

And we couldn't agree more. This is the business development podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world. You'll get expert business development, advice, tips, and experiences, and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs. And business development reps. You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business brought to you by capital business development, capitalbd.ca let's do it. Welcome to the business development podcast, and now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy: Hello, welcome to episode 157 of the business development podcast. Today, I wanted to chat about a subject that I've had a lot of requests for guys, a ton of requests for this one. I've put it off for a while because it can be a challenging one.

And I wanted to think a little bit about how I was going to present it. But today we are chatting all about. The superpower for all BD people that is your voicemails. Guys, voicemails. But before we get into today's episode, I want to give you a show update. Today is our 18 month anniversary of the business development podcast guys, 18 months to the day since we launched this show and my gosh has a lot happened.

And I just want to say to each and every one of you who have supported us thus far, we cannot continue this show without your support. And so I just want to say to all of our Rockstar listeners out there, thanks for believing in us. Thanks for sticking with us week over week, month over month, and coming up year over year.

We could not be here without you. This show would not exist without you. It is for you. And I appreciate each and every one of you immensely. So thank you to everybody who has supported us on this journey, expert guests, listeners, and sponsors alike. We could not be here without you. We could not continue without you.

So thank you for all you do. Thank you to all my rock stars out there. To date guys, we have released 73 expert guest interviews. We have produced 84 business development specific episodes. We won best business podcast, 2023 from Quill Inc. We were nominated for podcast of the year for 2024 and interview podcast of the year for 2024.

We did not win, but it was an honor to be nominated. And once again, guys, we could not have gotten this far without your support. This show is for you. We could not do it without you. Thanks for all you do. I wanted to start out today's episode with a statistic, and it's an impressive one. According to Sales Leads Inc, 80 percent of sales calls go to voicemail, and less than 5 percent of voicemails are called back.

Also, nearly half of all sales reps and business development specialists feel prepared for calls. My gosh, that's, that's an interesting statistic, but you know what? I've been in this game long enough to say it is probably right, if not actually a little bit low. I think potentially 85 to 90 percent of calls at this point go to voicemail.

It is crazy. It is absolutely crazy. And yet, you know, when you think about it, it is your superpower. It is your way to stand out in a crowd. And you know, I'm going to say it. I'm a business owner myself. I do not answer every call. I let a lot of calls go to voicemail, and I determine if they're important or not by whether or not they leave me a voicemail.

So, you know, I'm right up there. I believe the statistic through and through, and I would say that a lot of the time, I do let calls go to voicemail, and I call the person back. And so, getting good at leaving voicemail, if you're in business development, if you're in any type of business growth position for your company, Is absolutely critical.

It is a game changer. It is the difference between success and failure is getting really, really great at leaving voicemails. And I have some tips today and we're going to go through them and I'm going to let you guys know what I typically do, what structure I follow when I leave a voicemail, but understand that.

The sky's the limit guys. You leave voicemails however you like. As long as you leave them. That is the key. I would also say that there's probably a statistic out there that says that most people don't make phone calls. And I would agree with that too. The difference to stand out long term in any type of business development role is is going to be to make X number of phone calls and leave X number of great voicemails.

Because over time it all stacks up in your favor. And really with voicemails, you're playing a long game. But in business development, guys, you know this. We're always playing the long game. The business development game is the long game. And so we have to think about it from that standpoint. And we have to leave the voicemails every single time.

Okay. I'm really excited to drop some truth bombs today, guys, with regards to voicemails and spoiler alert, if you haven't figured it out already, they are not a bad thing. They are excellent for your business development game. They are not just excellent. They are required. They are like, A grading performance on whether or not you're going to become a great business development person is really how great you get at leaving great voicemails, voicemails that people will want to call back.

And you know, we're going to get into that today, but so much about leaving a great voicemail. Is about your tone. It's not so much about the content of what you say, although that is very important. It is so much based in the tone that you leave a voicemail in. Because how many of you out there have had a voicemail left for you in a, in a crappy professional tone where it's just like, Hi, I'm John with XYZ company, and I'm calling about this.

If you could give me a call back, right? You're not calling that person back. You're not calling them back versus a voicemail. It's Hey, it's Kelly calling from capital business development. I was just calling to book an introduction meeting with you. I think that our services can be super valuable, and I really look forward to meeting you.

Please give me a shout back. X, Y, Z, X, Y, Z, X, Y, Z. Right, guys? Come on. It's all in the tone. And it really does matter with every single call. So, you know, think about it. Leaving a voicemail and a good one is the difference between getting that call back or when you finally do get through to them, it being a positive interaction.

Okay? All right, guys. Number one. In business development, we must embrace the voicemail. I actually always aim to leave a voicemail. It's simply a pleasant surprise if you get someone. So get that, guys. When I'm making my business development calls for the week, no matter who I'm calling, I'm actually looking to leave a voicemail.

Because if 8 my calls or 10 of my calls go to voicemail, I'm actually preparing to leave a great voicemail. I'm not always preparing to make that phone call and actually speak to someone. I know that that's probably interesting, A lot of you were like, what do you mean? I really am. I'm preparing to leave a great voicemail.

What I'm typically thinking is, what am I going to say on my voicemail? How am I going to reiterate it? How am I going to make the shortest, sweetest voicemail that conveys confidence, that conveys enthusiasm, a happy person, and someone that they will want to call back. Those are typically the thoughts going through my head.

It is a pleasant surprise when someone picks up the phone and I can introduce myself properly. But guys, like most of the time, that's not the case. And so once again, I want to chat about the unfounded fear. Most of you are not making calls because you're afraid to talk to somebody. You're afraid of being put on the spot and having to do that.

But guess what? Nine out of 10 of your calls, eight out of 10 of your calls, they're going to voicemail anyway. What do you got to be afraid of? Pick up the phone, make the call and get great at leaving voicemails. That is the secret to long term success here at BD guys. It really is. I leave so many voicemails and then you know what?

Yeah. Statistically, they don't always get a call back, but you know what? You're doing work each time. And we're going to get into that later on, but. Things are happening with each voicemail you leave, whether or not they call you back or not, you are still having a positive effect if you are leaving good voicemails, okay?

Number two, we always want to smile through the phone. Guys, guys, this is like one of the most critical things about leaving any voicemail. We want to smile, we want to be enthusiastic, we want to convey confidence, excitement, we want to convey that we have a product and service they're going to want to learn about.

Okay. Remember, what do we do in business development? What does all this work for? The phone calls, the emails, the digital introductions. It's to build enough interest to get you to a meeting. You need to be thinking about this with everything you do, whether you're leaving a voicemail, whether you're sending an email, whether you're doing a digital introduction over LinkedIn, it is all about conveying and building interest. Can you build interest in your product that is sufficient enough that they will want to meet with you and talk further? That is the game guys. That is business development. You are interest builders. You are detectives, you are interest builders, and your job is to lead this whole thing to a meeting that will eventually lead to a RFQ in order for you, your organization, whatever it be.

But the real job, the real job of every bit of interaction is to build enough interest to get you to the next step, to get you to the meeting. Then from the meeting to get you to the RFP, the RFQ, the vendor list, whatever, the order. But everything we are doing is to raise the bar on the interest. And the voicemail is not only no different, it's one of the most critical pieces in the puzzle.

Why? Because you can convey your humanness through your voice. You can truly communicate in the voicemail you leave, in the tone, in the words you choose, in the confidence that you convey. In the excitement that you're able to show through your amazing, amazing voices, guys, voicemail is critical. It is an amazing, amazing tool that so many of us are afraid to use.

We're afraid to use it to its full effect. But trust me, the moment you guys are able to build enthusiasm to show your happiness, to show your smile, to show your confidence through the way that you communicate through your voicemails, it is going to be an absolute game changer for you. It is going to be a game changer and you have to think about this.

You have to be clear and concise and confident with every single voicemail. It is game day every time you get to that answering machine, right? But trust me, if you get great at doing this, you get good at doing this repeatedly, you're gonna have so much success. One of the challenges that I see happening over and over again with voicemails that are left for me is that they are usually very serious.

They maybe say their name once, they maybe tell me a little bit about the company they're with, and then they give me their phone number once, guys. It's not enough. A good voicemail, you are always smiling, you always say your full name and company twice, okay? Once at the beginning, once at the end. You also say your phone numbers twice.

We're going to get into this later. But you always want to repeat your phone number twice. Why? Because they weren't ready for it the first time around. And so, since they weren't ready for it the first time around, they likely didn't have their pen ready, they likely weren't ready to write anything down.

But if you say it twice Most of the time it gives them time to be prepared. It gives them two chances to write down your phone number and you're going to be a much better spot. Okay? So we always want to say our full name and company twice. And I'm actually going to repeat this twice because it is that important.

So always repeat your full name and company twice and always repeat your phone number twice. Okay, what is the order of voicemail operations? Okay, this one's gonna be a little bit fun. I'm gonna give you guys an example of a way that I might leave a voicemail, okay? And there is a bit of an order of operations to it.

This is just the way that I do it regularly. It doesn't mean that I do it the same way every time. Doesn't mean that you have to do it this way every time. But having a certain set of things to follow, having a certain set of rules to follow will help you as you do voicemails. If we are nervous or feeling unprepared about how to leave voicemails, how to make calls, a part of that is just having a process or things that we make sure that we hit on, right?

Your pitch is going to change every time, but the secret long term is just that it's short and sweet and only gives enough information to build interest, right? You're not going to sell anybody over a voicemail. Stop leaving long voicemails. Nobody wants to hear them. Keep them 30 seconds or less. And always keep them short and sweet.

If you keep them 30 seconds or less, you will have a lot more success with them, okay? So, order of voicemail operations. We always want to start with an introduction. Hi, my name is Kelly, and I'm with XYZ Company. This is a great way to start any type of voicemail. I'm calling to chat about This, this, and this, right, whatever it is, you don't got to tell them the ins and outs of exactly what you want to talk to them about or everything your company does.

You can literally say I work with X, Y, Z company. We do fabrication, project management, and capital projects of all types. That's it. That's all you have to say. You don't have to get any more in depth about that. Just give them a brief overview about the services or the product that you're calling about, and then lead it into, you can give me a shout back at your earliest convenience.

You can get me back at XYZ phone number. Once again, it's Kelly with XYZ company, looking to book a meeting with you. And you can get me back at XYZ phone number. I look forward to hearing from you have an awesome day. That's it. It really does not have to be more complex than this. It can really be this simple.

And I think most of you are overthinking your voicemails. And I've talked with plenty of business development specialists. And when they read me through, you. What the voicemails are that they're leaving. They are super in depth, super complex. And honestly, they were turning off their prospect. Because their prospect doesn't want this like big drawn out thing.

And we know this. Like we have short attention spans as Millennials. Give them a quick introduction to you. A quick hook. What it is you want. I want to book a meeting. I want to schedule a coffee. Whatever it is. Tell them what you want. Give them. A way to get back to you and repeat it twice. It's this simple guys.

And don't be afraid to do this repeatedly over and over and over again. It is super, super effective. And you know, if you're trying to perfect your pitch. I want you to perfect your pitch by making it as short as humanly possible while still building enough interest to engage the prospect. If you can make it short and build enough interest to engage the prospect, you are probably right where you want to be.

It really is the type of thing where if you can get really great at providing As little information as possible, but making it engaging, keeping it, like I said, under 30 seconds, preferably probably around 15 to 20 seconds would be ideal, but if you can do this and you can get really great at it, you're going to get a much higher response rate.

There's something about short and sweet that is just super effective and it doesn't matter whether it's your like social media. Whether it's your phone calls, whatever it is, short and sweet is effective, and it is no different with your voicemails, okay? Get good at getting short and sweet with your voicemails, and you will have way, way, way more success.

Remember guys, that leaving and perfecting your voicemail, it feels awkward, okay? Don't let that slow you down or stop you. I still make mistakes or get hung up on voicemails at times, guys. I do! I'm human! I have plenty of times where I, like, mouth mush my words or I say something wrong. It happens! It happens, but you know what?

I just get over it and I make the next call. And the next time I leave a great voicemail, okay? Don't let your fear of how you will sound hold you back. Don't let your fear that your pitch isn't perfectly perfected hold you back. You get better and better and better with every single call. Mark my words.

You get better with every single call. You know what will hold you back? Not making the call. You know what'll hold you back? Not leaving the voicemail. You're better off to leave a bad voicemail than you are to leave no voicemail at all. Trust me. You get better with each one. Your pitch gets better and more refined each time you do it.

After, you know, five or six calls, you hit a cold call cadence and every voicemail and call after that gets easier and easier and easier because you're flowing. You're rocking it. Trust me on this. Don't let your fears hold you back. Don't let your fears hold you back from making the call. From leaving the voicemail.

And heck, get to a stage like I do, where what you're looking to do is leave the voicemail. Challenge yourself. How many voicemails can I leave today, right? Be like, okay, if I'm going to make 20 calls today, I'm going to leave 15 or 16 voicemails today. And it's going to be awesome. And you know what? Yeah, maybe none of them call you back, but I wanted to get into that today.

Leaving a voicemail is not for nothing. Okay? Leaving a voicemail is not for nothing. I want you to think about this for a second. Most people are not calling at all. Most people are not calling your prospects. At all. They are trying to engage them through social media, through digital advertising, through email.

They are not putting a voice to the name. They are not trying to build a human to human connection. And what are we always trying to do in business development? We're trying to build a human to human connection. And in this crazy time we live in of AI and robots and digital everything, you want to stand out?

Get great at leaving voicemails. Start picking up your phone and making that your prime point of contact again. Trust me, guys. I would not have gotten this far in my BD career had I not recognized this early on. And frankly, even though I was afraid, started making calls. It doesn't matter who I'm working for, what client I'm working for, how big their company is.

Calls and voicemails are an integral, integral part of my process. Actually, my process would not even work without doing calls and emails and voicemails. My business development program and process would not work at all without integrating calls, email, and voicemail. It's that critical, guys. It's that big of a game changing differentiator.

And yeah, it takes multiple, multiple reach outs. Great things don't happen overnight. Without putting in the effort. Business development is a long game. There's no two ways about it. There's no fast tracking the result. Do you get lucky sometimes and it happens faster than usual? Absolutely. And it's amazing.

And it's, it's super rewarding when that does happen. But most of the situations where I'm doing business development, especially on behalf of large scale clients, it can take up to 30. Voicemails up to 30 emails up to 30 direct reach outs of any type before I get that initial meeting before I'm able to get the person on the right day that they're ready to have that conversation with me.

But how do I do that? How do I leave 20 to 30 great communications that they're just not like screw this guy? I'm not even going to listen to this. I do it by being super super kind by leaving super kind emails by sending really kind short and sweet voicemails in a kind voice in an exciting and confident voice in a very short and sweet way like I'm saying guys as short and sweet as humanly possible.

Right. But if I can do this and I can do this, well, I fly under the radar, even though I'm leaving like a ton of voicemails guys, like one a week in a lot of cases, one per week until I either disqualify or get my meeting. But let me tell you what I most of the time get my meeting. And so will you with kind consistency.

Kind consistency is the secret to leaving great voicemails that eventually get you the meeting, okay? Leaving a voicemail, it creates interest, it builds a rapport with your voice, it builds trust with your voice, and when done correctly, it greatly Greatly increases your odds of booking a meeting over time.

Why? Because they're hearing your voice every week. They are associating your voice with your company, with your product, with the kindness coming through and every single time you're building a little more trust, a little more interest, a little more. Why is this person still calling me? Why Hmm. Now I'm curious, you are building interest, you are building rapport, you are leaving kind voicemails, and eventually, most of the time, it pays off in your favor.

I do agree. I think if you call and you leave one voicemail, probably is 5 percent chance you get a call back. You call and you leave a kind voicemail for 10 weeks in a row, that goes up to, in my bet, 50 60 70 percent plus that eventually two things are going to happen. They're either going to call you back or one time they're going to pick up the phone and just talk to you.

It works guys. Trust me, it works. It works super, super well. And I'm going to lead into the next part. Now only leave a message once per week. Guys, it's the once per week rule. Hit that ball over the net, wait for them to serve it back. If they don't serve it back, Call them back the next week. But if you just do it once per week and you're super kind about it and you're not pushy, you will fly under the radar and eventually they're going to call you back or they're going to reach out to you one way or another.

And yeah, you can stagger it out. Sometimes I'll leave a voicemail followed by an email the next week, followed by a voicemail the next week, and I'll kind of swap it out. So there's multiple avenues of attack, but trust me once per week, no matter whether it's an email or a call. will lead you to more success over time will allow you to fly under that radar.

And especially if you're being super nice with your voicemails, you're leaving them with a big smile on your face. You're coming through confident that is going to work majorly in your favor over time. Okay. I'm going to tell you guys a little story. One of the greatest compliments that I ever had was with a client that I left a lot of voicemails for.

They were with a large construction firm in Edmonton. It was a Canada wide company, and I'd probably left them at this point, guys. 10 to 15 voicemails back to back week over week trying to schedule the meeting on behalf of one of my clients. And I kid you not, they eventually picked up. We scheduled the meeting and we had the meeting in person.

It was a lunch. And when we sat down this woman sat down across from me and she goes, Kelly, you are the kindest, most persistent business development specialist I have ever seen. And I kid you not guys, this was just from the voicemails that I had been leaving her consistently always with a smile on my face, always happy, always energized, always confident and just saying, Hey, I can't wait to meet you.

I can't wait to schedule this meeting. Really looking forward to chatting every time. Just coming through like someone you would actually want to meet with. Someone you would actually want to talk with. Try to improve their day. Every time you leave a voicemail, try to leave it with the intention that you want that little 30 second, 15 second voicemail to make their day a little bit better.

And mark my words guys, eventually it will pay off. To this day, it was one of the most like amazing moments that I've had in my BD career because I worked hard for that meeting and instead of them being pissed off and pushy that I left them 15 voicemails, they were happy. They were happy that I did and they booked the meeting with me and the rest was history.

We ended up getting the client. So guys, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to leave these voicemails. Don't be afraid to get great at it. It really is a skill for BD that is next level. And it's been one that I've kind of put off talking about guys for this very reason is that it is challenging. It is not easy.

It's not something you're going to get great at overnight. You're going to have to work out what works for you. And you know what? Every time that I bring on a new client and I got to do a new one, I'm right back at square one. I struggle with it for a while because getting the messaging right, it takes time.

It's a trial and error process. There's no doubt about it, but you don't get to the end. You don't get to success without going through the trial and error. So don't be afraid to call and leave a few bad voicemails, right? They get better and better and better each time. Don't let your fear of leaving a bad voicemail or not knowing what to say in the moment hold you back because every single voicemail you leave gets easier, more concise, your value proposition gets better, the whole thing gets better each time you leave the voicemail.

Okay, so don't be afraid, leave multiple voicemails, it can take longer than you think, it probably will take longer than you think. But you're going to get great at it, and it is the difference between success and failure. Leaving consistently great voicemails will lead to consistent success in meeting bookings for you over time.

And lastly guys, one of the most important things, we chatted about it earlier, but I want you guys to keep your voicemails short, confident, and sweet, okay? Short, confident, happy, and sweet are the recipe for voicemail success. If you can get really great at leaving, like I said, 15 to 30 seconds max voicemails, that you're confident, you're high energy, you're happy, it's conveying through the phone, through the microphone, just like we are right now, it is going to change your BD game.

It will change everything for you. I want you to think about this. Every time you pick up that phone, 80 percent chance you're going to voicemail, leave the best voicemail that you can. I would not be who I am today guys without voicemails, embrace them and watch your business thrive. Shoutouts this week, Carmen Leibel, Jamar Jones, Wanda Pender-Boyd, Katie Flowers, Susan Posieka, Ben Gioia, Yasushi Ohki, Koleya Karringten, Sylvia Sorenson, Jayson Chakkalakal, Chantal Cote, Michelle Coulson, Monte Pedersen, Seanna Baxter, Mindy Kay

Mcrae Broadbent, and Zsolt Szmolinka. Until next time, this has been the Business Development Podcast, and we will catch you on the flip side.

Outro: This has been the Business Development Podcast. Kelly Kennedy has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020 his passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.

The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists. For more, we invite you to the website at www. capitalbd. ca. See you next time on the business development podcast.