• About QBS
    • Our Story
    • About the Author
    • Client List (Partial)
    • Testimonials
  • Training Programs
    • Virtual QBS: Zoom!
    • QBS Methodology Training
    • One-Day QBS Seminars
    • Digital/Inside Sales Training
    • Speaking Engagements
  • Sales Enablement
    • Sales Process/CRM Integration
    • “Train the Trainers”
    • Licensing QBS®
    • QBS® Certification
  • Event Details
    • Logistics & Planning
    • Tom Freese Bio
    • Sample Agenda
  • QBS Products
    • QBS Books
    • Audio Programs
  • Ordering

QBS Research, Inc.

Strategic Sales Methodology and Training

  • Contact Us
  • Articles
  • Video Clips
  • Free Downloads
  • Request Proposal
Home implementation Increase Voice-mail/Email Responses by 1000%

Increase Voice-mail/Email Responses by 1000%

Posted on May 16, 2016 Written by admin Leave a Comment

tip 34Voice-mail and email are very effective communication tools. As such, your target list of prospects and customers is being inundated with voice-mails and email messages from your direct competitors, in addition to any number of other vendors who compete with you indirectly—for budget dollars.

The are only two reasons people respond to voice and email messages—obligation and curiosity. If your boss calls and leaves a message, you will likely return the call. If your largest customer calls, you will surely return their call as well, because that’s what you do when you have important customers, or a boss.

But, what about decision makers who don’t feel “obligated” to return cold calls from vendors? Besides obligation, the only other thing that causes people to return voice-mail messages or email is curiosity.

The challenge is, most voice-mails and email messages that get lobbed into potential decision makers do more to satisfy their curiosity than create it. Oops! As a result, the average return call rate on voice-mail has dropped below 5%, and the odds of getting replies to email can be just as bleak.

Sample messages of Curiosity Inducing Voice-mails:

i.) “Hi, George, this is Pat Wilkins calling from Dynamic Systems—I’m on the team that works with industrial accounts in Central Florida. I was on a conference call with one of our products managers last Wednesday afternoon just after lunch, and two issues came up that I thought might impact your current manufacturing platform, one of which is time sensitive. I wanted to be proactive and try to catch you in the office this afternoon. If you get a chance today, could you please call me back at (770) 123-4567? I should be here until around 5:30pm.”

ii) “Hi, Dale, this is Lane Patterson with HLM Corporation. I’m on the team that supports healthcare accounts for the Midwest region. I was hoping to catch you for a minute because we’ve had 13 new announcements in the last three and a half months, two of which I believe might impact your diagnostic assessments under the new legislation. If you get a chance today, could you please call me at (770) 123-4567?”

(iii) “Hi, Steve, this is Joe Tomlin calling from Templeton Partners. I manage a team that works with financial brokers in the tri-cities area. A note came across my desk yesterday morning that caught my eye regarding (insert something relevant) and I wanted to try and catch up with you today if possible. When you get a chance, could you please call me at (770) 123-4567?”

Key Point: If I sent 5 different voice-mails or email messages, they would have five different sets of words depending on what information I had about the account, my purpose for calling, and the objective of the call. But in every case, my intention would be to leave (or send) a purposeful message, that was specific and relevant. Do that in your business, and you can easily realize a 50%+ response rate, which represents a whopping 1000% increase over industry averages.

Filed Under: implementation Tagged With: QBS Coaching, QBS Methodology, Question Based Selling, Sales Coaching, strategic selling, telephone sales, Telesales, Thomas A. Freese

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tom Freese vs. Other Motivational Speakers

Best Selling Author/Trainer

Strategic Questions

The Most Powerful Tool in Sales

Besides gathering information, strategic questions are a salesperson's best tool for:
• Piquing Customer Interest
• Establishing Credibility
• Understanding Requirements
• Creating a Sense of Urgency
• Qualifying Opportunities
• Competitive Differentiation
• Negotiation / Positioning
• Escalating to Decision Makers
• Securing Commitments / Closing Deals
• Maintaining Margins
• Getting Leads / Referrals
. . .which is very different than just probing for needs.

Topics

  • announcements
  • articles
  • books
  • coaching qbs
  • free downloads
  • hall of shame
  • happenings
  • homepromo
  • implementation
  • job hunting tips
  • public classes
  • sales humor
  • selected secrets
  • Uncategorized
  • video

QBS For Parents

Join Our Mailing List

Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon Sign up for our Email Newsletter
For Email Newsletters you can trust
© 2017 QBS Research, Inc.
Website development by PodWorx, Inc.