Are You Ignoring the Most Important 40 Seconds in Sales?

It’s Friday afternoon, you’ve been calling prospects all week, and you pick up the phone for one final call. You dial the prospect’s number and listen to the phone ring several times until you’re finally greeted with yet another voice mail recording. Is the prospect ignoring you? Too busy to answer? Not interested in talking? Whatever the reason, you’re tired of leaving voice mails, so you just hang up.

Many salespeople would argue that’s the smart thing to do. But I’d suggest that neglecting those precious 40 seconds (give or take a few ticks of the clock) is an enormous missed opportunity. In fact, I believe VAR sales reps should always leave a message when they call a prospect for three key reasons:

The truth is that voice mails might be your best, and only, option for communicating directly with a prospect. Why not take advantage of those 40 seconds to grab their attention, leave a positive impression and build the relationship?

Of course, not all voice mails are created equal. To be effective, your messages must be concise, valuable and actionable, which is why I’d recommend following these tips when you leave a voice mail:

Now, this approach won’t work every time (in fact, some prospects may never call back), but it will pay dividends in the long run. The secret is to go into every call with a real idea to share and to always leave that idea with the prospect. When you do that, a higher proportion of prospects will take notice and, eventually, they’ll come to appreciate your commitment, tenacity, and professionalism and take your call.

Kendra Lee is a top IT Seller, Prospect Attraction Expert, author of the book, “The Sales Magnet” and the award-winning book, "Selling Against the Goal" and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA Group works with companies to break in and exceed revenue objectives in the small and midmarket business (SMB) segment.