I get dozens of vendor calls a week and will confess that I use voice mail as a screen to prioritize my time and response.  In today’s marketplace, I can bet you have already seen the size of your pipeline grow and the need to spend more time in follow-up is taking more of your schedule.  When doing follow-up with new prospects or leads leaving a message is a risk – If you do, create a message that will get a response.

If you leave a message, here’s a collection of tips to get return calls:

1. Leave your first name, company and number only in a businesslike manner – it seems calls are returned in reverse proportion to the amount of information left.
2. Be funny – Clean wit will get a response.
3. Be indirect – “I was going to mail you confidential information and I want to make sure I have the correct address.”
4. Offer fun – “I have two tickets to tonight’s game and thought you might be interested.”
5. Remind them of where you first met them and that it was a positive meeting.
6. Dangle the carrot – leave just enough information to entice a call-back.
7. Ask a thought-provoking question.
8. Cut off your message mid-sentence right before you get to the good part.

Most importantly, when leaving a message ask yourself – would I return this call?  If you hesitate in your answer change the message. 

Carpe diem,