Do you routinely achieve a 65% - 85% callback rate on the voice mail messages you leave for prospects?

You can. But first you have to ignore the "conventional wisdom" being taught by sales trainers who never actually cold-call or by business consultants who teach rather than do.

In the course of my *research for my book, How To Get Your Voice Mail Messages Returned (http://www.VoiceMailReturned.com), I came across a presentation that some consultant gave on this topic. Like a lot of consultants, she didn't base her techniques on real-world experiences. Instead, she based it on a book she read.

(*The techniques I teach are based on field research. But I also was interested in what other people had to say about this topic.)

She teaches what you might call a "blueprint" of a standardized script you should follow when leaving cold-call voice mail messages.

Without violating anyone's copyright -- and while representing the "blueprint" as accurately as possible -- I will now share with you an example of a voice mail message that follows the principles apparently taught in the book she read.

If you prefer to use a traditional approach to voice mail, you can copy this example.

Personally, I hope you won't follow this blueprint, because of the three underlying precepts I teach regarding voice mail messages:

1. The only goal of a voice mail message is to get the call returned (or, ultimately to result in a live conversation).

2. Most voice mail messages left by salespeople are not returned.

3. Therefore, the methods commonly employed by most salespeople usually are ineffective.

But if you believe the conventional approach to be just fine, here is a faithful example:

"Hi, my name is Dan O'Day and I am with Z-100 Radio. I understand that you are the Advertising Manager for ABC Widgets, which means you are responsible for the advertising in the Riverside area. I work for a division of XYZ Broadcasting that specializes in creating advertising campaigns that are specifically designed to drive sales for companies like yours. We have worked with everyone from Brand X Widgets to Brand Z Widgets. For example, last year we did an advertising campaign for Brand X Widgets in which we helped them advertise their new Super Widget. I would love to give you more specific details about other successful campaigns we have designed and talk to you about how we can help you meet your goals in Riverside. My name is is Dan O'Day and you can reach me at 555-476-8111. That number again is 555-476-8111. Thank you and I look forward to your call."

Well, there it is: A "professional" voice mail message which, according to some book, contains all the elements required to stimulate a callback.

Lots of luck.

We don't have enough space to analyze that message and list all the things that it does wrong.

But I will point out something that the creator of this "blueprint" doesn't quite understand:

The average business executive sorts through his mail over the wastebasket. As soon as he mentally identifies something as "junk mail," he drops it into that wastebasket. And the majority of his mail goes directly into the trash without ever being opened.

The average business executive listens to her voice mail messages with her finger poised over the "delete" button.

And as soon as she decides this phone call is not one that she needs to return or one that she will benefit from returning, she hits "delete"...

...and never looks back.

That means you must begin your message with something that makes the recipient afraid to hit the "delete" button.

And it must maintain the recipient's interest all the way to your "call to action" (i.e., telling them exactly how and when to return your call).

So you have a choice:

Do you want to leave "professional"-sounding messages that get deleted, not returned?

Or do you want to leave unique, intriguing messages that are are virtually irresistible to the recipient?

© 2005 by Dan O'Day

Dan O'Day, an internationally known Advertising and Marketing strategist, specializes in results-producing, one-to-one communication with customers. He's worked with media companies, ad agencies, and businesses in 31 different countries. His work has been praised by other marketing gurus including Jay Abraham, Joseph Sugarman, Joe Polish, etc. His book, How To Get Your Voice Mail Messages Returned, is the only resource in the world that includes detailed critiques of actual sales voice mail messages... plus O'Day's own rewrites to greatly increase the callback response of each call. How To Get Your Voice Mail Messages Returned is available for instant download from http://www.VoiceMailReturned.com