10,000 Foot View

Motivating someone to return voice mail is getting harder by the day. Decision makers are way too busy and the amount of clutter in their day is growing. Taking the time to return voice mail is often low on their to-do list.

Have you ever stopped to think about the voice mails that your company is leaving with the overworked recipients? Have you stopped to think that perhaps we are all too “Minnesota Nice”? We may be doing a disservice to our clients and missing opportunities to help them.

For those of you from Minnesota, skip the next two paragraphs. For those of you who are not acquainted with Minnesota Nice, here is a little insight.

“Minnesota Nice” describes people primarily from Minnesota who think they are doing others a favor by being nice when in fact they may not be. Their superficial friendliness is a cover for not addressing important communications issues head on.

I personally learned of my own defect when I moved to San Diego in the mid-80’s. The people of Southern California not only made fun of my accent, but they also were perplexed as to how indirect I could be at times. As for the accent, try saying “how-now-brown-cow” to someone from the east, west or south and they’ll laugh their head off. As for the indirectness, let’s explore this below.

I pay close attention to the way salespeople communicate. Here is an example of a Minnesota Nice voice mail followed by a to-the-point re-write:

[Read with a Minnesota accent, long “O” sounds throughout]

“Yeah Hi Mr. Smith, this is Todd Anderson from 10,000 Foot View. I hope you are doing well. I’m really sorry that I missed you. Say, I have some good ideas that I think could help you. I’ve been reading about your really interesting company in the paper. I was wondering if you might please give me a call when it’s not too much of an inconvenience. Thank you very much Mr. Smith. I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon. My telephone number is 763-522-6365”

[Word count: 86, Time to Deliver: 35 seconds, Probability of Call Being Returned: Around zero.

Re-write.

“Mr. Smith, Todd Anderson from 10,000 Foot View. I’ve been reading about your company in the paper. I have some ideas that could help you the same way they have helped other clients like you. In one case we reduced the time to market for a new services launch by 24%. Let’s talk on the phone this week for 3-5 minutes. Here’s my number – 763-522-6365”

[Word count: 66, Time to Deliver: 25 seconds, Probability of Call Being Returned: Small, but a heckofalotbetter than the first voice mail.

Do you think I exaggerated in the first voice mail? Start listening carefully to other voice mail messages before you dismiss the example. Here are some tips that go a long way toward straight forward communications.

1- Avoid any small talk. Phrases like “it’s a beautiful day”, or “it was really nice to see your photo in the paper last week”, will pretty much get ignored. If you’re calling on the Sr. VP of whatever, you can bet they will smell a suck-up a mile away.

2- Forget about saying “please” and “thank you”. I realize that this may be a tough habit to break, but people want to get on with their life and they hate it when salespeople sound like they’re begging. Just get to the point.

3- Insert measurable and specific details when possible. People relate to data that is believable. For example, a dentist who claims to have done lots of successful root canals is not as convincing as one who claims to have done 416 successful root canals in the last six years.

4- Be specific with your call to action. Don’t say “give me a call sometime” or “please keep us in mind”. This is weak. A strong call to action makes you sound confident and as if you have something important to say. For example, “Let’s get together in the next 10 days so that you can see some examples of how we reduced costly overhead by 18% for our client in St. Paul”.

5- Speed up when you deliver your message and slow down when you say your phone number. Voice mail is annoying when it says nothing and takes a long time to do so. It’s also annoying when one has to rewind the message 5 times to hear the phone number.

6- Inflect your voice down when you make statements. You don’t sound authoritative and confident when you end sentences sounding like you just asked a question. I like lutefisk? I like lutefisk.

7- Practice into your own phone voice mail system or a voice recorder. Say your lines several times and then have others listen. Make sure you sound serious, pleasant and important.

It’s amazing how many lousy voice mails we have to endure. Don’t be one of the lousy ones.

People don’t really care how nice you are until they get to know you. Leaving someone a voice mail probably won’t build towards a friendship let alone a returned call. Quit being so darn Minnesota Nice and start having your voice mails returned.

**************************************************************************

© 2008 Todd J. Anderson, All rights reserved. You are free to use this featured article in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Make sure to notify us where the material will appear. The attribution should read:

“By Todd J. Anderson of 10,000 Foot View. Visit our web site at www.10000footview.com for additional Business Development articles and resources.”

***************************************************************************

Todd J. Anderson is the Managing Partner of 10,000 Foot View. He helps Professional Services Firms and complex manufacturing companies looking to grow by offering part-time and interim sales management. For info on his speaking and services, call 763-522-6365 or email todd@10000footview.com.