Step one: leave a short, purposeful message that requires no action by the person you are calling.
Here's an example of what that message might sound like. "Hello, Janet, it's Colleen from Engage Selling. Sorry, I missed you. I'm calling because Chris at the Gizmo Corporation asked me to speak with you about the work we are doing to improve his sales results. I promise to call you back Wednesday at 2:00PM."

Notice that the message does not include leaving your phone number. There's a reason for that. Your first message must not require any kind of task or action on the part of the called party. You're the one who makes the commitment to call back at a specific date and time. Also, if the call is a referral, be sure to include that person's name in your message. Doing so helps to establish that you're not some stranger at the other end of the line. You're a known quantity who has something that is useful to offer to the person you are calling. This gives the called party an added incentive to talk to you.

Step two: leave a short, purposeful follow-up that fully meets the commitment you made earlier.
True to your word, when 2:00PM rolls around on Wednesday, pick up the phone and make that follow-up call. If you're intercepted by voicemail again, leave a friendly message that sounds something like this: "Hi Janet, it's Colleen at Engage Selling calling, as I promised, to try and reach you today. Sorry, I missed you. Chris at the Gizmo Corporation thought you'd be interested to learn more about how we are able to reduce your sales cycle by three months I promise to try you again Thursday at 10:00AM."

Step three: leave one final, purposeful message that takes ownership of why that person hasn't called back yet.
Again, meeting your commitment to call, you pick up the phone on Thursday at 10:00AM. If voicemail greets you one more time, leave one final message like this: "Hi Janet. It's Colleen at Engage Selling. I promised I would reach you today at 10:00AM. Sorry I missed you. Inoticed you've been hard to reach this week and I'm wondering if that's because you're busy with your sales team talking about training, maybe you've already engaged another sales trainer or I've simply been picking at the wrong time to find you at your desk." Why don't you give me a call at 111-1111 and if I don't hear from you, I will try again on x Date

You must take 100% ownership for why that person might not be returning your calls. Not only does this ensure you maintain a friendly, professional tone, it also says to the called party that there are no hard feelings for the lack of callbacks (and there could be plenty of good reasons for this that have no bearing on you whatsoever). Also of note in that third and final message, be sure to include your phone number so that the called party can call you back. That way, you leave the door open rather than slamming it shut.

One more thing to keep in mind about this three-step strategy to prying open the voicemail clamshell. It's field tested-that means that when it's implemented consistently, it yields some really impressive results. Clients who have incorporated it as part of their everyday sales calling strategy have reported back to me that their callback ratios have improved by as much as 80 percent.

So embrace voicemail. Treat it right. And be prepared for truly amazing results that influence your bottom line!

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