Unless you’ve been holed up in some cave for the last twenty years or so, what I am about to tell you certainly won’t come as much of a surprise: It is virtually impossible to reach a real “live” person at most businesses today. Instead, call into almost any company today—unless the company is trying to sell you something!—and you will be greeted by the ubiquitous, dreaded “voice mail”!
Voice mail indeed has become the new “gatekeeper”
As a job seeker, encountering voice mail system after voice mail system when telephone prospecting during a job search simply adds unnecessarily to an exercise that is already challenging enough. Well, take heart because, just as there are effective ways to get around the traditional real “live” gatekeepers and reach out to a hiring manager, there are also effective ways to circumvent this new electronic gatekeeper (or at least learn to use it to your advantage) and accomplish that, too. What’s more, if you follow the approach I recommend in this article, you stand to TRIPLE the response rate to your voice mail!
As is the case with virtually ALL aspects of job hunting today, it is vital that, during telephone prospecting for a new job, you position yourself as, and be perceived as being, “different”
THE ‘TYPICAL’ VOICE MAIL MESSAGE LEFT BY JOB SEEKERS
Obviously, before you need concern yourself about increasing response rate to your voice mail messages, you must first ensure that you have a powerful, compelling message to leave in the first place! So let me spend just a little time here on that integral component of telephone prospecting.
The voice mail message “typical” job seekers leave when they (inevitably!)
"Hi, (Hiring Manager’s name). My name is (Your Name), and I am a (Area of Expertise) with experience in (Whatever Your Experience Is). I would like to speak with you regarding any open opportunities that I might be a fit for and discuss how my experience can benefit you and your company. Please call me at (Your Contact Number).”
Unfortunately, job seekers who leave this type of message almost always are simply wasting their time and energy. Hiring managers, human resource professionals and recruiters receive dozens and dozens of voice mail messages just like this each and every business day. Because such messages are generally perceived as being timid, self serving, mundane, routine and limp (to cite just a few of the applicable adjectives!) in their approach and delivery, rarely, if ever, do such messages elicit any kind of response, favorable or otherwise!
A voice mail message that results in a response about half the time is this one, sometimes known as the “advice” or “project” message:
“(Hiring Manager’s Name), this is (Your Name). My phone number is (Your Phone Number). I have some information I think you will find helpful in today’s competitive global marketplace. I will be available all day today, (Date). Again, (Your Name). (Restate Your Phone Number).”
Notice that this message is short, to the point and is intended to arouse at least some curiosity in the hiring manager’s mind. Does it work every single time? Of course not, nothing does. But it works often enough to seriously consider using it!
THREE ‘EASY’ STEPS TO TRIPLING VOICE MAIL RESPONSE
Once you have crafted a compelling, powerful voice mail message, use this approach to not only ensure that your voice mails will actually elicit a response, but also, to TRIPLE the response rate to your voice mails:
STEP ONE
• Two to three days before making a prospecting call to a hiring manager, send him or her a well-crafted, well-designed email.
STEP TWO
• Once you are certain that the hiring manager has had time to read your email, place a call to him or her and, if you encounter voice mail, leave a powerful, compelling voice mail which makes specific reference to your email.
STEP THREE
• Follow up with another well-crafted, powerful email.
Recent studies indicate that businesspeople normally respond to voice mail messages within three days, if they respond at all, that is. On the other hand, these same studies indicate that most businesspeople will respond to email messages within one day, again of course, if they respond at all. So, following up a well-crafted and well-delivered voice mail with an equally well-crafted email has been shown to double response rate. However, sending an email two to three days before making the call and leaving a voice mail message, and then following up with another email, if you again get voice mail when calling, can actually TRIPLE your response rate!
(Of course this approach assumes that you are going to get voice mail each and every time you place a call to a hiring manager, not an unrealistic assumption. What do you do if you actually encounter a real “live” person on the other end of the phone? Well, that’s a topic for another discussion, and it is of course covered thoroughly in “Headhunter”
Also, as I am sure you can easily infer, it’s not just the method that is outlined in this article that results in the increased response rate to the voice mail messages you leave when telephone prospecting. The actual components of this approach are what make it work, i.e., the powerful, effective voice mail scripts and the properly crafted, effective emails used in conjunction with the approach.
So, if the response you are currently getting (if any!) to the voice mail messages you are leaving for targeted hiring managers is, shall we say, “lackluster,”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Skip Freeman is a veteran professional “headhunter”
A distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy, West Point, he is a lifelong student of leadership, people and the principles of success. While serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Chemical Corps, he also earned a Master of Science degree in Organic Chemistry from The Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Long Island University.
“Headhunter”
