Hey everyone! I hope you’re having a great year so far.

I’ve been asked several times by people on what to say if they have to leave a voicemail when prospecting or cold calling for new business.

Before I call someone, I tend to send an email first. Some people prefer to communicate by phone, others prefer to communicate by email.

Here’s my first voicemail that I will leave a prospect:

“Hello ____, Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000. I’m following up on an email i sent you recently. I noticed your LinkedIn profile and thought it might make sense to talk. Please call me back at ____. Again that number is ____.”

(This is assuming your prospect has a LinkedIn profile of course.)

The voicemail is short, sweet and to the point and hopefully arouses curiosity. I also want the prospect to go to his or her email and look for my mine as well. Sometimes when you send an email and the person is no longer there, it doesn’t always bounce back. Sometimes the person’s automatic responder will be on with their signature and direct phone number which is helpful so that you don’t have to call the main number and get screened out by the gatekeeper. You can leave a voicemail directly with the prospect.

Hope this helps. I’ll send out another sample soon. I have 4 more samples to share.

I’m Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000.

I’m curious to how many sales can be traced directly back to blogging.

The challenge is that many small business owners aren’t going up against the competition mainly but I would say against lots of social media noise.

I did some quick research and here’s what I found.

1. There are about 300 million LinkedIn profiles.

2. There are 1.28 billion Facebook users

3. In the United States alone, there are 31 million bloggers.

That’s a lot of noise and social media to compete with!

Unless you have major marketing and advertising dollars, how do small firms compete?

Does blogging have a measurable return on investment that some companies put a lot of time effort into?

I’m interested in hearing from you!

I’m Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000.

I read this article on http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2774012&spid=24698 and came across this helpful little sales tool.

Verbatim from the article:

“True prospects will put you on their calendar for a next step. Information seekers will let (or make) you chase them down. Chris Lytle and I teach a technique called “The Magic Question.” The Magic Question to determine if you are working with a prospect or information seeker is: “Are you willing to work with me on a calendar basis?” Since they have never heard that question before, they are likely to give you an awkward look. You simply say, “You’re very busy, I’m very busy, rather than me trying to chase you down let’s schedule an appointment to have our next conversation.”

The amount of prospects you have on your calendar is the best indicator of your future success. Securing appointments is how you turn hope into success. Do you want to waste your time chasing down information seekers, or do you want to invest your time calling on true prospects? The Magic Question will help.”

I’m Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000. Hope this helps!

My wife was a paralegal at the same law firm the past 7 years. She left in July 2013 to stay home with my 4 year old daughter and 1 year old son.

For grins recently, I decided to call her direct number, and sure enough my wife’s voice and message were still there. The company hadn’t changed it at all.

I called a prospect the other day and his profile was still listed on the corporate website, his direct phone still had his name on it, BUT when I emailed him, the auto responder simply stated he was no longer with the company.

If you’re having trouble getting hold of a prospect, there’s a chance that person may no longer be with the company.

I did a recent CRM cleanup and between 19-22% of my prospects were no longer there. I’m talking about C-level Officers, Vice Presidents, and Directors. Not exactly mid level people.

When in doubt, call the main number, ask to speak to your targeted person and if the receptionist says  that person is no longer there, it’s one less person to follow up on.

I’m Ray Ruecker with Connect 5000 and hope you find this tip useful!