7 Proven Suggestions to Make Your Advisor Voicemail Messages More Effective

Reaching an advisor for a live phone conversation today is daunting.

In many (most?) cases you’ll be leaving a voicemail message.

The question is, how do you make the most of the message that you leave?

7 Suggestions to Make Your Voicemail Messages More Effective

1. Be genuine (adjective: truly what something is said to be; authentic)

No one wants to listen to a scripted robotron’s voicemail message, so let your personality come through.

Whether you are calling from the internal desk or from your car between appointments, be yourself – not some salesy infomercial version of who you think you should be.

You can feel authenticity in a well crafted/delivered voice message.

2. Be sincere (adjective: free from pretense or deceit; proceeding from genuine feelings)

Make your message sound like the recipient was sitting live, in front of you.

Smile, it makes a HUGE difference.

Yes, always be polished and professional, but drop the corporate edge.

It is, and will always be, about relationships.

3. Be customized (verb: modify to suit a particular individual or task)

Every advisor is not the same.

So why do you leave the same message for all?

Use your power of Advisor Reconnaissance to  connect the unique attributes/needs/hot buttons of the advisor to your message.

Also See: How to Leverage Advisor Reconnaissance

4. Be confident (adjective: feeling or showing confidence in oneself; self-assured)

You know your product.

You know why you’re calling.

You know how to connect that individual advisor to the concept.

Assuming those are true, you’re well armed to have that confidence radiate through the phone line.

5. Be committed (adjective: feeling dedication and loyalty to a cause, activity, or job; wholeheartedly dedicated)

You may be confident in your own ability, but are you committed to the product/solution that you’re showing the financial advisor.

Half-assed commitment gets half-assed results.

Be all in, and sound like it.

6. Be succinct (adjective: briefly and clearly expressed)

Or as one of our coaching clients said, “Just land the plane”.

That means figure out what you’re going to say in advance and say it in a succinct fashion.

Many a well intentioned voicemail message died a tragic death, simply due to the sheer length of the message and the amount of hot air contained therein.

7. Be Pleasantly Persistent (pleasantly – adverb: in an enjoyable or agreeable manner) (persistent – adjective: continuing firmly or obstinately in spite of opposition)

Just ask the prospective account manager, who called my office every quarter for two years, if being Pleasantly Persistent pays off.

She was never pushy, impatient, disrespectful, long winded or otherwise bothersome.

But she was persistent as hell – and pleasantly so.

That Pleasantly Persistent approach landed her a job.

That Pleasantly Persistent approach worked then and it works now.

BONUS Suggestion: Stay Out of Your Own Head.

Don’t over think it.

If you are prepared to be

• genuine
• sincere
• customized
• confidant
• committed
• succinct and
• pleasantly persistent

then pick up then phone and start dialing!