An Example of a Bad Voicemail Script for Sales

Voice mail script to be improved upon:

Hey Michael, This is [his first and last name] with Frontier. We are a Customs broker and Manitoba courier. I was trying to get a hold of you to introduce you to our company and provide you with a complementary invitation to a free logistics consultation. The session will be hosted by a logistics expert that specializes in your industry. When you have a moment can you give me a call at [his phone number]. Again that’s [his first and last name] with Frontier at [his phone number]. Thank you.

The Good and Bad with this Example of Voicemail Script for Sales

Here are some quick details of what I liked and would change in this voicemail for sales example.

1. Sounds like a salesperson trying to sell something.
In his intro, right away it is clear that he is calling me to try to sell something. When you call a prospect that gets a lot of voicemail messages from salespeople, as soon as they are able to detect this, they may delete or stop listening to the message.

If that is a safe assumption, then would it be wise to try to avoid sounding like a pushy salesperson in your voicemail script for sales?

2. He wants to introduce me to his company.
He mentions at the beginning of his call that he wants to introduce me to his company. I am sure he does as that aligns with his goal of trying to sell to me.

Could his voicemail script for sales be improved if he tries to focus more on my interests than his? Have more of an “all about the prospect” approach instead of one that is “all about the salesperson”?

3. He shares an incentive of the strategy session.
In the middle of his sales voicemail script is a mention of complementary consultation. I think this is a good carrot and incentive to meet. But is this the best time to share the incentive?

Maybe but maybe not. If the incentive is good enough to make the prospect call the salesperson back, sure, leave it on the sales voicemail message. But if not, it might make sense to keep the offer in your pocket and share it when you get them on the phone.

4. Asks me to call him back.
A pet peeve of mine is when salespeople leave messages asking the prospect to call back. It is work to make the next call and you want to sell to me but I have to do work now?

I think it is OK to leave your number in case the prospect is interested to reach out to you. But I think it is best for a couple of different reasons that the salesperson maintain ownership of the task to make the next call.

5. Minor Details
A couple other minor details are that it sounded like the salesperson was reading the voicemail script. I think it is OK to use sales scripts but you never want to sound like you are reading from them. Use them as a guide but then try to speak naturally when either leaving a voicemail or speaking to a prospect directly.

The message also seemed long as it was 36 seconds in duration. Try to keep your voicemail message shorter than 30 seconds.