These days, for most of us at least, the term “phone call” is now synonymous with “voicemail”. If we are having difficulty getting our prospects to call us back, it’s probably because our voicemail skills suck. Here’s a few quick guidelines to suck less. A lot less.

The basic voicemail structure is: 1) Introduce ourselves/dealership, 2) Thank them for the inquiry or chance to serve them, 3) State the compelling reason for them to call us back (equity mining, pricing questions before quote, new product availability, orphan prospecting, service follow up, buy their car, lease end options, etc.), 4) Present the call to action (CTA) like: call me back, watch the video I sent you, visit my website at..., etc. 5) Include our contact info 6) Set the expectation of a return call/contact from us. ("It's 9:30 am now, if I don't hear back from you before lunch, I'll simply reach back out to you later.") 7) Say goodbye with another "Thank you".

Here's an example of a complete voicemail:

“Hello, Bella, my name is Michael Hargrove and I work here at Lemon Motors, where every car has appeal! Thank you for the opportunity to answer your questions concerning the exciting new Whippet Deluxe. Good news! We DO have a black on black, and we have two white on black currently in stock. In order to be specific with my answers about price, I have a couple quick questions of my own for you. Please call me back today at 503.555.1212, which is my personal cell. Again that's 503.555.1212. It's about 9:30 now, and if I don't hear back from you in the next couple of hours, I'll simply reach back out to you again today. Once more, thanks for the chance to serve you and I am looking forward to your call."

So, here are the individual elements:

1) Introduction: “Hello, Bella, my name is Michael Hargrove and I work here at Lemon Motors..."

2) Thank you: “Thank you for the opportunity to answer your questions concerning the exciting new Whippet Deluxe.”

3) Compelling reason: "In order to be specific with my answers about price, I have a couple quick questions of my own for you."

4) CTA & 5) Contact info: "Please call me back today at 503.555.1212, which is my personal cell. Again that's 503.555.1212."

6) Expectation of continued follow up: "It's about 9:30 now, and if I don't hear back from you in the next couple of hours, I'll simply reach back out to you again today."

7) Goodbye thank you: "Once more, thanks for the chance to serve you and I am looking forward to your call."

I’m confident these steps will help us suck less and connect more with our prospects. Install these voicemail strategies into your sales process today!


Michael D. Hargrove is the founder and president of Bottom Line Underwriters Inc. and and My Success Company, which are success coaching firms serving the automotive industry for over two decades. You can find more of his work here: http://bluinc.com/free-stuff/articles/selling-skills/. He can be reached at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon, or e-mailed at mhargrove@bluinc.com.