Make 'Voice Mail' Work FOR You!

One of the most frustrating, most pervasive systems virtually every business employs today is the ubiquitous “voice mail” system. It has literally become the contemporary equivalent of the traditional real-life “gate-keeper.” Its primary purpose is not to implement better communications; it’s primary purpose is to keep “outsiders” at bay! (Unless, of course, the business you are calling is trying to sell you something!)

Nonetheless, with all its warts and multitudes of detractors, I believe it is safe to say that voice mail is here to stay, so we will just have to learn to deal with it. As a matter of fact (and I am confident that this won’t come as a shock to many of you reading this!), eight out of ten calls to a business today will automatically go to “voice mail.”

So, what does this mean for you when you are telephone prospecting? Certainly, it makes prospecting more difficult and more challenging. It should not, however, dissuade you from continuing to do the all-important telephone prospecting during your job search.

I’m not a big fan of leaving voice mail messages when telephone prospecting because you actually want to talk to the person. If you don’t leave a voice mail message, you can still keep calling back. You are in control. Once you leave a message, you have put the recipient in control. Still, I am a realist and recognize that, sometimes at least, you may feel that you simply have to leave a voice mail message, if you are ever to have a chance to connect with the “real” person you’re trying to reach.

Assuming, then, that you do decide to leave a voice mail message, one of the approaches I have found that results in a call back about half the time is called the “advice” or “project” message. Here is the suggested script for such a message:

Another message that often works is the “referral” message:

Do these approaches work all of the time, on virtually every hiring manager? Of course not. Nothing works every time, all the time. But they do work often enough to at least consider using them.

Some key considerations to keep in mind if you do decide to leave voice mail messages during your telephone prospecting:

Obviously, there is nothing “magic” in these approaches to leaving voice mail messages when you must. But if you choose to leave a rambling, nonsensical voice mail message, you may as well not even waste your time. To be sure, you shouldn’t reasonably expect any response from a hiring manager if you do leave such voice mail messages.