Telemarketing Lead Generation Blog

How to develop a telemarketing Critical Business Issue (CBI) voice mail strategy

Posted on May 7, 2008 by Jon Plant, Senior Program Director

The voice mail messaging strategy, frequently overlooked by marketers, is one of the most critical components of an outbound telemarketing lead generation program. Regardless of the quality of your targeted list, you ultimately are challenged with connecting “live” with your decision-maker. And let’s face it; most decision makers are not hanging out by their phones waiting for marketers to call them. Instead, they are spending their time making critical business decisions that affect their organization. This is why voicemail must play a crucial part in your lead generation programs. Your voicemail message should be designed strategically allowing you to stand out above your competitor’s messages. The most effective messaging strategy includes a Critical Business Issue (CBI) relating to your target’s specific business and/or job function.

The following outlines a few things to remember when developing a CBI voicemail:

• Although a CBI voice mail is longer than a traditional voice mail, you still need to keep it short. Target approximately 40 seconds in length. You don’t want to lose the reason for calling in a long message.
• Say your name and phone number twice (at the beginning and at the end). Your name/company should be clearly associated with your message.
• Insert your prospect’s name into your voice mail two times. Example, at the end of your message: “Again, Jim, my phone number is…
• Finally, as mentioned above, you must show value of your company/service in relation to a common critical business issue that you can help solve. The idea is to push an issue that they may be facing and how your company’s service or solution can address this issue.

The key to this voicemail strategy is Repetition. Each week you should leave a slightly different CBI message tied to a solution that your company offers. Ultimately you want to make your prospect remember you. And many times persistence and consistency can be the keys to standing out. (Caution: There is a fine line with being persistent and becoming a pest, so be mindful of how many times you leave a CBI voice mail. Our rule of thumb is once per week for 3 to 4 weeks).

CBI messaging has proven to have a strong impact when you finally connect “live” or receive a call-back from your targeted prospects. Matching a benefit to a real life issue helps you stand out above the competition when generating leads. So remember, it is critical that you spend time developing a CBI voicemail strategy when conducting targeted lead generation campaigns.

Tagged: lead generation, telemarketing lead generation, lead generation strategy, targeted lead generation, lead generation voice mail

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