How To Create a Sales Voicemail Script That Boosts Callback Rates (+10 Examples)

Few prospects will connect with you during a live cold call, while the vast majority go straight to voicemail.

Voicemails don’t mark a dead end in your prospecting pursuit. Instead, voicemails are an underrated but effective sales touchpoint.

It’s important to drop sales voicemails because the right message to the right prospect can get you a callback. Additionally, voicemails should be part of a holistic multi-channel prospecting strategy, including cold calls, videos, social and emails.

A study by InsideSales says that a well-planned sales voicemail script can increase response rates by up to 22%. A great sales voicemail script can generate an email response or even a callback.

To help you write a compelling sales voicemail script, read below for best practices on how to get prospects to give you a callback.

Voicemails make it easier to leave more information about your company’s products or services. Some prospects prefer voicemails because listening back is much more convenient than reading an email.

Additionally, a compelling voicemail is just another tool in your sales strategy. According to Pew Research Center, most people do not answer calls from unknown numbers; however, almost 70% check the voicemail left from these numbers.

Here are several reasons why you should be leaving a voicemail.

• Generate a callback
• Creates awareness and familiarity
• Generate an email response

How to Leave a Voicemail

An effective voicemail script for sales is brief, professional, confident, and actionable. Your voicemail should focus on selling a reason for a callback instead of closing a sale.

Why? A good voicemail should not exceed 30 seconds. Which isn’t enough time to pitch your solutions. Instead, your sales voicemail script should be concise and spark your prospect’s interest. If you speak any longer, then you may overwhelm or irritate your prospect.

The worst sales voicemails suffer from a lack of structure and confidence. Bad voicemails make your prospects want to press delete.

Here’s what makes a great sales voicemail script:

• Your name: Immediately state your name. Enunciate your words so that the prospect can understand what you’re saying.
• Your company: Say the company you’re calling from, which eventually will lead to your value proposition.
• Why you’re calling: The bulk of your voicemail should be your value proposition. It should address why you’re calling and what benefit your prospects can expect from you or your company.
• Your phone number: If you are expecting a callback, then make sure you state your phone number, so they know where to call you. You want to provide your extension if your calls get routed to an automated forwarding system.
• Call-to-action: Your closing statement should clearly indicate what you’re asking the prospect to do. This can be asking for a callback or asking them to read your follow-up email.

Here’s an example of how to structure a voicemail by sales trainer and expert John Barrows.

Read below for 10 different sales voicemail scripts you can use in different situations.

Sales Voicemail Scripts for Every Situation

1. The Mystery

A mystery-style voicemail piques your listener’s interest because it plays on the emotions of FOMO. You’re giving them some information on your sales voicemail script but also intentionally leaving a lot of information out.

Your prospect wonders what you’re calling about and if it’s urgent. The mystery can backfire if your solution isn’t relevant so use this sparingly.

“Hi ________, this is _______at [Phone Number]. Once again, I’m at [phone number]. Give me a callback when you get a chance. Thanks.”

2. Follow-up

If your prospect has requested a follow-up, this voicemail will work for you. Speed is important for follow-ups, so contact your prospect as soon as possible.

A simple voicemail addresses their request for a callback and references the key pain points you both discussed earlier.

“Hi ________, this is _______ ________ getting back with you about your request.

Briefly, I’ve been doing some more research on how we may be able to help you with [Pain Point], especially in regards to your [List a specific need they told you about during your initial call], and I’m happy to share that discuss this with you.

You can drop me an email or give me a call back at [Phone Number]. Once again, it’s _________ calling from [Phone Number]. I look forward to speaking with you.”

3. Work with Competitors

Before leaving a sales voicemail, research your prospect to see what their company does and who they compete with.

See if any of your customers are their competitors because that can spark some interest in learning what their industry peers are doing.

Send a voicemail mentioning your work with their competitors, specifically their results, tactics, and failures along their journey.

“Hi ________, , it’s _______ here with [Company Name].

I was researching [Company] and noticed your company is in [Industry].

We’ve been working with a lot of similar companies like [Competitor] to help them with ________ and I think I have some insights to share about mistakes they made, tactics and best practices. Perhaps I have some ideas you can steal to help you with ________.

I was hoping to have a conversation and obviously if it makes sense to work together, I’d appreciate the opportunity to chat further with you.

Feel free to call me back through [Phone Number], and I will shed more light. Again, I am ________ with [Company Name] looking forward to hearing from you.”

4. New Prospects

Here’s a tried and true sales voicemail script for outbound cold calling. It’s short but gives your prospect enough information about who you are, why you’re calling, and how they can reach you.

“Hi __________, this is ___________ with [Company Name]. I’m calling about your new office that’s opening in Houston next month, and I wanted to provide you with some ideas that may help with your networking issues.

We work with a lot of companies in the area, and I think you’ll find it useful if we talk.

You can reach me by calling [Phone Number].  That number again is [Phone Number], and ask for _________.  I look forward speaking with you and thanks in advance for returning my call.”

5. Interacted with Website Content

It’s a good sign of interest when a prospect visits your website. It can often indicate an interest in your product or service by downloading content such as a whitepaper, case study or eBook.

Leaving a voicemail is easier when a prospect downloads your content because they’re familiar with the company and its product or services.

“Hi _________, this is _________ from [Company Name].

I noticed you downloaded our ebook on [Topic].

If you have a few minutes, I’d love to discuss more about [Topic] and learn what prompted you to download the ebook.

You can give me a call back at [Phone Number]. I’ve also sent some more information to the email address you provided when you downloaded the ebook. You can simply search for the subject line ‘Hello from [Company Name]’ to easily respond back. I look forward to talking to you.”

6. Attended a Webinar

Webinars are excellent for targeted lead generation and a great way to deliver valuable content to your prospect. It would help if you found a way to convert webinar attendees without being too salesy about the webinar itself.

52% of marketers say webinars are one of the top tactics for driving top-of-the-funnel lead conversions.

Your attendees want to hear from you following up after a webinar, and it is also a great opportunity to gather feedback.

“Hi _________, this is _________ from [Company Name].

Thanks for attending our webinar today on [Topic]. If you have a few minutes, I’d love to discuss more about [Topic] and see what caught your interest.

You can give me a call back at [Phone Number]. I’ve also sent the webinar recording to the email address in case you’d like to rewatch it or share it with your colleagues.I look forward to talking to you.”

7. Changed Jobs

Show your prospect that you’ve done your research and are aware of their career milestones, such as a promotion or job change. You’ll be able, to find this information on LinkedIn and it can be a good talking point for your voicemail. When someone changes their job or company, it often opens a buying opportunity.

If they’ve recently changed jobs on LinkedIn, then use it as a compelling event for your voicemail by congratulating them on the news or sharing what others in her role are interested in.

“Hi _________, this is _________ from [Company Name].

Congrats on your new role! I saw on LinkedIn that you recently joined [Company Name] as their new [Job Title. It looks like you’ll be taking on [Responsibilies]. Without making assumptions, often when we talk with [Job Title], they mention [pain point].

We help solve the same [Pain Point] for organizations like you [Names of Companies You Helped].

I thought of reaching you because I might have exactly what you’re looking for. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help you, you can call me at _________. Once again, that’s [Your Name] calling from [Company]. My number is [Phone Number].”

8. Warm Referrals

Referrals are the secret weapon of your sales strategy.

Ask for a referral if you’ve spoken to someone at your prospect’s company and built great rapport. See who the right person is or if they can introduce you to them. Be thoughtful about their time and how strong their relationship is with the right person.

If they’re unwilling to introduce you, ask them if they can use their name as a reference. Oftentimes, they’ll accept, which will help you build rapport a lot faster through your voicemail.

“Hi _________, this is _________ from [Company Name]. I had the pleasure of chatting with [Referral Name] early today. He mentioned the team is dealing with some [Pain Points] as you’re growing..

That’s when we chatted about [Product or Service]. We’ve seen with teams using [Product or Service] [How Your Product Solves Pain Points]. As a result, out customers are able to [Benefit].

If this sounds worth discussing, please call me at _________. I’ll also try to reach you again in a couple of days to see if we can chat about this.”

9. Getting Past a Gatekeeper

A gatekeeper can get in the way of you reaching the right prospect.

But you shouldn’t view gatekeepers as adversarial. Instead, you should befriend them because they can be a big asset to you.

Sometimes, a gatekeeper passes you along to your target prospect. However, more times than not, they’ll block you from reaching your prospect. In this scenario, they’ll ask you to leave a short message for them to pass on. And if it intrigues the prospect enough, you’ll get a callback or email response.

“Hi _________, this is _________ from [Company Name].

I was hoping to speak with [Name of Decision-Maker] regarding [Pain Point].

You can reach me at _________ to give me a ring any time this week.”

10. Last Ditch Attempt

You’ve exhausted all of your sales channels and yet no luck on getting a callback or response.

Here’s a sales voicemail script that can help you can use as a last resort. It’ll help you catch your prospect’s attention and drive urgency for a response.

“Hi _________, this is _________ from [Company Name].

If those two names ring a bell it’s likely becauase you’ve seen my emails out the past few weeks about how [Company Name] solves [Pain Point]. I tried to call you last week aven’t been able to reach you.

I’m guessing this isn’t a priority for you right now. But if solving [Pain Point] is something you’re considering then I’m more than happy to chat.

You can call me back at _________, or shoot me an email at [Email Address].”

Automate Your Sales Voicemails

Once you’ve perfected your sales voicemail script, you can leverage the power of pre-recorded voicemails to scale your outreach.

Use sales prospecting tools such as Close.io or Salesloft to drop pre-recorded voicemails, which saves you hours weekly when you’re doing high-volume outbound calls.

The one downside of a pre-recorded voicemail is that you won’t be able to personalize your script. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to mention your prospect’s name or company. However, Close.io recommends you A/B test your voicemails to see if mentioning a prospect’s name or company name matters.

If your sales are based on high volume, then automating sales voicemails can be very productive while generating a lot more callbacks.

Takeaways

Now that you’ve learned what a successful sales voicemail script looks like, it’s time to put your learning to action. When making cold calls, always leave a voicemail so prospects can call back.

As you have learned, an effective voicemail requires a solid script. Your script should include:

• Your name and company
• Your phone number
• Why you’re calling
• Call-to-action

Lastly, it would help if you had a sense of professionalism and confidence in your voicemails.

Research shows the elements of personal communication are 7% through spoken word, 38% through tone of voice, and 55% through body language. Focus on your tone in your voicemail to make a good impression on your prospect.