5 Ways to Get Your Non-Responsive Prospect on the Phone

Granted some prospects are so busy they can’t take a phone call; there comes a time when settling for their voice mail just won’t cut it. This is especially true when you’ve already left your prospect a few messages without receiving as much as a “get lost” response. Here are five tactics you can use to stop the cycle of leaving voice mail after voice mail so that you can actually speak with your prospect:

1. Redial immediately after leaving a voice mail - Sometimes prospects get to the phone right after the voice mail system picks up. A second dial may catch him at his desk or getting ready to dial into the voice mail to hear your message.

2. Dial frequently throughout the day - You may call your prospect every day at 10:00 AM and get her voice mail. It might have more to do with the time you’re calling than anything else. Try reaching your prospect throughout the day. If possible, block the phone line so that the Caller ID doesn’t give away your aggressive dialing. Don’t leave voice mails every time you call if you don’t want to sound like every other salesperson vying for her attention or worse, a stalker. Try leaving one message every other day for a few days then move on to other tactics for reaching her.

3. Zero out and ask for the prospect - After giving your prospect a chance to respond to your initial voice mails, you might have to be more aggressive by pressing zero (zeroing out) immediately after hearing your prospect’s greeting or right after leaving the message. Ask the operator in a non-aggressive, non-sales-like manner, if the prospect is in. (“Can you help me? I’ve been trying to reach Joe Smith but I keep getting his voice mail. Is he in today?”) The operator may send you right back to voice mail or may surprise you by finding your prospect or at least letting you know when he’ll be back in the office. Ask if the prospect can be paged. Some companies have overhead intercom paging and some prospects can only be reached by pager or cell phone number.

4. Get the prospect’s cell or pager number - If you listen to your prospect’s entire voice mail greeting at least once, you may get this information without even asking. If not, ask the operator. Just keep in mind some cell phone numbers are on the Do Not Call Registry. It’s been my personal experience that about 1 out of 100 prospects have their cell phone numbers on the list. When you get one who is on the list, believe me, he will let you know about it. Otherwise, assume calling the prospect’s cell number is the best way to reach him.

5. Dial other extensions - If the dial-by-name directory gives you other extensions, try dialing one of them. Then tell that person you were transferred accidentally but that you wanted your prospect. Hopefully, that person will transfer the call to your prospect, and it will look like an internal call. Occasionally though, you will be sent back to the operator.

Though you still may face some obstacles in getting your prospect on the phone, using these tactics should increase your chances of having a conversation with a live prospect.

-E. R. Carpenter