Quick tip - making voice mail pay

Voice mail is consistently neglected as a tool for building business. For many customers, their first contact with your company will be through your company or personal voice mail message. This represents a tremendous opportunity to leave a good first impression and move the potential customer through the sales cycle.

Sadly, this opportunity is rarely taken. Instead of providing a value-added message that helps grow the business, companies continue to use the standard, "You've reached Wilber's Widgets. We're out of the office right now, but if you leave a message we'll get back to you soon."

I haven't done a study to verify this, but my guess is that most people know what they're supposed to do when they reach voice mail. So why do we still give them directions?

Instead, why not direct them to your website, or offer them an incentive for coming in to the store? Tell them about a free report they can pick up online. Apologize for not being available when they needed you, and offer them a discount as an apology.

Whatever you do, don't let this golden opportunity pass up. A gracious, friendly voice mail message that builds interest in your company can be a ridiculously easy way to grow the customer relationship.