Featured Article
Sphere of Influence: The Power of Email and Voicemail in Tandem
When
we hold a webinar or provide coaching on the “Sphere of Influence”
rules of engagement, we receive a number of questions surrounding our
opinion as to whether voicemail is better than email, visa verse, or if
it is worth the time to do both together.
My response is always; “do both together”.
This
article will review the why’s and how’s to leverage both voicemail and
email to facilitate the original purpose of either communication
medium; to engage your prospect and have the opportunity to have a
mutually beneficial exchange.
Let’s begin with voicemail:
Effectively
using voicemail is a core ingredient in maximizing the effectiveness of
“Sphere of Influence”. We coach that the voicemail should be
brief and draw attention to the email should your target prospect wish
to explore the nature of initial correspondence in more detail.
Long,
drawn out voicemails attempting to explain all the details as to why
you are calling, your company, your value proposition and your desired
action items are not only ineffective, they are annoying. But, so
are vague voicemails that attempt to engage or solicit a positive
response with no details as to who they are, why they are calling and
what do they want.
Additionally,
drawing the attention to the fact that an email was sent with more
details early in the voicemail helps the correspondence stand out
amongst the many voicemails received throughout the day.
Of
course, as we teach in all of our webinars and consulting engagements,
assert the “Sphere of Influence” pressures by making reference to the
intent of leaving similar voicemails to others in the organization that
you believe should be included in the decision as to whether to have
initial conversations with you.
Adding the Email:
We
recommend an email be sent to each person that was contacted via
voicemail, which makes reference to both the voicemails as well as
enough details to provide your prospect the information necessary to
make the decision if they wish to have additional conversation.
We
advise that, like the voicemail, the email be brief, high-level in
review of the value proposition and clear in the desired action items
you wish the prospect to take.
Again,
long and drawn out emails that look like a novel, attempting to explain
everything in one shot, not only are ineffective but puts you at risk
of never having any of your emails being opened or read. It only
takes one rambling, drawn out email that never seems to get to the
point to turn a prospective reader off from any emails you send.
Here
is an effective tip: to increase the impact of the email and the chance
that it receives intended attention, the Subject Line should make
reference that a voicemail was just left. You will be surprised
how this small modification will not only increase the opportunity for
your email to rise above the crowd of emails received, but also that
your voicemail receives desired attention.
And
once again, using the core principals of “Sphere of Influence”, make
sure both the initial statements within the email and the email CC’s
make reference to other intended parties for the initial email
communication.
Executing
the initial prospecting engagement using “Sphere of Influence” and
leveraging voicemail and email together as outlined above will pay huge
dividends.
Venues into the future; the future of Contact Information
- Donato Diorio
The definition and very nature of contact information is changing.
Why is this important? If you are not able to connect with people, you
cannot sell to them, you cannot recruit them, you cannot market to
them. As I talked about in the video intro, things are changing. If
there was a contact information historian, it would be me.
What gets me irritated is when something gets reported as the “next
best thing”, when in reality, it is simply, the next, extremely
predictable innovation in a continuum. In this blog, I’m going to play
part historian, part reporter and part futurist as it relates to
contact information. When the “next big thing” happens, and I’m
including social networks, you probably won’t be surprised.
Click to read more:
Did You Know?
Tips & Tricks from Our Training Group
Spheres of Influence: Where is the impact?
Take a moment and think about the last time you receive either an
e-mail or voice mail from someone you did not know. With the message
you received, could you tell quickly what impact the person’s message
could have for you? If you couldn’t how fast did you delete it?
Professionals
are far too busy to spend time listening or reading anything to try to
figure out what it could mean. One of the keys to using SOI is to bring
the impact statements to your audience as early in the message as
possible. Give them the impact early and then they will what to know
the “how”.
Have you experience SOI yet? Join us on September 24th. To register for this free event, click here.
Broadlook News
Time to Sharpen the Saw
It’s
after Labor Day, the kids are back in school, and business whirls back
into full speed. While the seasons are about to change from summer to
fall, one thing never changes: those that invest in improving their
craft move ahead.
If you are looking for a
way to sharpen your saw, Broadlook has a number of ways to help.
Starting in September, the Sphere of Influence Webinar will now be
offered one a monthly basis. Also, at the end of the month, the Job
Order Zone will be presented LIVE at NAPS in Las Vegas.
Webinar Mystery: Reminder
Where you able to name the people pictured below?
Passion is a key element to demonstrating excellence or become the master in your field. When you see it, you know it.
The
people above demonstrated excellence in their fields. If you think you
can, there is something in it for you. The next time you see Donato at
a speaking engagement of trade show, provide him with the correct names
for the people show and dinner will be “on him”.
Are you up for the challenge?
|
