I dial the direct line to a new prospect. If we haven’t ever spoken before, I’ll not leave a voice-mail. My tactic is to establish direct contact with a 60-second call, and then build up on that. But there is no way I’m going to leave an unsolicited voice-mail with someone who doesn’t know my name.
I just tried to reach Kelly. My notes tell me that we spoke before, and that I sent an email.
A month later I am calling back to ask her out to lunch.
But I get her voice-mail and decide to hang up, because I’ve not mentioned lunch before.
Why am I hanging up?
If my purpose is to establish and build a get-to-know-you relationship, what’s the harm of leaving a voice-mail that says “I was phoning to ask you out to lunch”?
I want to meet her for lunch; that is My Want.
That’s the purpose of my call.
If she doesn’t return my call, that’s OK too. Maybe she doesn’t want to lunch with me (although I can’t imagine why).
Fast-forward a month; I call her again, and again get voice-mail. This time maybe I’ll remind her that I’d like to do lunch, and wish her a Merry Christmas.
I can’t see what’s bad about that. It is surely better than studying the database record and dialing a number and then hanging up.
Where’s the advantage in that?
And more to the point: How is that keeping in touch with my prospects?
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