Regardless of what you are selling, or what your business is, it’s a common occurrence that a prospect doesn’t answer a sales call. It has definitely happened to me as a salesperson and entrepreneur. Now as a CEO, I help my sales teams as well as my clients with increasing their sales ratio from what many salespeople would perceive as a dead lead.

This strategy came to fruition mainly through trial and error, and being so hungry to make sales at the beginning of my journey, that I would do anything I could to close a deal. This process and the word tracks I use, has now become an emotionless system that I train my sales team on and my private clients in when working with them on converting the leads we help them generate for their companies.

Here is the framework that I use:

The Voicemail

I call the prospective buyer at our scheduled time. I get their voicemail. I leave a voicemail saying, “Hey (name of prospect), this is Sidney with the Better Leads Box and I was calling on our scheduled call we had today at (specific time scheduled) and got your voicemail. No biggie! I know life gets in the way sometimes. Would you like to reschedule our call for later today or is later this week better? I look forward to chatting with you soon.”

The Text Message

After leaving the voicemail, I immediately use the same word track above and I send this message to the prospect in a text message, as well as a Facebook message. By doing this, our team has seen a 50% higher conversion rate from leads that did not answer their first scheduled sales call.

The reason this strategy works is a mixture of two things, including a word track that is laced with language patterns and embedded commands. It also contacts the client through their direct response communication channels.

The Direct Response Communication Channels

We reach out to our prospects who missed the sales call by voicemail, text message and by Facebook messenger. These three communication platforms are meant for a direct response of some kind and usually quickly. Could you email them? Yes of course, if that’s your clients best way of communication with you. Heck, if fax was still a viable way of communication, I would say fax it.

We want to reach out to the client immediately after missing the call, using multiple channels (voicemail, text and messenger). This will allow us to determine which are the best communication channels with the client, based on what they are most likely to see and respond to. We have found an increase in receiving messages back to reschedule the call when we send these messages within two hours of the original scheduled time.

Language Patterns and Embedded Commands

Let’s break this word track apart:

The first sentence, “Hey (first name of prospect), this is Sidney with the Better Leads Box and I was calling on our scheduled call we had today at (specific time scheduled) and got voicemail, no biggie, I know life gets in the way sometimes.

By saying the first name of the prospect, it comes across less formal, less stuffy which increases your bond with the customer from the message. It is like you have already established a positive connection with the prospect. Then you explain who you are. When done like this in text, this allows your name and where you are coming from to be above the fold (where people can see it on the notification of the text or Facebook message) without having to open it in any way.

The second part of this word track is where the language pattern, called a double bind, really drives the prospect to move and reschedule the sales call.  It goes like this, “Would you like to reschedule our call for later today or is later this week better?” The unconscious mind will typically pick one of the two options we have provided – reschedule today, or later this week.

And finally we finish with the embedded command, “I look forward to chatting with you soon.” We embed into the prospects mind that we will be talking with them soon.

I am confident that by implementing this strategy into your business you will see and increase in your conversion rates from the leads that miss a scheduled sales call. 

If you’re in sales, what do you think is the most challenging part about your work? Share your thoughts with us below!