Know why your prospects arent calling you back? Because your voicemail messages stink! Theyre boring, ineffective, and sound just like the messages your competitors leave. With this strategy, why would your prospects want to call you back?

Getting your prospects to return your call can be as easy and fun as you allow it to be.

But you must be willing to change the way you use voicemail. Leave messages that you enjoy leaving (and think you would enjoy receiving). Have fun! Take risks! Oh, and stop talking about yourself and your company!

Important: In case you didnt know, the purpose of the voicemail message is to get your prospect to return your call. Worry about the other stuff later. Focusing on this specific objective will help you use those few allotted seconds for their correct purpose to bring the correct result.

Get over yourself!

Youre not as important to your prospects as you like to think you are. Understandably, they care more about themselves and their own company than you (a salesperson and a stranger). Talking only about yourself in your message is NOT interesting to your prospect and may be considered rude. After all, you are interrupting them. Give them a good reason for it.

Talking about yourself can be a hard habit to break. Sometimes, it seems almost like instinct: you hear the phone beep, and you spew out the same boring and rehearsed message about your company. You tell them how wonderful your company is and how much money you can help them save.

Your prospects are tired of messages like this! They are bombarded with these types of messages EVERY DAY! You will NEVER set yourself apart from the competition if you use the same messages your competitors are using!

Get ready for change!

If you really want your prospects to call you back, you must add creativity and flare to your voicemail messages. It sounds risky, but the results are worth it!

Adding humor into the mix is often a great way to stand out among your competitors. How many of your competitors can get their prospects to smile? Sharing humor is the fastest way to make your prospects feel comfortable with you. They will enjoy talking with you and, later, buying from you.

Here are just a few things you can do to grab your prospects attention and prompt them to return your call. (Some of these are adaptations of the ideas of Jeffrey Gitomer from his column #325). For more creative and catching messages, e-mail prospects@tomrichard.com .

Be useful

1. Give them new ideas about how they can use your product to build their business.

2. Tell them you have read some articles about office productivity (relating to your product) that you know they would enjoy, and that you will be e-mailing them soon.

3. Reveal to them that you have just talked with their competitor and have heard something or came up with some ideas that they may be interested in.

Be bold

1. Begin an interesting and enticing message, and then pretend to get cut off. (If the first half is good, theyll want to know what else you had to say.)

2. Have your kid call them, asking why they havent returned any of your calls yet. Your kid could point out how good your proposal is and that they would really like to go to college someday.

Double up

1. Fax them a joke, but leave a voicemail message with them first to make sure they look out for it.

2. Announce in your voicemail message that you will be sending them some testimonials that they may be able to relate to.

Combining various mediums such as snail mail, e-mail, faxes and voicemail will give you every advantage possible to getting your prospects attention. You will get noticed and will show your prospect that you are willing to do what it takes to have their business.

You may cringe a little at the thought of leaving voicemail messages that are different than what you have become accustomed to. That is probably because you are hung up on your professional image and want to remain a formidable figure in your prospects eyes.

Relax! You can have fun, be creative and still be professional. Being a great salesperson is not about maintaining a certain image; its about relating to people. Your prospects want to speak with salespeople who show that they are human. They want to enjoy hearing from you, talking with you and, ultimately, buying from you. A fun and creative voicemail is a great way to make this right impression from the start!