Why leave voicemails when doing cold new business outreach? 

Picture this scenario:

You are a new business manager for a creative marketing agency. You are trying to win new clients for your agency, and a significant part of this sales drive is an outbound calling campaign. You have a CRM system full of prospects you would just love to work with and a compelling reason why you think your agency would be best suited to push their brands to the next level.

However, we all know that getting hold of people over the phone can be a bit of a challenge. It takes tenacity and, from our decades of experience, you will only get through to (and have a meaningful conversation with) a fraction of the prospects you call each day.

For the rest of the people you are targeting, should you leave a voicemail?

Whilst the most obvious disadvantage is that you cannot engage the prospect in real-time dialogue, there are still many practical reasons for leaving a coherent message.

Let’s look at some of the reasons to leave one and, equally importantly, the situations when it may be best not to.

Why leaving a voicemail works

It turns a cold call into a “warm recognition”

When you call again, you’re no longer a random unknown number.

Decision makers subconsciously think “I’ve heard this name/company before.”

That familiarity alone can increase pickup rates on future attempts.

It creates curiosity (if done correctly)

Voicemails may fail because they sell.

Good voicemails create intrigue, not explanation.

Your goal when leaving a voicemail is NOT:

• to try to overexplain your service
• to pitch to somebody you have not spoken to in person
• to ask for a meeting

A more subtle method is to make the prospect slightly curious so they answer next time.

Senior decision makers are likely to be extremely time-poor

As a result of this they may:

• screen calls heavily
• listen to voicemail selectively
• often decide whether to answer next time based on tone + relevance

A short, confident voicemail signals professionalism.

It multiplies callback probability

You won’t get loads of callbacks — but you don’t need loads.

Even 2–5 callbacks per week dramatically improves meeting numbers over time.

When NOT to leave a voicemail

Do NOT leave one if:

• You will call again later the same day
• You’re making rapid multi-dial attempts
• You already left one recently

Why many BDMs avoid voicemail (and why that’s wrong)

Two key reasons that Business Development Managers won’t leave voicemails are because they think:

• The prospect won’t call back
• It wastes time

But don’t limit yourself to the mindset that voicemail is only to generate callbacks – it’s to help build future call success.

If you are leaving a voicemail, remember these key points:

• Your name + company (sounds obvious, I know)
• Reason relevant to the prospect you are calling
• Low-pressure close
• Keep it short and professional
• Tell them you’ll try again

And remember to avoid the following mistakes:

• asking them to call you back urgently
• over-long explanations
• reeling off too many services – keep it relevant to them
• sounding scripted
• apologising for calling
• talking for longer than 25 seconds…Long voicemails = ignored voicemails.

If you would like support with any aspect of your outbound new business efforts, Alchemis can help. With decades of experience working with all types of agencies in the marketing industry, we can take your proposition to the appropriate audience, constantly listening to the market, reviewing and learning. This enables us to direct and evolve activity, keeping your messaging fresh and relevant.

Please get in touch to find out more.