Thoughts on leaving voicemails

[KhianaKlatt]

Hello fellow CSRs and dispatchers!

I have a question for everyone:

When making outbound calls such as to try scheduling recurring services (ex: furnace maintenances) or to follow up on unsold estimates (to see if they have questions and try to close the sale), if a client does not answer the call, do you leave a voicemail for them? This is something our company has been re-examining. A lot of people do not listen to their voicemails we have learned. We would love to hear your thoughts - are voicemails worth leaving and if so, what are your tips for scripts or encouraging the client to call you back if they listen to it?

Looking forward to hearing your answers! Thanks. 🙂

[Steveng · Accepted solution]

We do both.  We have our marketing team email reminders as well.  Our text are manual w/  copy/paste customized by CSR but any team member can respond to the text.  We have responses scripted as well for basic questions and information.  

[bonnied]

We do leave a voicemail but we also always leave an SMS message as well. 

[KristinS1]

I always leave a voicemail - this shows that we are not spam, which many think that we are sometimes.  After we leave a voicemail we send a text message.  This seems to be the best way to follow up with our customers to get a response. 

[lorcutt]

We leave VM, that way if they do listen to it, they know why we called and if someone else answers the phone the customer can respond when we answer as to they are returning call for (whatever vm was left for) speeds up process a little. Also, if you are using phones pro, your number may not show up as company name  on their phone and may be why they are not answering leaving a vm may increase the chances of them returning a call. 

[AngelaMcK]

We almost always leave a voicemail, the only time we wouldn't is when we had a last minute cancellation and we are looking to move an appointment ahead on the schedule.  These spots are usually time sensitive so we are looking to connect with a person.  We have had great luck with both text and email, so many people prefer this type of communication.  For unsold estimates, we have someone reach out but also have a marketing campaign set to send them a reminder they have an open estimate. Hope this helps! 🙂

[Steveng · Accepted solution]

We do both.  We have our marketing team email reminders as well.  Our text are manual w/  copy/paste customized by CSR but any team member can respond to the text.  We have responses scripted as well for basic questions and information.  

[Tiffy76 · Accepted solution]

I always leave a voicemail so customer know we are not spam,  After we leave a voicemail we send a text message to the customer. Some customers like to text rather then being on the phone. This has been the best way to follow up with our customers to get a response. 

Tiffany Mendez   

Genzel Plumbing 

[JessicaSmith]

I leave a message and send a text- if the number isn't textable I also email.

[KhianaKlatt]

This is what I have been doing as well but one of our managers made the point that many people do not listen to their voicemails anymore or many clients do not even have their voicemail initialized so we wondered if we should skip leaving voicemails and head to texting.

[krista-gac]

I always leave a message. I typically keep it short and sweet. "Hi this is Krista with Gulfshore Air please return our call at the best time for you. Or you can text or email us at gulfshore@gulfshoreair.com."