To Voice Mail or Not to Voice Mail

Hello all,

I am curious as to what everyone's take is on leaving voice mail. This of course is only pertaining to cold calling passive candidates or clients. Do you leave a voice mail when you can't get a hold of them? Or do you find it better to have some planted as you call though your list?

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Permalink Reply by Frank Gregg on April 5, 2011 at 12:18pm

With all the marketing gimmicks people have to deal with its best to leave a short message to let the person

know why you are calling, and in a professional voice, why you believe a return call could be mutually

beneficial. I "hate" calls that don't leave messages and always assume they are marketing calls and "NEVER"

call that number back. Frank Gregg, GREGG & Associates

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Permalink Reply by Joel C. Riet on April 5, 2011 at 2:09pm

Ha.... I agree with Morgan, that should be on all voice mail recordings:)

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Permalink Reply by Paul Alfred on April 5, 2011 at 4:04pm

Hello Joel ... I choose when to leave a message. Leaving a message works for me when I know I can leave a teaser or " Carrot" for the listener - a reason to call me back - I usually have lots of info on my potential client. Or sometimes I don't leave a message choosing instead to get the target (client - in my case) on the phone live. Both methods have served me well...

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Permalink Reply by Leah Davis on April 5, 2011 at 5:16pm

Its great to hear everyones approach. it seems the majority leave a message. I typically do not leave a message. I will call 3-4 times in a short space of time (maybe over 2hrs). If i am unsuccessful speaking to the person i will then leave a message. Why do i do that? good question, i am not sure. mainly i prefer to talk to a person rather than be screened by a machine. I have a lot of respect for a person that says "no, not interested" as opposed to someone who avoids returning messages or returning my call. I think that is probably the main reason. as much as calling them to gauge interest on a sale i am also gauging their suitability as a client. I have turned down business as i didnt feel that a client would be reliable or honest and i have eventually built very strong relationships with some of those that initially said "no, not interested".

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Patrick Chuna on April 5, 2011 at 5:37pm

Leave a message, be interesting, and tell them you are a recruiter..at least then the person can make an informed decision as to whether or not they want to talk to you. Same goes for emails.

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Permalink Reply by pam claughton on April 5, 2011 at 6:29pm

I always leave messages. I've had some luck recently by calling higher level people and then several days later received a call back from an internal recruiter, referred by the senior level person called initially, and with a job order or two to work on. I picked up a few new clients this way last month.

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Permalink Reply by Leah Davis on April 5, 2011 at 7:08pm

Morgan - caller ID is not so common with the clients and markets i cover (NZ, Australia, UK, Middle East). Missed calls are only recorded on mobile phones but not on landlines. So if i call a landline, get voicemail and hang up before the beep then there is no record of my call. If the person is not available, another person will often answer the phone and they will ask me if i want to be forwarded to voicemail. I will commonly say "no thanks, i will call again when XXX returns from their meeting in an hour". So no, they dont find it annoying because as far as they know when i speak to them this is the first time that i have called. I will often tell them that i tried to contact them earlier so that they know that i have made the effort to call again but i dont bother them with missed calls, messages or emails if i can avoid it. Could be differences between these markets and the USA.