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On vacation last week I read an article in the Silicon Valley paper The San Jose Mercury News. The title grabbed me: “Death of Voicemail Changes How We Connect,” by Ethan Baron. The author explains that texting has overtaken voice mail in our personal lives, and that voicemail is also going the way of the fax and pager in business applications. This trend may be concerning to those of us who make our living in sales.
A 26-year-old software engineer interviewed for the story said he hadn’t set up voicemail on his personal phone but will leave a voicemail message for “older” people in more formal situations.
The article goes on to quote Naomi Baron, an American University linguist who studies language and technology. She says her university stopped providing voicemail to employees, making it opt-in instead. “There is a death knell being sounded for voicemail in business,” says Baron.
So, where does that leave sales reps? If buyers don’t answer calls, ignore emails, don’t have receptionists, and don’t have voicemail, how do we reach them effectively? This is a recurring theme in conversations I have with sales managers around the country.
Some are finding success with direct mail. Others are using social media as a way to get to buyers. Of course, relationships are key. But what happens when a favorite and loyal buyer retires? According to the book “Nonstop Sales Boom” by Colleen Francis, we have to be ubiquitous; we have to be everywhere. She suggests using both direct and indirect attraction, relying on as many of the following as possible:
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If voicemail becomes the latest outdated technology, we need to be ready for it. As salespeople working in media, we can be marketing experts who use all the tools available to us!
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