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April 13, 2014 at 12:00 AM
“What’s the main reason your calls and emails are not getting returned,” I asked a group of advisors recently. Half a dozen hands shot up.
“Value,” one of the advisors answered. “They’re not getting enough value from the call or the email.” Heads nodded in agreement. But the answer was incorrect. People aren’t returning your calls or responding to your emails because they’re not getting enough curiosity.
In the old days of manipulative sales, some trainers taught people to leave a message that sounded as if it had been cut off: “…My number is 555-1234. The reason that I’m calling is [muffled noise, then click].” The idea, of course was to arouse enough curiosity to get the sales-victim to call back. But this is wrong on so many levels.
Recently, I wrote an article blasting a tactic some financial representatives and their managers had applauded: An advisor leaves a message confirming an appointment for “later today” which she hasn’t actually made. Her efforts do get the prospect to call back—to demand that she never call again. I definitely do not condone this type of method of creating curiosity.
Unfortunately, for those of us earnestly attempting to deliver service, there are three types of calls that aren’t being returned:
1. Cold calls;
2. Calls to referred prospects or people you have met but who aren’t yet clients; and
