If you google that question, the results might lead you to believe that the answer is “no”. But keep in mind that those are mostly the opinions of annoyed civilians who wished their great-aunt had just texted them “happy birthday” instead of leaving a 20 minute long recording in their voicemail box.

A nice gesture, but not an important business connection.

The business-to-business world is a bit different. It’s all about making contact in as many ways as possible and maximizing prospects’ exposure to your brand. In this case, that means talking at them before you talk to them.

The important question isn’t “Will my prospect listen to this voicemail?” It’s “What could I lose if I don’t leave a voicemail?”

Think about it: if one salesperson leaves a voicemail after a cold call, and another salesperson doesn’t, which one is more likely to get a call back?

Hint: The one that gets help from a little blinking light usually gets noticed.

In the first case, the recipient may see the call from an unfamiliar number and listen to the voicemail to find out who called and why. Using that information, they’ll decide whether they want to call back.

Meanwhile, the recipient of the second salesperson’s call has no way of knowing the nature of it. If anything, they’ll just know the company or number it came from. They may just assume it was a wrong number or a spam call. Or worse: they’ll correctly guess that the salesperson decided it wasn’t worth ten seconds of their time to leave a message.

The bottom line: The first salesperson might get a call back that could lead to a sale. The second salesperson definitely won’t. And in a world where it takes about 8 calls to reach a prospect, giving up on the first try isn’t really an option. It sends a bad first impression to the prospect. If that salesperson ever tries to call that prospect again, they may recognize them on their caller ID and choose to ignore them.

Pictured: Your prospects, happily ignoring your calls after you failed to leave a voicemail the first time.

“But,” you may say, “I’ve heard that only 33% of businesspeople even listen to voicemails from business contacts anyway. What’s the big deal?”

To that, we say “That isn’t the point.”

First of all, a large number of people who claim they don’t listen to voicemails actually do listen to them – by way of digital answering services that turn messages into sound files and send them to their email inboxes.

Second, a 33% chance is still a chance to sell. And the only way to make sure that you’re doing everything you can to close that deal is to cover all your contact bases. That deal could be the one that makes or breaks your career.

Speaking of covering your bases, consider updating your cold calling game by pairing voicemail messages with follow-up emails. This notifies prospects of your call in a place they’re already looking: their inboxes. They’ll be impressed at the effort you put in to reach them, and they’ll be left with more options for getting in touch with you if and when they’re ready to buy (bonus points if your email signature includes a website and additional contact info).

Even in the business world, there are people who hate making phone calls and would much rather read and reply to an email.

So, to recap, to reach a prospect it can easily take 8 well-timed calls and voicemail messages, paired with 8 unique follow-up emails. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, here’s the good news: the inside sales world is becoming increasingly high-tech, and several solutions (Like CRMs, appointment-setting services, and SmartContact) exist to help you with each part of the process. So don’t get overwhelmed, get calling!