I almost missed a great phone conversation today - a business opportunity I'm seriously considering. Why did I almost miss it? The phone message left on my voice mail went something like this..."Hi! This is Stan from Unknown Company. Please return my call at your convenience. I can be reached at 555-555-5555."

I almost deleted it.

It's a simple lesson for us all, but extremely powerful to learn. If you want someone to return your calls, you have to leave enough information to garner interest.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard sales people complain they can't get return calls. "I've called him seven times and he still hasn't returned my call!" The problem is, the sales person never gave the person they're calling a compelling reason to return the call.

Yes, there are times when you're calling someone that just doesn't get it or the person you're calling is an introvert that avoids calls at all costs or some other whacky one-off reason or another someone just won't respond. But odds are overwhelming there's a simpler reason your calls aren't being returned. You likely aren't giving your caller a good reason to call you back.

What do you think?