I’ve made over 250k cold calls in my career. One thing that always comes up is voicemails. Are they worth leaving? Do they work? What kind works best?

When I was an SDR, 20–30% of my quota came from callbacks. With a 4–6% pickup rate, that’s massive.

The best voicemail to leave cold prospects is:

“Hey Mr. Prospect, it’s Carlos. Call me back.”

Most people don’t believe me and don’t try it. Everyone who does it consistently starts getting callbacks—and they’re shocked how many.

Why it works: unless you have an unusual name, most prospects know someone with your name. Curiosity + ambiguity triggers a callback. Sometimes they even start talking as if you’re that other person. When they realize you’re not, ask permission to continue:

“Totally get it—this is actually Carlos from XYZ and I was originally cold calling you. Mind if I take 20–30 seconds to share why I called?”

Next time you hit voicemail, say: “hey, it’s (your name), call me back.” Then run your algorithm when they do.

Carlos