Home > Phone Systems > Corporate Voicemail Greetings - Bloopers and Best Practices Corporate Voicemail Greetings - Bloopers and Best Practices Want to make the most of your business phone system? Make sure that your greeting to callers is effective. The way any phone system greets callers is critical to the image and presentation of your business. From the initial phone greeting to all callers, through whatever phone menu your system uses - or if you have a live receptionist - through to the voicemail greeting on personal phones, every step sends a message about your company and about you. It is pretty easy to get it wrong - and not an awful lot harder to get it right. "You have reached the Sales Department. Leave a message." This might not seem so bad but think about it in terms of missed opportunities. The chances are that they know they reached the sales department. And they expect to reach a sales person. If your sales team is really so busy thay can't get to calls then at least make it personal. Have messages go to a department assistan who is named. That way a person is involved and the caller has some expectation of personal contact. Tell them good times to call and what information YOU need from them - at very least a reminder to leave their own number! Not too surprisingly, there aren't a lot of real examples floating around on the internet of bad phone systems - but here are a few real and not so real.... Any good voicemail message needs to do a few things: Say who you are very briefly to confirm that the caller reached the right number. Say that you aren't available as briefly as possible. Remind the caller to leave a contact number and identifying information. Ask them to state the issue they are calling about as simply and clearly as possible. Saying who you are is obvious - whether it is the company or a personal message on your extension. While it isn't totally obvious that you should say you aren't available, it is polite and you can include additional information without going too far. If you are going to be gone at another office for a month then you can say that and leave a forwarding number if needed using whatever vacation message function your system may have. But if you are literally just out for a moment then a standard, "I am not available," is all that is needed. Obviously you need to tailor the greeting for the situation. If you are recording a greeting for a common line that is shared then don't leave personal information as the identifier. And don't if you have legitimate concerns about identity. But in reality, most of the time it is better to include who you are. Other optional information that is nice to include is information about when they can expect a call back, email contact info as an alternative and even an answer to an overwhelmingly common query. But those are optional. It is more important to be clear and brief so that the most important information gets across. Once you have a message you like, double check by calling the number to see what the experience is like. It is easy to forget that many voicemail systems include automated instructions that can take up a lot of time BEFORE the caller even gets your greeting. if the automated information is too long, work with your phone system tech to get it changed to somethign useful and appropriate. Adjust your message if needed so you don't repeat anything they already heard. "Hi. This is Joe Smith at Acme Co. I can't take your call right now, so please leave me a detailed message after the tone. Please include your number and your name. Thank you." Brief, to the point and doesn't waste anyone's time. "Hello, this is the Acme Company. We can't take your call in person at the moment. Please leave us a detailed message including your name, phone number and the reason you are calling. We will call you back as soon as possible." "Hi, this is Joe Smith at the Acme Co. I am working in the New York office during July and August. You can reach me there on 212-555-1111 or leave a message here stating your name, number and the reason you called. I will return the call as soon as possible." Hopefully these warning examples and tips on how to do it right will help you improve the way you present yourself and your company to the world.
From the Skype for Business desktop app (if you are running Click-2-Run build C2R 8201.1002 or later), select Set Up Voice Mail. Change your Call Answering Rules You can change what options your callers have when they reach the voicemail service; get disconnected, hear your greeting, record a message, choose to be transferred to the number or user you select. Change your prompt language This is the prompt language that is played to callers. For list of supported languages, see Languages for voicemail greetings and messages from Skype for Business. Configure your Out of Office greeting This is the customized greeting message that is played to callers when your status is Out of Office. This option can be activated "Always," when you have an active "Auto Reply" in Outlook, or whenever you have an out-of-office calendar appointment. Where you can get your voicemail messages from
.
You might take this as a good sign: people have realistic expectations, and you don’t have to feel pressure to pick up the phone right away. But the reality is that this means people see phone calls as a big commitment. They’re setting aside a block of time just to ask a quick question. And the bigger the commitment it is to interact with your business, the fewer interactions you’re going to have.
If done tastefully, you can promote your products or services on your voicemail greeting without sounding pushy. In fact, it’s a great way to keep customers up-to-date on company events, sales, and other news. Be sure to keep it short and have fun with it.
To set up your voicemail, press #55 or *68 from your home phone or call the retrieval number you received with your welcome letter. Voice prompts will guide you through the rest of the steps.
Guests calling into Studio Be Salon in Fort Collins, Colorado, are greeted by an auto-concierge designed to educate and entertain, says Owners Ian and Beth Weber: "We get tons of compliments on our phone system and are always thinking of ways to keep iit fresh. Give it a call right now (970-416-0400) and press 4 for a complimentary blowout or 5 for an instant confidence booster." (Editor's note: Go ahead and give it a call, we got Ian and Beth's permission.)
Hi, you have reached (names) voicemail. If you want money or to sell us something, we a) gave at the office, b) already have it, or c) don’t want it. If you are a friend, trying to give us money or just want to talk, then leave a message or try my cell phone number. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know what you want.
Polite greetings when picking up the phone make the whole call go much easier, even if you're only responsible for handing the phone over to someone else. To greet people on the phone, use formal introductions when you are at work or keep it casual when talking to your friends to have phone …
The last few years have seen a huge rise in the use of automated voicemails and auto-attendant greetings. This has been especially true for the business sector, where professionals should record friendly and polite voicemails to greet their customer callers.
I can’t come to the phone right now because I’m down in the basement printing up a fresh new batch of 20 dollar bills. If you need any money, or if you just want to check out my handi- work, please leave your name, number, and how much cash you need after the tone. If you’re from the Department of the Treasury, please ignore this message.
41. Hello, you’ve reached [X company]. Leave a message so we can call you back as soon as our team has a spare moment.
Solution: Poor sound quality is unlikely the fault of a reliable business voicemail service that uses VoIP technology, Baldwin says. So garbled voicemails are often due to callers’ poor mobile phone reception while leaving their message—and you may just need to call them back, assuming you can figure out their phone number. But if the problem does seem to be your voicemail, make sure you’re using a business phone and voicemail service that uses VoIP and not relying on, say, your mobile phone’s voice mailbox.
What kind of company do you run? A law firm may prefer more formal business voicemail greetings than a trendy retail store, for example.
Make it funny! Now not everyone is the funniest comedian, and this time to practice a stand-up routine. No one wants to reach your voicemail just to be greeted with 15 knock-knock jokes. But you can easily add some humor, lighten up the tone a bit and try to leave people with a smile. Of course, keep it light – no dark humor here.
-(Very long pause) Wait! Please don’t hang up! I want to hear what you have to say.
Voice Prompts – usually combined with a Business Intro announcement, used for Auto Attendant and IVR prompts to provide menu options and assist in telephone navigation.
If all you want is a phone number with voicemail sent to your email, you've come to the right place.