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.
Assign a Voicemail box for every user and group on your planReceive notifications through email and phoneRecord custom messages to address your callersPlans and Pricing
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Access Voice Mail From Your Home Phone. Lift the handset of your home phone. Press star ( * ) and the numbers 2- 9- 8, or call your 10-digit home phone number. If prompted, enter your PIN and press #. Notes: If you would like to require using the PIN when checking Voice Mail from your home phone, see Disabling PIN Skip for Voice Mail.
Whatever holiday voicemail greeting for business you decide to create for your office will definitely fall on your own personality, taste and environment. Just remember to follow some simple rules and to remain professional, you wouldn’t want to scare callers away without even a chance to speak to them directly! The Holidays offer a unique opportunity to extend the person ability of our greetings even further, and you never know, might just help you land your next deal.
"These sound great. Thanks for the excellent service. We'll be using you again in the near future. Many thanks."
20. “Hey there! Thanks for calling [company]. We are unable to answer the phone right now but will get back to you right after the holidays. We hope it’s not an emergency, but if so, we’ve got you covered. Contact us at [company email/other support lines] and we’ll get back to you ASAP. Please be sure to leave your name, phone number, and a brief message to let us know the reason for your call. Thank you and have a great day.” Available even during holiday emergencies? Let your callers know via your voicemail greeting.
Typically, a good business voicemail greeting should comprise the following elements: A warm greeting. Your name, the name of your company and department name. Make an apology for being unable to take the call. Ask the caller to leave a message. Let the caller know when to expect a return call.
Telling a quick joke or including a little more information can keep you safely within the 20-second timeframe while letting the caller understand a little more about you.
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4. "Hello, you've reached [your name and title]. I'm currently out on parental leave until [date]. In the meantime, please direct all phone calls to [alternate contact name] at [phone number] and emails to [email address].
15. Hello, you’ve called [X Business Name]. We are currently closed. Our opening hours are [State opening hours]. Please visit our company website at [company website URL], or email us at [X email address]. If you’d like a callback, please leave your name and phone number, and our team will get in touch with you within 24 hours.
15. “Hi, Thanks for giving us a call! Sorry, but we are closed right now. Please leave us your name, number and the best time to reach you and we’ll get back to you within the day. Thank you.”
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4. Google Voice. You might already use a Gmail account for your business email, so why not get a free business phone number too! You can use the Google Voice app to make free phone calls and texts on the following devices
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Access Auto Attendant Greetings Log in to 8x8 Admin Console. Click Auto Attendants. Click Edit (pencil icon) to the right of the Auto Attendant you wish to edit. If you have a holiday schedule set up, select it from the drop-down. Go to Call Handling Menus and select one of the following: Weekdays Holidays Alternate Select one of the following: Open Hours Menu Closed Hours Menu Lunch Hours Menu Click Change to the right of the pre-existing audio file. Note: If no audio file is selected, it will display Select File. Click + Create Audio Files. Upload or record a holiday-specific greeting. Select By Uploading an Audio File to upload an existing audio file from your computer. (Continue below to Upload Greetings.) Select By Calling a Number to Record to record a greeting through a call to your phone. (Continue below to Record a New Greeting.) Enter the Title of your recording. Click the center of your screen or drag an audio file to the Upload your Audio File window. Note: Audio files are limited to 5 MB and must be in an accepted file format: .au, .wav, and .mp3. Click Save.
by Shauna Geraghty · “Thank you for calling X, where customer service is our priority.” · “We are currently unavailable to take your call. Please leave a message or …