You may think this is boring, but it’s what works. Leave the sales talk and the promotion for when you call them back. Leaving a greeting is all well and good, but if it has no context you’re going to struggle to stop the person from giving up on you. Make sure people know that they’ve reached the right place. Hello, this is the office of X, the Y department. Please leave your name, reason for calling, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. By mentioning the specific department or office they’ve reached, you’re reminding them that they’ve reached the right place, and this is not some generic support department they’ve been redirected to. We talk to lots of different people every day. Make sure you remind people of who you are, and why you’re the best person to handle their call (and more importantly their valuable time). Hello, my name is X, the Senior Manager of Y, I’m sorry I’m unavailable right now, but if you leave your number I’ll return your call as soon as I can. Not only have you revealed who you are, but you’ve also given them the reassurance that their call is important to you. It leaves the right impression. The order of your words can seriously impact how your greeting is received. Research shows that we remember the first and last items on a list best, so the statements that matter most are those at the beginning and those at the end. Hello, you have reached X. I’m out of the office at the moment. Provide me with your contact details and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Do you see how important the order of the words is? The name comes first and the call to action is last. Most people will put all this important information in the middle of their greeting. It may not seem like a big difference, but it really matters. It can be tempting to try to fit as much information into a voicemail greeting as possible. Don’t do that. Sometimes less is more. Try to incorporate some strategic pauses into your greeting, so you can let everything sink in. Hello, this is X from Y. [Pause] I am not available to take your call right now. [Pause] If you are calling about Z, then please leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as you can.
Thank you for calling [Company Name]. To celebrate the holiday season, we are offering limited-time discounts on all purchases. Please ask your account representative about them today! To place an order, press 1. To follow up on an existing order, press 2. To speak with a representative about our products, press 3. If you have a billing question, press 4. To repeat the menu options, please press the * key. 9. Holiday Closures
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The bottom line is that a business’s situation is likely to change often and rapidly, each of which need a unique and applicable voicemail greeting to cover the circumstances and timeline. For example, callers shouldn’t reach a business-as-usual voicemail, and therefore expect a return call within the business day, if the subject they’re calling is out on vacation for two weeks. Such a lack of communication is a recipe to lose that caller’s trust and tarnish the brand’s reputation.
A professional voicemail greeting can be the difference between a caller proceeding on to deliver their message or simply hanging up. Ensure you take the time to craft the right voicemail greeting for your business.
Website: https://www.att.com/support/smallbusiness/article/smb-local-long-distance/KM1200757
Combine with a Business Intro Message to provide menu options and assist in telephone navigation. As opposed to the passive nature of Messages On Hold, voice prompts are interactive. They are designed to bring out a physical reaction from the caller, a call to action. And because voice prompts are directive, it’s important they’re concise, well written, and recorded by a professional voice artist.
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Context does matter here. If the caller would reasonably expect you to answer the phone (such as if they were calling a store or other place of business), an apology for not being able to get to the phone makes the most sense.
Examples of the Best Voicemail Greetings for a Business. There is a multitude of business voicemail greetings on the Internet for you to look into and fine-tune for your business. We’ve taken the hard work out of that for you with our list of the best greetings to put on your phone for a business:
Website: https://www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/smb/help/pdf/ATTPhoneforBusinessVoicemailUserGuide3.6.2020.pdf
You can review your latest bill statement from Cox Business. If you notice the phrases, “Standard Voice Mail,” “Group Voice Mail,” “Extension Voice Mail,” or “Related Services,” you use Cox Business voice mail. You must have a Cox Business voice line, trunk, or VNS service to subscribe to Cox Business Voice Mail. From a desk phone, VoiceManager or IP Centrex users can access their voice mailbox by dialing “*298” or “*86”. Depending on how their line and caller ID is configured, the user may just be prompted for their PIN, or they may be prompted for the 10-digit telephone number (TN) and the PIN. (Click here for more details.) This provides access to the voice mail main menu.
The longer it gets, the more likely your potential client will hang up because they are annoyed.
Some of the other common reasons people used click-to-call were because they wanted to talk to a real person (57 percent of respondents), or they felt they needed more information than they’d be able to find on the website (54 percent).
Website: https://www.talkdesk.com/blog/6-dos-donts-professional-phone-greetings/
Earlier, we noted that Avochato’s 2019 study found that 92 percent of consumers expect to wait five minutes or more before talking to a person. But interestingly, an older study by Velaro found that 32 percent of respondents said they were unwilling to wait on hold for any length of time.
Need help recording a professional sounding greeting for your business? Contact us with your pre-written script, and a member of our voice talent team will be happy to record it for you for free.
5. Hi, this is [your name]. I can’t get to the phone right now, but please leave a message with your name and number, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.