With all of these things to think about for a short 20-second voicemail, you might be feeling a little bit overwhelmed. We promise it’s actually is much simpler than it sounds.
When you’re looking for a job, a good rule of thumb is to answer your phone as often as you can. You never know when a recruiter might be calling to set up an in-person meeting, or conduct a phone interview.
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The simple truth is that you need to be more aware of what you’re leaving for other people to hear. Sure, this doesn’t always register as a priority for users, but it’s never too late to reassess your greeting. a. Reading/Speaking in the Imperfect Tone: Tone is absolutely everything. Users don’t want to come off as being too nice, as it sounds insincere, or being too terse, as it can be interpreted as being rude. That being said, striking the right balance is absolutely essential. Your greeting exists as its own entity, and therefore, it should NOT rely on callers’ familiarity with you. Instead, it needs to appeal to the masses. As such, your inflection, i.e. the way you state your name and directions, needs to be both welcoming and firm. b. Injecting Humor & Insincerity: While humor/light heartedness can be welcoming, it can also convey a sense of informality, insincerity, and ultimately unprofessionalism. Why, because you’re not there to lend your humor or to contextualize. Instead, you’re assuming the caller has a working knowledge of your personality to ground the message. Though this might not sound like it’s all that terrible—it can be detrimental. As stated above, one should NEVER rely on a caller’s familiarity with you. Instead, aim to appeal to the masses. Humor is ultimately subjective, meaning not everyone has the same tastes; therefore, someone is bound to be turned off by a quirky or off-color remark. While implementing a light-hearted or even tongue and cheek tone can work, it’s just a really bad idea.
For Skype for Business (SFB) related questions or problems, send email to [email protected].
Most voice mail users have a desk phone line, which rolls calls to a voice mailbox. Customers with virtual telephone numbers (TNs) do not have a physical desk phone for this number. If you use voice mail with a Cox virtual TN, refer to the tips listed below. If you have a virtual TN, the related voice mailbox should be pre-set by Cox voice mail teams. If you cannot access the box from a valid access number, contact a Cox representative to make sure that the mailbox is initialized. When you log in to the mailbox, you need to update the PIN, record a new greeting, and record your name. Use voice mail and features as necessary. Paging Notification
Now that the importance of having current and applicable voicemail greetings has been established, the big question of how remains, right? How does one create this stellar voicemail selection and improve their business voicemail greeting?
After you have stated in your business voicemail greetings what you want the clients and customers should do when leaving a message, it is important to remember that you keep your voicemail messages short and concise. Use smaller and simplified words rather than business jargon your customers will not understand.
“Thank you for calling (your name), voted your #1 realtor in (insert county name). I’m either away from my desk or helping another customer find their dream home. Please leave your name and number, and I’ll be sure to return your call as soon as possible.”
In the case that your business is closed due to an emergency, it's only worth it to go into detail if the problem is affecting everyone in the area. Otherwise, stick to your Company Wide Voicemail Greeting, but remove the stated hours and tell callers that you're currently closed. Thank you for calling Cutlass Technology. Our store is currently closed. Please leave your name and phone number so that someone from our team can follow up with you. For more information, please visit www.cutlasstechnology.com
23. Hello, you’ve reached [X company]. We are currently closed. Our office hours are Monday through Friday, from [x time] to [x time] [time zone]. Please visit our website at [company website URL] for more information, or leave us your name, phone number, and the reason for your call and we will get back to you on [X day]. Thank you for calling [X company].
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Editor’s Note: The article is part of the blog series Grow Your Business brought to you by the marketing team at UniTel Voice, the virtual phone system priced and designed for startups and small business owners.
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When you create a professional voicemail greeting, it can be a good idea to think about what your callers might want to know. After doing so, you can make a list of points to cover in your voice message; it might also be a good idea to write out the entire greeting on a piece of paper. The ideal message should be somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds, so you may want to time yourself repeating your message before you record it. After composing your telephone message, it can be a good idea to get a second opinion of this greeting so you can make sure it sounds professional. Writing down a voicemail greeting helps prevent mistakes when recording it.
Humor also leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation—which subsequently weakens sincerity and authority. A caller can be very turned off by merely misinterpreting your joke. Why take this risk? Additionally, this could even cause callers to question your character. Say, for example, the president of a company’s mobile phone voicemail greeting was funny. What’s to happen if the caller didn’t like or get the joke? What if they found it offensive? Another scenario is that a caller is reaching out to you for the first time—i.e. they have no idea regarding your personality. What next? The point is, with this type of greeting, humor is bound to be more divisive so just avoid it altogether. c. Poorly Pacing Your Message and Bad Time Management: Don’t speed through your message. Speak clearly so callers know what to include in their message and when to leave the message. At the same time, don’t drag your message out. No one wants to sit through a diatribe. Just get to the point clearly.
If you don’t know it by now, you might never know. Voicemail greetings are incredibly important to users. It conveys identity, character, and image to callers. In an increasingly digital world, where business is conducted online and over the phone, phone presence is increasingly important. As such, your greeting is a crucial part of the platform. While there are a number of obstacles to be aware of, utilized properly, voicemail greetings can be incredibly helpful and beneficial; therefore, its in users best interest to invest themselves in creating a quality recording.
The above eight rules of engagement for voicemail greetings may sound easy enough, but they’ll require some practice to get just right. Let’s look at some examples to provide some context in how to apply the rules to various types of greetings and situations.