Customer experience is today’s business battleground. At a time where it’s common for even the most established businesses to deliver poor service, incompetent support, and just outright bad communication, how do you stand out? As big companies fail in the customer experience department, doors open for small business owners and entrepreneurs to distinguish themselves.
What do you think of your voicemail greeting? Does it sound professional, or is it outdated? Even worse, is it a computerized voice with a default message? (Ew.)
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Keep it short and sweet so that the caller can quickly leave their message and move on with their day.
Block incoming calls from up to 32 selected phone numbers as well as all callers who do not show their Caller ID information. Those callers can dial *82 to allow the Caller ID information to show when calling your number while this feature is active.
2. Hi, you’ve reached [your name]’s voicemail box. I can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave your contact information I’ll get back to you within 24 hours.
Android phones can access voicemail by holding down the 1 key on the dial pad until the phone dials your 10-digit phone number. You will automatically connect to your mailbox and be prompted to enter your temporary password; this password is the last 4 digits of your phone number followed by the # key.
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.
We actually know a top insurance sales guy who did a sales motivational message every day just like this, and people used to call just to listen to his thoughts.
In this quick guide, we’ll take a look at what makes a good business voicemail greeting, breaking it down into the elements that every voicemail greeting should contain.
Displays the name and telephone number of the incoming caller, provided they are not blocking that information.
Departments and teams are typically organized by function – customer service, tech support, sales, billing questions, etc. When a team is busy handling other calls, encourage your callers to leave a message and reassure them that you will get back to them within a reasonable time frame. It’s important that you actually follow through to avoid upsetting your callers.
On Air Recordings recommends you order professional voicemail greetings through their site, then describe the tone, approach, or voice direction you’re going for.
Out of town? Your callers should know. Let them know with the following vacation voicemail greetings.
16. “Hello, you’ve reached [your name, the office of X company]. The team is currently out of the office, but we’ll be back on [date] stuffed with good food and eager to speak with you. Leave your name, number, and — if you’re so inclined — your favorite [holiday dish, Thanksgiving tradition, etc.]”
Tired of dull and dreary productivity apps? Flow is simple, beautiful, and delightful.
Cox Business offers a pager notification option when you receive voice mail. All pager notifications are routed to a pager email address, not a telephone number. Once you have identified the email address for sending messages to your pager, typically in [email protected] format, contact a Cox Representative to add pager notification preferences to your voice mailbox. Subject: New Voice Msg | 01/27/2013 | 08:46PM (EST) | Caller: (732)111-0000 | 2 new | 0 Subject: New Fax Msg | 01/27/2013 | 09:22PM (EST) | Caller: (732)555-2468 | 3 new | 0 Cox Business requires initial setup of each voice mailbox from a desk phone as it is set up in our network. Can I record and upload a professionally-recorded greeting for our voice mailbox? Contact your Cox Business representative for information about uploading pre-recorded files for your voice mailbox. How much storage space is provided with Cox Business Voice Mail? What happens when the storage space is consumed?
Here’s another funny one for those times you really want to lighten the business mood: