Most of you will agree when I say that one of the coolest features of Google+ is Circles, which lets you create groups of people to share specific things with, rather than sharing with everyone in your network by default. Today I came across an iOS app that basically has the same system in place, but for voicemail. It’s called On Voicefeed and it lets you build groups (family, friends, work, girlfriend/boyfriend) and set personalized voicemail greetings for each of those groups.
“Ummm… uh, listen carefully. I, I have only 10 seconds to explain to you how to leave a message on one of these machines. Now… now, the first step is, is the most important step there is. What, what you’ve gotta do is ummm… and, and, and, and, uh… well.”

On the other hand, a stellar professional voicemail is more than just a way to ensure callers are heard. It’s actually a gateway to encourage recruiters, clients, connections, venders, and other callers to continue forward with the first step in developing a business relationship, which is them making contact. The power of the right voicemail greeting is the caller actually staying on the line to leave that contact information or gain access to an alternative contact point.
Most businesses will automatically play a recording if you try to call their office when they are closed. An after hours announcement is a professional way to notify callers of important details, rather than making them wait for the call to failover to a voicemail box or other destination.