Don’t Get Creative With Your Voicemail Messages—Many high profile sales trainers advise you to leave all kinds of crazy messages on your voicemail as a way to stand out. What I find is that most of the people who try to do something creative with their voicemail messages end up sounding corny. In fact, seldom do creative off the wall voicemail messages make a positive impression on me. If you want to be viewed as a professional, then make sure your greeting presents you as one.
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.

8.) Herzlich Willkommen in der Service Abteilung der Mustermann GmbH. Leider sind im Augenblick alle Leitungen belegt. Bitte hinterlassen Sie nach dem Signalton eine Nachricht mit Ihrem Namen und Ihrer Telefonnummer. Wir rufen Sie baldmöglichst zurück. Wir wünschen Ihnen einen schönen Tag.
If you drone on and on, there is a good chance that some of your callers are going to hang up before leaving their message.