When on vacation, provide your callers with a return date and a back-up contact person to accommodate emergencies. This prevents you from potentially damaging a valued relationship while you enjoy some time off.
5. "Hello, [Person's name] is chasing new adventures and is no longer with [Company name]. Please forward all future requests to [New or interim person's name] at [phone number].
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Finally, make sure to speak clearly and slowly. Don’t mumble, and make sure your greeting is free from background noise. Nothing paints an unpleasant and unprofessional company image more than a voicemail greeting with static noise, traffic sounds, or colleagues talking in the background.
The transcribed text is expected to be approximately 85% accurate, which means eight (8) words out of every ten (10) should be translated correctly. Since the voice mail transcription is done by an automated program, accuracy depends on several factors, including the caller’s accent and noise levels during the message recording. Names and nouns may not translate accurately. To ensure the receipt of a message, a copy of the .wav file “audio” is sent along with the text transcription. English and Spanish. Other languages will result in an error message, but voice mail will be attached in the email notification. In the email version, you will see ellipses (three periods) after the last successfully translated word if the next word or words cannot be translated successfully. You may also see question marks next to words that the transcription did not understand. To ensure receipt of a message, a copy of the .wav file “audio” will be sent along with the text transcription. How do I know who called if the system incorrectly transcribes the caller’s name? You can still listen to the audio version attached to the email message, or just listen to voice mail over the phone. If I delete the email containing the audio file, will that delete the voice mail on my phone?
You found and applied for the perfect telecommuting job but it’s been weeks and you can’t understand why you haven’t heard back. Well, maybe they called and got your voicemail and it sounded something like this . . .
A word of warning: These greetings will not do you any favors if you’re in the midst of a job hunt or work in a conservative industry. Always remember your target personas. If there’s a chance they won’t appreciate your sense of humor, opt for a straightforward greeting instead. “This is Bond. James Bond. Okay, it’s really [your last name]. [Your first name] [your last name]. I’ll get back to you as soon as I’m done helping M16 save the world — which will probably be tomorrow at the latest. Have a good day.” “Hmm. Gryffindor … No, Ravenclaw. Yes, you definitely belong in Ravenclaw. *Pause.* Okay, you haven’t reached the Sorting Hat — it’s the voicemail of [your name]. Please leave your name and number (and just for fun, the Harry Potter house you think you belong in) and I’ll return your call as soon as possible.” “Hello! You’ve gotten the voicemail of [your name]. Leave your name, contact info, and the answer to the eternal question ‘Which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ Anyone who gets it right will receive a call back.”
Hello, you have reached the office of Doctor X. I’m on call at the moment, so I’m unable to respond to your call immediately. Please leave your name, reason for calling, and your number and I will return your call as soon as possible, or call my secretary at Y.
Hearing this message, the following things would have happened to your prospects: They would realize that they have reached the right person so no doubts of confusionThey would understand why the person isn’t available to take the callThere is a confirmation that the minute the person is available they will cater to the prospect which is why the prospects will actually leave their contact details
A professional voicemail greeting should be no longer than 60 seconds. List the important information we've discussed above, provide alternative methods of communication and close with a thank you.
For example, a message like, “Hi, this is Jim. You know what to do.” Well, not everyone is going to know what to do—i.e. they won’t leave you inclusive information. Additionally, they may not leave you a message at all. Aside from this, humor can again be detrimental to your message, this time lending itself to ambiguity and costing you clarity. For example, if a message read, “Hi this is Jim, sorry I can’t answer your call right now. Please leave your name and number and I’ll call you as soon as I can, but you already knew that right? Do I need to tell you what to do?” This is worse than the previous example as this is confusing and can also come across as rude and unprofessional. Complicating a greeting with phrasing like this is sure to cause some harm. e. Ignoring Personality & Identity: Don’t use computer generated greetings. Some users leave default messages (‘you’ve reached the voicemail box of 777-777-777, please leave a message). Believe it or not, even this can cause problems. Callers may be unsure if the voicemail box belongs to you; therefore, they don’t leave a message. Also, some may even be uncomfortable leaving information through a message in a nameless voice message box. As such, impersonalization can cause ambiguity, which again can hurt the effectiveness of your voice message system. This doesn’t mean you have to make an elaborate greeting if you don’t want to, just insert your voice and name so at least callers know they’re calling the right person.
Don’t be that business that lets important messages slip through the cracks and miss out on new opportunities. Here are some tips on how to set up a professional voicemail greeting that will have people wanting to leave you more messages:
Another possible solution is to give callers who don’t want to leave voicemails other ways to reach you, such as by emailing, texting or visiting your website. “Solve the caller’s problem in the voicemail greeting,” Baldwin suggests. If your outgoing message is informative enough, he says, callers won’t even need to leave a message.
In Best Practices 21 Professional Voicemail Greeting Examples Share on Facebook Share on Twitter LinkedIn Contents hide Why your business needs professional voicemail greetings Professional voicemail greetings for your business cell phone number Voicemail greetings for the customer service phone number Voicemail greetings for calls received after business hours
Invite the caller to leave a detailed message. If there is certain information you need, make sure to include that information here.
If you've forgotten your retrieval number, call 800-244-1111 to get it. Alternately, the number was included in the welcome letter you received when you signed up for voicemail service.
When someone reaches your voicemail, it’s important that you help them confirm that they have reached the right person by providing all of the relevant information that they will need. Who have they reached? Did they contact the right person and the right business? Should they leave a message? When will you get back to them? Is there a better time for them to call?
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.