For me, voicemail protocol doesn’t fall into a “pet peeve” category like a candidate arriving for an interview with bad breath or dirty fingernails. A voicemail greeting tells me something very specific about the communication savvy and sensitivity of a prospective candidate.
The unavailable message is the standard greeting callers hear when they reach your voicemail box. It is the greeting that you can use consistently throughout the work year.
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Recording your professional voicemail greeting can sometimes cause apprehension, especially if you have never done so before. You may find it helpful to go to a very private location when you are ready to record, and this can help ensure there is no background noise when you are finished. Take a few minutes to review the list you made earlier, and rehearse the greeting a few times if you are extremely nervous. While you are rehearsing, make sure your speech flows smoothly and you do not use filler words like "uh" or "um". Is Amazon actually giving you the best price? This little known plugin reveals the answer. Professional voicemail greetings should be pleasant in tone to encourage customers to call back later.
Instead of leading with tired old lines like 'Your call is important to us', brush up on your telephone etiquette and start your voicemail with a thank you.
“Thank you for calling [company/person’s name]. We are currently unavailable, but if you leave your name, phone number, and message, we will get back to you as soon as possible.”
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When you create a voicemail message, the next thing you need to ensure is that your prospects are aware that they have reached the right person so no confusion takes place.
A busy greeting should tell callers that your phone lines are currently in use. You can direct people to wait on hold or leave a message. For example, “Hello, you’ve reached [company name]. Our representatives are currently helping other customers. Please stay on the line to speak with the next available team member, or press one to leave a message and we’ll call you back.”
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
Put some thought into your message before you hit “record.” It takes very little time to write a script for yourself to read as you record your greeting. Reading off a script eliminates unnecessary pauses, “ums” and “ahs.”
A good way to do this is to maybe add, “Have a wonderful day” at the end of the greeting. It’s short, so it won’t contradict the first point, and it makes the message more personal.
For users who want to avoid the scripting process altogether, there are also services that provide prerecorded messages. Again, your voicemail greeting shoulders a lot of responsibility. Some people aren’t comfortable with having to create a message to deal with it. As such, users can choose from libraries of prerecorded messages, which are standardized greetings, for their voicemail. There are a variety of applications, services, and companies that provide this service. For example, VoiceNation, a voicemail, virtual PBX, and answering services provider, offers users a variety of samples.
Many businesses want to sound professional and, as a result, end up creating boring, monotonous, and overly generic messages such as: “Hi, this is Joe. I’m either on the phone or away from my desk. Please leave me a message.”
4. “Thanks for calling [your company]. We’re looking forward to speaking with you. Let us call you back as soon as we are available by leaving your name, contact information and the reason for your call. Have a great day.” A simple, concise, and, of course, friendly voicemail greeting for your main business line.
These of course are very basic templates. Feel free to make your voicemail fit you — just keep it professional. Good luck! Looking for an Internship? See if Uloop can help you find an internship. Apply to Write for Uloop News Join the Uloop News Team 4 Way To Balance Work and College By Bethany Fischer College takes up a lot of time. Some students choose to dedicate all of their time to studying, without getting a... 4 Ways You Can Stand Out in a Job Interview By Alicia Geigel When applying for jobs, we have a desperate need to do anything we can to stand out. Creating an attractive resume,... How to List Internship Experience on a Resume By Victoria Robertson For many college students, internships are the real way in which we obtain our experience. In other words, without...
*Note: Some of your users don’t celebrate all the same holidays you do. Remember to keep these voicemail greetings neutral 🌟