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.
We’re keeping it simple with this one. Just a few basic elements to help you get started. As long as you know who your audience is, the message you wish to convey, and the information you need from the caller, the rest should fall into place quite nicely. Let’s face it, a voicemail greeting for a lumber company will probably be different than that of a psychologist’s office. One greeting is aimed at securing potential customers, and the other is geared towards appointments, more or less. Once you are certain who your caller is, the better your voicemail. Center on your audience, first and foremost. Knowing what to relate ensures that your caller will leave the right message. For instance, if you’re a retail store, you would include your hours of operations, and perhaps any specials that you’re running. If you are a therapist’s office, then you’d need to include an alternate number in case a patient is having an issue and requires immediate help. Again, this will vary depending on the business. Here, a therapist would definitely request the caller leave their contact information. However, a retail store chain might not request that. There are also complex voicemail systems such as those used by mobile phone services, which ask you to press a certain number on your phone, where you are asked to leave your account information. Again, as you can see, it all boils down to the demographics of your callers, and what you need from them to conduct the best business possible. Depending on the situation, your caller might be in a good mood or not. In either case, they’ll probably be eagerly awaiting your call. So, it stands to reason that you only promise them a call back if you can deliver. In other words, if you’re a small shop and you’ve decided to close due to a much-needed sabbatical, then don’t leave a voicemail greeting where you promise them to call right back. However, if you have an active customer service staff, then you can promise to return their call within the same day.
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Voicemail systems can be as simple as an answering machine or as complex as a system processing messages for an entire building full of people. Any type of business needs more than just a single mailbox answered on a single desk – even a business of one needs to keep personal and professional calls separate. The larger a business gets, the more robust its voicemail systems need to be. With VirtualPBX small businesses benefit as much as large enterprises when it comes to professional, customizable voicemail systems.
Your voicemail greeting presents an excellent opportunity to connect with customers in a valuable way, yet many companies trade a customer-centric experience for a canned response. You know your customers don’t want to hear another boring, outdated business voicemail greeting, but you’re not sure how to capture their attention in the moments leading up to “the beep”.
Phonewire offers three different plans, targeted to individuals, small offices, and enterprises. The individual plan starts at $19/month for 30 minutes of audio transcribed, billed at 1 second increments. The small business plan is $53/month and includes 100 minutes of audio, with unlimited users. Finally, the enterprise plan is $250/month and includes 500 minutes of audio, with unlimited users. The individual and small business plans include a free trial for 2 weeks or 100 messages.
Share with your caller when they can expect a callback. If you return calls within 24 hours, let them know. Give them an estimate of when they can expect your call.
My disdain for voicemail stems from my days in the mobile industry within the B2B channel. In one of the positions, I had a colossal client base that I was responsible for managing. I was constantly bombarded with calls from customers. Dial into voicemail "Please enter your password." "You have... Seven... Unheard messages. To listen to your messages press 1." "Your message from 9...8...0...4...6...1...9...8...9...9 sent Thursday... September, 19th 2016... at... 4:30 pm.
All calls made to the local phone numbers supplied by Sonetel can be forwarded to any type of phone, including mobile, anywhere in the world, or answered through the Sonetel app. You can also make international calls from your virtual phone number.
The key here is customer service. If it’s information that’ll help your business better serve your customers, don’t be afraid to ask for it. Write out your voicemail script and practice it. It may seem silly, but you’ll save time if you write down what you want to say in your message. Get everything you want to include in your greeting down on paper, and then rehearse it before you record your greeting to ensure your script flows smoothly.
Your personal voicemail greeting should be brief and to the point. State your name and your availability, project a welcoming aura, and ask the caller for whatever information you need from them. Hi, you've reached the voicemail of Mike Downing. I'm not available to answer the phone right now. My office hours are Monday through Thursday, 10 am to 4 pm. Please leave your name and phone number and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks. 2. Company Wide Voicemail Greeting
Are you struggling to come up with a voicemail greeting that you believe in? Do you find that everything you record comes out too casual, overly professional, or doesn’t seem to touch all of the bases that you want it to?
After practicing so many times to get your business voicemail messages done accurately, perhaps now you have more confidence to record them. Once that confidence is there, go ahead and record your voicemail message. But before sending it to everyone on your contacts list, you also want to have a preview first. This means taking the time to listen to the recording to be sure it’s perfect.
If you're looking to go all out to give the best possible first impression to your customers, hire a professional voice actor. Our customers love the voices available on Fiverr, a website that matches businesses with creative talent. You can get a professional recording done for as little as $5. If you're looking for a high-end product, check out The Voice Realm which offers the best voice talent on the planet. The quality is astounding.
Download this example as a PDF file. Want more cold call sales scripts? You can find them in this article about cold calling.. 2. Voicemail Script. If you aren’t able to reach your prospect on the phone, there’s still a great opportunity to connect with your lead and get them to call you back.
It’s also imperative for you to relay that message. If a client comes unprepared, you know your time is going to be wasted trying to work around a missing document. To avoid this, make sure your voicemail greeting emphasizes the importance of coming to a meeting prepared with any information that will speed up the process and make your life easier. Highlight some of the most common documents and pieces of information a client will need to bring, so they start off on the right footing.
There you have it, a basic introduction into how to write the best voicemail greetings. As you have seen, they’re not as easy as you’d think, but once you get comfortable with the type of information required by each, writing and recording your own should be a piece of cake. If you’ve tried to write one yourself and still don’t ‘feel you’ve captured the right essence, then please look at one of our voicemails greeting templates. When it comes to recording it, remember to rehearse your script and speak clearly. If you don’t care for your own voice, then have someone else record it, or hire a professional voice actor. Remember, there are also free audio editing software programs like Audacity, where you can manipulate your recording until you get exactly what you want.
Wayne Rash's IT Watch Column: www.pcmag.com/it-watch Wayne Rash is a freelance writer and frequent reviewer of enterprise hardware and software. He is also a Senior Columnist for eWEEK. Email him at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @wrash. Read the latest from Wayne Rash Line2 Review RingCentral MVP Review 10 Important Points for IT Pros Migrating Their Phone Service 10 Things About VoIP You Didn't Know You Needed to Know Why Mobile VoIP Should Be Part of Your Business Phone System More from Wayne Rash facebook twitter flipboard google instagram pinterest