12. “Hi, you’ve reached [company]. Unfortunately, we’re currently unavailable. But we want to talk to you — so please leave your name and number, as well as your reason for calling, and someone will call back ASAP.”
Can you hear me now? That phrase is one we all utter, most frequently from mobile phones. But when it comes to small business phone services, we sometimes hear it from landlines and VOIP phones.
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4. "Hello, you've reached [your name and title]. I'm currently out on parental leave until [date]. In the meantime, please direct all phone calls to [alternate contact name] at [phone number] and emails to [email address].
A secretary in a doctor’s office creates a voicemail greeting that says, “If you have a scheduled meeting with us, we could use copies of all your medical documents from last year, so come prepared.” Using the word “could” gives patients the impression that they don’t necessarily “need” last year’s documents. See the difference between “could” and “need”? Your word choice can impact a future meeting significantly. If you want a customer to perform a specific action, you need to pay close attention to how you express your calls-to-action.
30. Howdy, you’ve reached [your name]. I’m at this time out of the situation of job and can return on [X date]. If your name requires urgent consideration, please name [Name] at [phone number] and moreover they’ll be cheerful to enable you to. If no longer, toddle away a message and I’ll return your name after I receive aid.
Your virtual receptionist is available 24/7/365 to keep your business running even while you sleep. VR is the most professional way to answer and direct customer calls and allows you to customize the greeting in order to protect your brand and efficiently help your caller.
Context does matter here. If the caller would reasonably expect you to answer the phone (such as if they were calling a store or other place of business), an apology for not being able to get to the phone makes the most sense.
Your listeners may not be able to see your happy and friendly face, but they’ll hear the cheeriness in your voice. This makes a significant impact in creating rapport with your listeners. Sounding professional in your business voicemails should never be at the expense of being friendly. After all, no one would ever want to listen to someone on the phone who sounds rushed or is dry and grumpy.
Keep in mind, though, that going with an unreliable provider can cost you business. If the calls aren’t getting through to you and your team, prospects will lose interest and go with your competitors. Even if the calls reach you but keep getting interrupted, customers will get annoyed and probably hang up.
The best text-to-speech voices don't sound robotic at all. Do a "text to speech" search in Google to explore your options. Type in your script and presto! You'll get an instant greeting with a natural sounding voice. You can select from a broad spectrum of male & female voices with any local or foreign accent you choose. LinkedPhone offers text-to-speech built right into our software. It's super popular and our users love it!
Call Routing Business Hours Call Analytics Call Masking Call Recording Customer Data Inbuilt CRM Team Management Lead Qualification Concurrent Ringing IVR Two way SMS Lead Notifications Interested in:Outgoing callsLead DistributionLead QualificationClick to CallCall BackNot sure
Many of our users don’t need calls routed to their phone, they just want a good virtual voicemail system. We can do that, too. Just set up your VirtualPBX account with multiple voicemail boxes for each user or purpose you need. Furthermore, we can route calls directly to voicemail, without ringing a phone first.
Website: https://business.comcast.com/help-and-support/voice/phone-business-class-voice-mail-overview
We recommend CallHippo’s Silver plan as the best virtual phone system for a small business’s sales or marketing team. The cost starts at $24 per month for each user, and should you decide to go for this option, you’ll get all the features from the Bronze tier alongside a few more useful services. Additional features include unlimited incoming calls, call queuing, call cascading, interactive voice response (IVR), live call, call reminder, internal team calling, user working hours, after call work, holiday routing, and intelligent analytics.
Another option to try out is OpenPhone. We give small business owners a dedicated phone number (local or 1-800) on top of their current device with professional features to make their business look and sound great.
“Hello, you’ve reached the special agent Bond. James Bond. Okay okay, it’s actually [last name]. I’m currently away saving the world on a top-secret mission but I will get back to you as soon as possible. Please leave your name, contact info, number, and availability and I’ll call back as soon as I’m done helping M16. Have a great day. [last name] out!”
Editor’s Note: The article is part of the blog series Grow Your Business brought to you by the marketing team at UniTel Voice, the virtual phone system priced and designed for startups and small business owners. 8 Ways To Build Brand Trust & Make Your New eCommerce Business Look Established