And you’re done! Your CenturyLink voicemail is now set up. Whenever you have an unheard message, you'll hear a stuttered dial tone when you pick up your home phone. Take a few minutes to gather your thoughts, even jot down a few notes, and practice before you record. Before you start recording, turn off anything in the background that might cause noise. This will ensure your voice is clear and easy to understand. While clever greetings can be fun, it's worth taking a moment to think about the range of potential callers who may be leaving you voicemail. Consider the tone and image you want to project. Don't worry! If you don't like your recording, you can erase it and re-record as many times as you'd like.
In this way, voicemail becomes an important part of the grouping process. It can help organize incoming messages by the priority you set as a system administrator.

As to the basics, your voicemail greeting should always have the following information:
Remember to watch out for ambient noise on your end of the call as well. Train signals, traffic, or even outside conversations can be very distracting to your callers and project an unprofessional image. Don’t forget the beep. Every millisecond – yes, millisecond – between the end of your greeting and the beep is time callers could potentially drop the call. That’s why the anticipated beep should sound the moment your greeting is finished. Leaving lengthy, silent gaps may cause your customers to wonder if they’ve been disconnected. Don’t give them the opportunity to hang up waiting to hear that affirmative tone. Check and then recheck your greeting. After you complete your outgoing voicemail message, play it back to verify you’ve said everything you intended to say. Then take it a step further and dial in to experience the greeting for yourself, and be mindful to contemplate the greeting from the customer’s perspective.