Do they want to sit through an IVR menu that may or may not direct them to the right person? Do they know you’re a one-man/woman team and there’s no reason to sit through a menu? Skip the menu entirely and let them leave a message as quickly as possible. There’s no reason to add any additional steps or make your customers go through leaps and hurdles to leave a simple voicemail. When you identify what your customers’ pain points are, you make it much easier to determine what you want them to do to save everyone from the unnecessary stress.
If you have a landline — and many people still do — there’s always a chance that you will miss an important call when you’re not at home. If you don’t have voicemail service through your phone provider, it’s definitely worth investing in a quality answering machine. Today’s answering machines use an internal memory chip to digitally record your voice messages rather than the old audiotapes of yesterday. A digital answering machine can timestamp your messages, and you rarely have to worry about running out of message space.

6.) Don’t miss the opportunity to leave a specific message. There’s nothing more frustrating than listening to a voicemail that basically says, “Hi, it’s me. Call when you can!” Even if you’re just calling to say hi, make that your phone message. “Hi, Barbara! It’s Maralee! I haven’t heard your voice in too long, and I wanted to touch base and say hi. I’ll give you a call tonight at 8:00 your time. I hope we can chat then. Stay warm in Michigan. I heard about the storms.”
Answering machines are available in two types: standalone models and those that are built into a telephone.