Holidays are often the busiest time of the year for any business — especially retail. Obvious, right? As obvious as that is, how confident are you, the exhausted employee or business manager, in your caller’s ability to recognize what exactly that means for you? Do you think they understand the torture of working long hours day after day and what effect that has on your mental and physical state? They might, but chances are they’re more concerned about receiving a personalized experience.
We surround ourselves with positive people and influences, and we live life with a strength that’s forged by the conviction of our beliefs, not the strong pull of our society towards the lowest common denominator.
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With more and more calls going to voice mail, why not present the most professional and polished welcome possible to encourage detailed and informative messages that will improve the efficiency of responses.
To whom it may concern. You’ve tried to reach Wilbur and Ed. We aren’t here at the moment, but if you want, you can leave your contact information at the tone and one of the brood will get to you shortly. Take care, thanks for the call.
What voice do you want to convey when speaking with customers? This may be professional, casual, or even humorous.
Home > Phone Systems > Corporate Voicemail Greetings - Bloopers and Best Practices Corporate Voicemail Greetings - Bloopers and Best Practices Want to make the most of your business phone system? Make sure that your greeting to callers is effective. The way any phone system greets callers is critical to the image and presentation of your business. From the initial phone greeting to all callers, through whatever phone menu your system uses - or if you have a live receptionist - through to the voicemail greeting on personal phones, every step sends a message about your company and about you. It is pretty easy to get it wrong - and not an awful lot harder to get it right. "You have reached the Sales Department. Leave a message." This might not seem so bad but think about it in terms of missed opportunities. The chances are that they know they reached the sales department. And they expect to reach a sales person. If your sales team is really so busy thay can't get to calls then at least make it personal. Have messages go to a department assistan who is named. That way a person is involved and the caller has some expectation of personal contact. Tell them good times to call and what information YOU need from them - at very least a reminder to leave their own number! Not too surprisingly, there aren't a lot of real examples floating around on the internet of bad phone systems - but here are a few real and not so real.... Any good voicemail message needs to do a few things: Say who you are very briefly to confirm that the caller reached the right number. Say that you aren't available as briefly as possible. Remind the caller to leave a contact number and identifying information. Ask them to state the issue they are calling about as simply and clearly as possible. Saying who you are is obvious - whether it is the company or a personal message on your extension. While it isn't totally obvious that you should say you aren't available, it is polite and you can include additional information without going too far. If you are going to be gone at another office for a month then you can say that and leave a forwarding number if needed using whatever vacation message function your system may have. But if you are literally just out for a moment then a standard, "I am not available," is all that is needed. Obviously you need to tailor the greeting for the situation. If you are recording a greeting for a common line that is shared then don't leave personal information as the identifier. And don't if you have legitimate concerns about identity. But in reality, most of the time it is better to include who you are. Other optional information that is nice to include is information about when they can expect a call back, email contact info as an alternative and even an answer to an overwhelmingly common query. But those are optional. It is more important to be clear and brief so that the most important information gets across. Once you have a message you like, double check by calling the number to see what the experience is like. It is easy to forget that many voicemail systems include automated instructions that can take up a lot of time BEFORE the caller even gets your greeting. if the automated information is too long, work with your phone system tech to get it changed to somethign useful and appropriate. Adjust your message if needed so you don't repeat anything they already heard. "Hi. This is Joe Smith at Acme Co. I can't take your call right now, so please leave me a detailed message after the tone. Please include your number and your name. Thank you." Brief, to the point and doesn't waste anyone's time. "Hello, this is the Acme Company. We can't take your call in person at the moment. Please leave us a detailed message including your name, phone number and the reason you are calling. We will call you back as soon as possible." "Hi, this is Joe Smith at the Acme Co. I am working in the New York office during July and August. You can reach me there on 212-555-1111 or leave a message here stating your name, number and the reason you called. I will return the call as soon as possible." Hopefully these warning examples and tips on how to do it right will help you improve the way you present yourself and your company to the world.
Of course, yours may need more details. But, even if you’re changing your outgoing message every day, it should only be a slight variation from a standard greeting.
People have short attention spans these days, and you should always craft your communications for the lowest common denominator with something as universal as your voicemail.
Instead of stating the obvious, enhance your message with information your callers can use, such as how to reach someone immediately, when you will be returning calls, or where they can obtain after-hours service. Services that offer multiple custom greetings like Tendant allow you to store multiple greetings so you can have a greeting just for a holiday that you can use every year. Specify the information you want callers to leave. Your voicemail greeting presents a great opportunity to gather important details that will help you better serve your customers. This may include account numbers best times to return the call, and of course, a brief summary of the issue or purpose of the call.
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I’m out walking my donkey but as soon as I get my ass back in I’ll call you back. Leave me a message.
“You have reached the Outpatient Scheduling enter. Our regular business hours are 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday. Please leave a message stating your name, phone number and the test you need to make an appointment for. Someone will return your call during business hours. Thank you.” Outbound Appointment Reminders
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Instead of you making your clients and customers sit through an Interactive Voice Response (IVR menu) so they may be directed to the person they would like to talk to, try to make fewer hurdles and steps for your customers.
6. Howdy, right here’s [your name] at [your company]. I’m unavailable for the time being, but please toddle away your title, quantity, and the explanation you’re calling, and I’ll name you aid as rapidly as that you just can be ready to assume.
(855) 976-7457Considerations for a quality, professional voicemail greeting. When creating a voicemail script for your business, there are several points to consider. First, think about your brand’s image and voice. You want the voicemail message to represent your brand well and put its best foot forward.
8. General Purpose Holiday Hours Script. Thank you for calling [Company Name]. In observance of [holiday], our offices are currently closed. We’ll be back to normal operations on [date].