When on vacation, provide your callers with a return date and a back-up contact person to accommodate emergencies. This prevents you from potentially damaging a valued relationship while you enjoy some time off.
11. Hello, you’ve reached [your name]’s cell phone. I can’t take your call at the moment, but if you leave a brief message, I’ll get back to you as quickly as possible.
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When calling a lead that was generated from a 3rd party vendor, it’s important to let them know how you received their contact information and why you’re calling. This type of lead may have looked at dozens of homes and requested information from as many real estate agents, all in a matter of minutes. The quicker you respond to this type of a lead, the more likely you’ll beat out the competition. Start off on the right foot by putting them at ease with a quick introduction and some facts:
Hello! You have reached the voicemail of John Doe . Please leave your name, phone number, and a brief message and she will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you and have a great day.
You have reached the , Strategic Air Command Nuclear Missile Storage Facility. We are unable to come to the phone right now. At the tone, please leave your name, number and target or list of targets and we’ll launch as soon as we can. And have a nice day.
Give them a reason to call you back. In both voicemail messages, did you noticed how I mentioned new information they might be interested in? That will grab their attention more than simply introducing yourself, thanking them and asking them to give you a call if they have any questions. Come from a place of helpfulness by giving them something to look forward to and that will solve a problem.
The process of using a voicemail greeting recorded by a professional voice talent is somewhat easier. You'll still want to review your current message and write your script, but you can submit your script to be recorded and edited and upload the file to your phone system when it's finished.
Shared voicemail and call routing is intended for multiple access and directing calls to one or multiple phones. Mobile apps are also available that allow you to check your messages from your phone. The below infographic outlines the current state and trends of voicemails.
Note that the secretary has asked for the reason for calling so she can prioritize the patients who need the most help. She’s also keeping it short and to the point.
As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect. Read your voicemail script aloud several times in order to get the flow and annunciation correct. Soon, you’ll be a voicemail pro!
“Hey there! This is [name] at [XYZ company]. Thank you for calling. I can’t take your call right now but if you leave your name, contact info and reason for calling, I’ll call you back right away. Take care and speak with you soon!”
Don’t leave customers and colleagues on edge. If you say you’re going to call them back, follow up. If you tend to fall behind in this area, encourage them to email you or reach out in another way. Better yet, learn how to forward voicemail to email so you can access the message anywhere.
VoiceStudio Pro’s mission is to make professionally voiced messaging the standard for phone-based systems and voice applications. Customers rely on our services as the first point of contact with their clients. Get a professional greeting for your phone system, …
2. Hello, you have reached the office of [your name]; I will be out of my office starting on [date] and will be returning on [date]. You can call me when I return or leave a brief message. If this is an emergency I can be reached on my cell, which is [your number].
“Hello, you’ve reached [X company]. We can’t take your call right now, but please leave your name, contact information, and reason for reaching out, and one of our team members will be in touch within 24 hours.” “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.” “Hi, you’ve reached [company]. We’re available by phone from [hour] to [hour] [time zone] Monday through Friday [optional: and from hour to hour on the weekends]. You can also contact us by going to our website, [URL], and live-chatting or emailing us. If you’d like us to call you back, please leave your name and number after the beep.” “Hello, you’ve reached [company]. If you’re looking for information on [X], please check out our [Facebook page, company website, etc.] If you want to know more about [Y], take a look at [Z page on our site, our YouTube channel, etc.] Still have more questions, or just want to hear our lovely voices? Leave your name and number, and we’ll return your call straight away.”
2. Press the Star or Pound Key. Depending on your carrier, you will likely push one of these two keys next. It's more common to push the star key. When you hear your voicemail start, that's when you should press either the star (*) or the pound (#) key. For AT&T, Sprint, U.S. Cellular, and T-Mobile, press the star (*) key. Verizon, Bell Mobility and Virgin Mobile users should press the pound (#) key. If you are using a different carrier, you can check its website or call customer service to be sure.
For example, a message like, “Hi, this is Jim. You know what to do.” Well, not everyone is going to know what to do—i.e. they won’t leave you inclusive information. Additionally, they may not leave you a message at all. Aside from this, humor can again be detrimental to your message, this time lending itself to ambiguity and costing you clarity. For example, if a message read, “Hi this is Jim, sorry I can’t answer your call right now. Please leave your name and number and I’ll call you as soon as I can, but you already knew that right? Do I need to tell you what to do?” This is worse than the previous example as this is confusing and can also come across as rude and unprofessional. Complicating a greeting with phrasing like this is sure to cause some harm. e. Ignoring Personality & Identity: Don’t use computer generated greetings. Some users leave default messages (‘you’ve reached the voicemail box of 777-777-777, please leave a message). Believe it or not, even this can cause problems. Callers may be unsure if the voicemail box belongs to you; therefore, they don’t leave a message. Also, some may even be uncomfortable leaving information through a message in a nameless voice message box. As such, impersonalization can cause ambiguity, which again can hurt the effectiveness of your voice message system. This doesn’t mean you have to make an elaborate greeting if you don’t want to, just insert your voice and name so at least callers know they’re calling the right person.