Before moving on to learning about voicemail message templates, let’s learn some tips to effectively take phone messages. Tips for Taking Phone Messages Effectively . Creating a phone message template is the first step in starting a good phone communication procedure – but it …
2. Quickly Provide the Relevant Information. When someone reaches your voicemail, it’s important that you help them confirm that they have reached the right person by providing all of the relevant information that they will need.

Therapists don't need voice mail messages that demean their patients. I just called a psychotherapist colleague and listened to her voicemail greeting with the now-ubiquitous message, “If this is an emergency, hang up and call 911.” My professional voicemail will never include such a message.
Humor also leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation—which subsequently weakens sincerity and authority. A caller can be very turned off by merely misinterpreting your joke. Why take this risk? Additionally, this could even cause callers to question your character. Say, for example, the president of a company’s mobile phone voicemail greeting was funny. What’s to happen if the caller didn’t like or get the joke? What if they found it offensive? Another scenario is that a caller is reaching out to you for the first time—i.e. they have no idea regarding your personality. What next? The point is, with this type of greeting, humor is bound to be more divisive so just avoid it altogether. c. Poorly Pacing Your Message and Bad Time Management: Don’t speed through your message. Speak clearly so callers know what to include in their message and when to leave the message. At the same time, don’t drag your message out. No one wants to sit through a diatribe. Just get to the point clearly.