Keep callers on the phone with messages on hold. Make announcements while they’re waiting or being transferred.
-This is you-know who. We are you-know-where. Leave your you-know-what you-know-when.
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Website: http://allowe.com/laughs/book/88 Creative Answering Machine Messages.htm
Thank you for calling BusinessCo. Unfortunately you have called us outside business hours. For more information on our products and services please visit our website at businessco.com.au. Alternatively, please leave your name, phone number and a message and we’ll return your call on our next business day. Thank you.
20. “Hello! Thanks for reaching out to [company]. We’re closed today for the holiday, and will reopen tomorrow, [date]. If you leave your name, number, and a brief message, we’ll give you a call when we’re back in the office. Thanks again, and have a great [day, week].”
Keep it Brief. Time is money in business, so if your voicemail is long, chances are the caller will simply disengage before the cue to leave a message even sounds. Keep your voicemail short. The most should be around 30 seconds, and even that’s pressing it. We’ve grown into a country where our attention span can last only about 10 seconds in some cases, so keep it short, brief and to the point. Persuade and Engage the Caller. If someone calls your business, they already have an intention. It’s the quality of your voicemail that plays a factor if they consider you a company they’d like to deal with. This is your chance to motivate someone to engage in a meaningful conversation with you. If your voicemail is shoddy, chances are they’ll hang up, or lose motivation to continue the call. In other words, your voice mail must engage and entice someone to the point that they care enough to leave you a message.
Voicemails can give an important message or inform the caller about the receiver's status. Thus, it is important for you to be clear while recording such messages. Here are a few examples of voicemail greetings to get an idea about appropriate messages that can be recorded the next time you leave your house or desk.
What’s more, according to WP Beginner, “more than 88% of local searches on mobile devices end up in a phone call,” so you don’t want to be caught off guard when a customer calls!
You might also consider giving them the option to skip your voicemail message completely by pressing another key (again, check with IT). You also want to make callers aware what you will return their call, instead of telling them that you will try to return their call--and let them know when you are likely to do it, if possible. If necessary, provide additional or emergency information in your voicemail greetings. My dentist, for example, lists his cell phone number for emergencies.
Standard greeting with your number: "At the tone, please record your message to [your phone number]."
Rewind to hear something again by pressing 1. Press 11 (or 1 twice) to rewind to the beginning of a message, 33 (or 3 twice) to skip to the end.
4. Include Other Contact Methods. If there are other ways to get in touch with your business, or receive information about your products, you may want to include them in the after hours greeting.
Do you have a landline at work? Make sure that all your phones, personal and business, have good clear, professional English voicemail greetings.
Whether you’re out for the day or are off for the week, the first rule of an out of office voicemail greeting is: let callers know when you’ll be back! You’ll save them the frustration of continuing to call and yourself the hassle of listening to redundant voicemails. It’s also a good idea to set the expectation of whether you are answering messages while you’re away, and who they can reach for assistance in your absence.
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For a downloadable Quick Reference Guide to the voicemail phone menu, click here.
One of the chief considerations in recording an answering machine greeting is your audience. Who will be listening to your answering machine or voicemail salutation? Is this a business line or a home phone line? Furthermore, just how much information do you want to give out to potential strangers, like telemarketers, who may be calling your home? Long answering machine greetings may be inconvenient for callers.