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.
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It may sound silly, but the tone in which you say something can either play the professional status up, or it can bring it down. You can’t change what your voice naturally sounds like, but you can work on controlling it to make sure you sound calm and collected when recording your message.
Hi, you’ve reached the home of [name]. If you are calling to collect a student loan, gambling debt, or other obligation, please press 1 and hang up now. If you are selling any product or service, or requesting charitable donations, please press 2 and hang up now. Otherwise, press 3 and leave your message now. Pressing 3 is optional.
24. Hello, you’ve reached [business name]. Every call is important to us, so please leave a brief message that includes your name and phone number so a member of our customer success team can call you back as quickly as possible.
"John, this is Mark from Pinnacle. I've been working with Steve at JKY industries and It's urgent that I talk to you. You can reach me at 123 (pause 2 seconds) 456 (pause 1-2 second) 7890. That number again is 123.....456.....7890." Hangup.
We’re keeping it simple with this one. Just a few basic elements to help you get started. As long as you know who your audience is, the message you wish to convey, and the information you need from the caller, the rest should fall into place quite nicely. Let’s face it, a voicemail greeting for a lumber company will probably be different than that of a psychologist’s office. One greeting is aimed at securing potential customers, and the other is geared towards appointments, more or less. Once you are certain who your caller is, the better your voicemail. Center on your audience, first and foremost. Knowing what to relate ensures that your caller will leave the right message. For instance, if you’re a retail store, you would include your hours of operations, and perhaps any specials that you’re running. If you are a therapist’s office, then you’d need to include an alternate number in case a patient is having an issue and requires immediate help. Again, this will vary depending on the business. Here, a therapist would definitely request the caller leave their contact information. However, a retail store chain might not request that. There are also complex voicemail systems such as those used by mobile phone services, which ask you to press a certain number on your phone, where you are asked to leave your account information. Again, as you can see, it all boils down to the demographics of your callers, and what you need from them to conduct the best business possible. Depending on the situation, your caller might be in a good mood or not. In either case, they’ll probably be eagerly awaiting your call. So, it stands to reason that you only promise them a call back if you can deliver. In other words, if you’re a small shop and you’ve decided to close due to a much-needed sabbatical, then don’t leave a voicemail greeting where you promise them to call right back. However, if you have an active customer service staff, then you can promise to return their call within the same day.
Creating solid business voicemail greetings requires a little finesse. You want to make the best impression and set the right tone. However, sometimes you need to break from the norm and create business voicemails that will do some of the work for you.
A lot of small businesses set up a 13, 1300 or 1800 number to appear more professional, but that’s only the first step. Using a business phone service gives you a range of advantages over your standard landline, including the ability to: Set your business hours and record different voice greetings to align with a particular time of day or year. Set up an automated response, add department extensions to route the calls, and more. Have multiple users on the phone number via call overflow regardless of their location. For ideas on what to include in your voicemail greeting, see our blog on examples of professional voicemail greetings.
If, on the other hand, your clients work with a number of team members, you might consider hiring a voiceover professional to record your greeting. While a recording with a voice actor is an extra expense, the result often outweighs the cost.
Your voicemail recording should include several key elements to communicate with your customers. The most important parts of your greeting are: Announcement and identification (“Hello! You’ve reached [your name] with [your business’s name]”) A brief apology (“I’m sorry, but we are unable to take your call as we are [closed, assisting guests, away from the desk, etc.]”) Invitation to leave a message Information you want from them (“Please leave your name, number, and reason for calling”) Promise of a callback and timeframe (“You’ll hear from us within 24 hours!”) How to Sound Your Best
Take the time to make your voice mail greeting sound perfect. Give callers a positive impression. Then be as responsive as you can be to messages that are left for you. This entry was posted in Business, Sales and Marketing, Technology, Voicemail and tagged business tips, office management by Brian Gabriel. Bookmark the permalink.
4. “Thanks for calling [your company]. We’re looking forward to speaking with you. Let us call you back as soon as we are available by leaving your name, contact information and the reason for your call. Have a great day.” A simple, concise, and, of course, friendly voicemail greeting for your main business line.
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40. Hi, I’m not in right now, but if you leave a detailed message I’ll call you back promptly.
Your customers might need you on the holidays. If you’re a business owner, you know this already. 🙂 Manage customer expectations and let them know how to get assistance.