When your business is closed for vacation or holidays, it’s imperative that you set appropriate expectations for a callback and to provide an alternative coverage option, if available. The following greeting accomplishes this succinctly.
Hello. You’ve reached the establishment of Binder and Binder Law Offices in West Chapel. We regret we are not here to answer your call. However, your call is important to us, so please leave your contact information and a brief message at the tone, and we’ll get back to you shortly. It’s been a pleasure receiving your call.
.
Your message is a period of time that they are forced to wait through in order to do what they called to do in the first place — relay information to you.
Reassuring the caller that they contacted the correct number or reached the person they intended helps reduce the number of hang-ups and wasted messages you’ll receive. Here are a few notes on how to leave the best greeting possible, along with some voicemail message examples you can use in your own company!
1. Funny Answering Greeting from Seinfeld. Back in 1997, Seinfeld’s character, George Costanza, attempts to avoid a breakup call from his girlfriend and we hear his comical outgoing machine recording.
Do not be in a hurry while recording your voicemail. When recording your voicemail, it is important to speak slowly and clearly. It is also should be evident when you left the voicemail. Your voicemail should not appear to be a single gigantic word to the callers. Speak your words clearly and pause at the points you need to pause.
In most cases, the phone serves as your main point of contact with other people, and how you answer the phone says a lot about your business. Answering the phone in a professional manner leaves a good impression. If you are unprofessional when answering calls, the result can be losing customers. Here are some tips when answering a business
Voicemails that simply say, “call me” are irritating at best. If the recipient of your messages tends to fall into the trap listed in the previous point, tell him or her, “When you return my call, please leave a message on my voicemail to let me know the status of the project if I’m not able to pick up the phone.”
In previous blogs, I’ve mentioned the importance of making a good first impression on a potential client. Most of the time, the first contact will be over the telephone. Since we are often in session, it is very likely that the first time a client hears our voice is on our voicemail greeting. This is why a professional greeting is so important. Identify yourself because you need to reassure the client that they have called the correct number. Clients will be a lot less likely to leave a message if they wonder who will get it. Use a warm friendly voice to say something like, “You have reached xxxx, licensed mental health counselor.” Tell clients what to do if they are in crisis. Although it seems obvious to us, clients may not realize that it could be several hours until we can return their call. I suggest something like, “If you require immediate assistance, please dial 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.” Ask for what information you need. Yes, the obvious name and number, but if it would be helpful to get their insurance information, ask for that, too. Give clients an idea about when you’ll return their call. Common business practice is within 24 business hours. Any extra messages or information you’d like clients to know. For example, if you are no longer accepting a particular insurance plan, the end of your voicemail greeting is a great place to convey that information.
If anything big changes- address, phone, etc.- make sure you correct your voicemail early on. Keep It Short; We know, we know. We just gave you all this information and we’re now telling you to ‘keep it short‘. But, a professional voicemail greeting (or any for that matter) shouldn’t go beyond 20-25 seconds.
Start a 14-day free trial of ActiveCampaign. No credit card, no setup, no hassle. Please enter a valid email address to continue. Table of Contents Intro What is the most professional voicemail message? How do I record my company voicemail? Get a free business voicemail script (that you can use today!) What is a good voicemail greeting for business?
The next step is very important and you need to get it right. Say your phone number two times very slowly so the person has enough time to write down your number as they are listening to your message the first time.
3. Call your voicemail. Using the dial pad, type in the phone number assigned to your voicemail account, and then press the green Call button. Or, just press and hold the 1 key if that's easier.
Practice makes perfect when it comes to mastering confidence in your voice, so practice on a friend, colleague, or family member to make sure when it’s time do it in real life it feels like second nature.
My friend Tom at Bottomline Technologies was running a sales team making thousands of phone calls a week, developing the art of the sales voicemail.. Despite all their best efforts, his sales reps were only connecting with prospects 3% of the time since 97% of the time, they had no choice but to leave a voicemail. In a typical week, those voicemails could generate a grand total of one returned
Sheehan, who is 28, says the demise of voice mail is part of a general shift away from more formal communication in all forms.
While you do the manual footwork, make sure to implement a system that automatically handles your client follow up via email to set yourself up for success.