Avoid These 3 Voicemail Mishaps When Job SearchingAvoid these scenarios with your voicemail during your job search.
Prepare yourself using the ultimate voicemail script that’s always successful, then derive short queues for yourself to keep the voicemail on track.
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Users often don’t invest enough time into their messages, resulting in incomplete, unprofessional, or otherwise under-whelming greetings. Sure, crafting a greeting doesn’t sound all that complicated; however, there are a number of pitfalls users can fall into—i.e. informality, terseness, sincerity, lack of direction, and more. While none of these sound too catastrophic, they are often interrelated. As such, they tend to worsen any problem. For example, humor can cause informality, worsen ambiguity, and weaken sincerity. That being said, users should strive to avoid ALL these pitfalls.
With all these things to include, it's easy to write your greeting the wrong way. To keep it simple, something like this:
While covering all of the relevant information, aim to keep your voicemail to about 20 seconds. You definitely should not ever record a business voicemail longer than 30 seconds, and anything less than 10 seconds will typically mean that you are either speaking too quickly or aren’t providing all of the required information.
This is a lot like body language… the person on the other end can infer a lot from more than just the words you use.
What benefit are you offering if they decide to listen… and if they decide to call back?
02Hello, you’ve reached [your name] of [your company/business]. I’m sorry that I’m not available to answer your call now. Please leave your details and a brief message at the tone and I’ll make sure your message reaches the right person. This is the perfect voicemail for a department’s secretary or operatory to let those calling know that their message will be delivered when you get back.
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.
Professional recording studio — Rent a professional recording studio space for a day to have optimal audio quality.Professional speaker — Hire a voiceover professional to create all of the voicemails across your company.Create a script — Create scripts for the voiceover professional to use during recording.Be personable — As noted above, allow for a bit of personality in the recording.Be positive — Tone matters more than the words you say!Keep it short — The longer they have to listen, the less likely they are to leave a message.Ask for details — Make sure to get the most important information from them in their message. Get a free business voicemail script (that you can use today!)
Making an outline of the call flow and writing out scripts for each phase and menu in it can help ensure that there are no gaps in the process from start to finish. This way, callers can reach the voicemail recording in the first place.
d. Utilizing Ambiguity Over Clarity: When setting up your voicemail greeting be direct and to the point. Tell callers your information, a brief greeting, and direction—i.e. “Hi, this is Jim Shamalam (from Iron Industries). Sorry I can’t take your call right now. Please leave your name number, and a brief message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.” This is ideal, as you inform callers and let them know what they should do to ensure a return call. A lack of direction can lead to callers leaving incomplete messages (lacking contact or other information) or even callers hanging up without leaving a message altogether.
In addition to your tone of voice and gaining confidence in how you speak, you can eliminate certain phrases that imply desperation.
Make sure that this voicemail greeting informs users about office hours, alternative ways to reach customer service, or store location. “Hi, you’ve reached [business name]. We are available by phone from [9 am] to [6 pm] [PST] Monday to Friday. You can also use the contact form on our website, [www.example.com] to leave us a message and we
Don’t be fooled by other business’ mediocrity…Excellence matters. First impressions also matter. Let your clients and investors listen in on just how exciting and professional your business really is.
That’s why a script is so helpful. Wondering why prospects aren’t leaving messages if you don’t answer right away, or what all of those missed calls are?
Professional Phone Greetings, Voicemail & On-Hold Voice Overs When a customer calls your place of business, they generally expect to be placed on hold at some point. Rather than play annoying music, why not use this captive audience to promote your business with a professional voice over.