Voicemail greetings can include any information you’d wish to convey, such as special sales, bargains, alternate phone numbers to use, or your company’s normal working hours.
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The voicemail. This technology is often shunned by the younger generation in favour of texts or emails but it still plays an important part in our professional communication. Whether you’re interested in a job opportunity, following up with a company, or calling in sick for work, leaving a voicemail message is likely to be something that you will have to do often throughout your job search and career.
When you cannot answer your callers, the effect of a good voicemail and greeting is important. To create such a professional voicemail greeting, you need to pay attention to a few points. Here are some notes so you can create an effective business voicemail greeting.
Hello. This is Chris. John and Mike aren’t here right now, but if you leave a message, they’ll get back to you as soon as they can.
“Hey Henry, I’m reaching out because I recently helped someone in a similar position to you save X amount of dollars…”
We hope you are enjoying TechSpirited! We provide informative and helpful articles about the outlook for IT jobs throughout the U.S. Learn more about the career in IT you’ve always wanted, or find new tips to further your technology career.
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.
Hi. This is John: If you are the phone company, I already sent the money. If you are my parents, please send money. If you are my financial aid institution, you didn’t lend me enough money. If you are my friends, you owe me money. If you are a female, don’t worry,
Using studio-grade audio recording equipment helps ensure the audio for your business voicemail greeting is clear and easy to understand, minimizing the risk of misunderstandings.
Make sure to slow down, breath, and speak clearly in order to leave the best sales voicemail possible.
A professional voicemail greeting is slightly different than a business greeting, as certain professionals may require the caller to leave specific information. For instance, a professional therapist voicemail greeting would specifically ask for contact information from the caller, as well as leave their own personal contact information in case the caller is having problems. Hello, thank you for calling the office of Dr. Harold Tweed. I can’t come to the phone right now; please leave your name, number, and message at the tone. If this is an emergency, please contact either my personal assistant at 555-555-2345 or myself at 555-555-3234 and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your call. Include your name/business Ask for their contact information and message Provide them with alternate phone numbers if this is a crisis Extend gratitude for their call Funny Voicemail Greeting
The above section details types of phrasing to avoid; however, it doesn’t detail what users should NOT say on their greeting. Though this is a bit loaded, as there are hundreds of combinations of things one shouldn’t say, there are some key components users should ALWAYS avoid. a. Forget About Slang: You should strive to be as professional and welcoming as possible in your greeting. While this may steer you towards using slang, in an attempt to make callers comfortable, it’ll most likely work against you. As a professional, your demeanor, tone, and speech should be clear cut and well articulated. Using slang undercuts this and works against you. b. Don’t Even Think About Profanity: This is a no-brainer. Never, under any circumstances, curse in your greeting EVER! c. Keep Your Sentences Clean, Don’t Ramble: Introduce yourself and give your caller specific direction. Avoid long diatribes detailing tangent thoughts. Keep it simple and quick. d. Always Return Your Calls: It’s important for callers to feel they are valued. Nothing dissolves this quicker than a greeting that doesn’t stress this. For example, “I’ll call you when I can,” “If I don’t return your call, please call back”—these phrases are terrible and completely destroy any good will you may have with a caller.
37. Hi, this is [company name]. Sorry we missed your call. Leave a message and we’ll get back to you shortly.
The average voicemail response rate is only 4.8% according to statistics. So what makes those few voicemails stand out from the crowd to get a response while others go totally bust?
What is an Example of a Professional Voicemail? The above might sound fine, and it can work as a starting basis to create your voicemail script. But what if you want to work from an example to get a sense of how it will sound? Let’s use a sample voicemail of someone selling business widgets that save administration costs.
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