Nicole Etolen Personal voicemail greetings should be short and to the point. Creating a personal voicemail greeting is important for both your personal and business phone lines. Greetings not only let callers know that they reached the correct number, but gives you a chance to provide important instructions that will help streamline your voicemails.
Instead of leading with tired old lines like 'Your call is important to us', brush up on your telephone etiquette and start your voicemail with a thank you.
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1. "Hi, you've reached [your name] at [your company]. I'm unavailable right now — probably helping [type of company] get [X results, e.g. ‘double their leads in 60 days,' ‘hire the best and brightest engineers,' ‘convert 40% more customers.'] Leave your name and number, and we'll discuss how your company can see similar results."
Random facts could include their favorite movie, vacation spot, candy, or television show. Regardless of what you choose, it will surprise your caller and more than likely make them leave a message if they were considering hanging up.
e. Never Assume Anything: Phrases like “You Know What To Do,” “Sing Your Song at the Beep,” and others mentioned above are awful to leave in your greeting. For the sake of universality and comprehensiveness, NEVER assume the caller knows what to do. Lay it out clearly. f. Leave a Message: This phrase, by itself, will not do. It’s imperative for users to identify themselves in their greetings. Callers need to know they’ve reached the right person. g. Disregard Lethargy: If you’re not excited about your greeting, why would anyone else be? Never display a lack of enthusiasm in your greeting as it could turn callers off to both you and your business. h. Speak Clearly and Never Slur: Callers need to understand your every word; therefore, mumbling, slurring, and all other detractions of speech should never be recorded. d. Be Creative Without Sacrificing Quality: Callers know how voicemails work–i.e. leave a number, message, etc. While you want to be clear, it’s important not to be contrive or redundant with your message. Creativity can help users to differentiate themselves, as well as intrigue callers. While users should avoid the tropes of creativity listed above, it’s definitely good to think outside the box. That being said, scripting and practice can help users to experiment more with their greeting–ultimately allowing for more unique and creative approach. e. Speak With Diction: It’s important to present one’s self as an authority without alienating callers. As such, it’s crucial to articulate and speak with clear diction. “ if your voice recording has you stumbling over words and speaking haltingly, it does not convey confidence and competence,” states Ron Sellers of Grey Matter Research & Consulting. Remember, this greeting represents you; therefore, you want to appear collected and professional, as well as welcoming. To do this, one must carry themselves well through their recorded message. f. Account for Timeliness: Your message should be concise. No caller wants to be sitting through a rant/diatribe of redundant statements. Your greeting should flow without dragging. Inversely, one doesn’t want to be terse, either. Engage callers with a simplified approach laden with creativity. h. Account for Quality: Aside from speaking clearly, users want to eliminate any noise in the surrounding environment. The quality of the greeting is just as important as what’s being said in the greeting itself. As such, one doesn’t want to undermine a great message with poor quality. i. Courtesy, Tastefulness, & Tact: This is pretty self-explanatory and straight forward–NEVER be rude. Being light-hearted and humorous is very different from being obnoxious and/or abrasive. Again, these tools can be helpful if utilized properly, but not everyone perceives humor the same way. So play it safe. The last thing your voicemail greeting should do is offend a caller. k. Provide Options: if you’re part of a bigger company, it might be good to offer caller options. For example, allow a menu to defer callers to a colleague or co-worker in your absence. This can help show callers you care about their well being. Another option might be offering different modes of communication–i.e. email, fax, etc. In offering users diversity, contact may be much easier to maintain.
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.
Humor also leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation—which subsequently weakens sincerity and authority. A caller can be very turned off by merely misinterpreting your joke. Why take this risk? Additionally, this could even cause callers to question your character. Say, for example, the president of a company’s mobile phone voicemail greeting was funny. What’s to happen if the caller didn’t like or get the joke? What if they found it offensive? Another scenario is that a caller is reaching out to you for the first time—i.e. they have no idea regarding your personality. What next? The point is, with this type of greeting, humor is bound to be more divisive so just avoid it altogether. c. Poorly Pacing Your Message and Bad Time Management: Don’t speed through your message. Speak clearly so callers know what to include in their message and when to leave the message. At the same time, don’t drag your message out. No one wants to sit through a diatribe. Just get to the point clearly.
Here are several tips to consider when setting up a professional voicemail greeting: Keep it brief and concise. Give options to get more details. Ask for detailed messages. Be enthusiastic and identify yourself and the company name. Use positive sentences. Take messages accurately and completely. How do I change my voicemail greeting? On your Android device, open the Google Voice app . At the top left, tap Menu Settings. In the Voicemail section, tap Voicemail greeting. Next to the greeting that you would like to use, tap more Set as active. How do I delete my voicemail greeting?
Changes can be made to voicemail settings on the phone through the voicemail options audio menu only after the initial voicemail password has been set up in 8x8 Admin Console, Work for Desktop, and Work for Web. Please note: there is no "default" voicemail password. If you have forgotten your password, you can reconfigure it in Work for Desktop. Back to top How do I connect a Power over Ethernet Injector to my phone or base unit? How to Determine a Static IP Address to Set on IP Phone Article type How-to Confidence Validated Flag Not Flagged Governance Experience KCS Enabled Yes Visibility Public Tags This page has no tags. © Copyright 2021 8x8 Support Powered by CXone Expert ®
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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To best assist your callers and effectively route their calls, you will need to classify your call types.
4. Humorous Voicemail Greetings. While straightforward is always the safe bet, certain entities can go to the humorous side of voicemail greetings. Before taking this route, consider the type of callers and the persona the recipient is trying to convey.
This video on English Voicemail Greeting Sample covers the key areas of English pronunciation such as double / diphthong vowels, long vowels, word stress and word endings and more.
Voicemails need to maintain a professional consistency that’s aligned with the entity it’s representing. That said, the structure can vary depending on the situation. There’s no template set in stone. In fact, trite and generic should be off the table. The goal should be a balance of uniqueness and practicality.
A business’ voicemail greeting is often the first point of contact with a business’ customers. Getting this greeting right can make a business sound professional and trustworthy. A badly-done greeting, on the other hand, can confuse and infuriate customers over the phone.
3. Department Wide Voicemail Greeting. This voicemail greeting should list the name of the department, the hours of operation or the whereabouts of your personnel, the protocol for following up with the customer, and another way to get in touch with the department.