As a real estate professional, you're always on the go. Whether showing homes and apartments to a prospective client or staging a home for sale, it's likely that you're out of the office quite often. Anyone in the industry knows that, out of the office is a good place to be. Unfortunately, it makes staying professional just a little bit harder. What happens when you're working with one client and another one calls? Most likely, you send that call to your voicemail box, but what does your voicemail greeting say? What should voicemail messages include? If you're voicemail isn't offering the right information, you might lose a sale.
Hi. This is [Name] from [Business Name]. We are currently involved in a relocation. Our new office will be open for business on March 21st, 8 am to 9 pm, Central Standard Time. You may contact us at that time at 555-555-2343. Thank you for your call.
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Before we get into business voicemail greetings, here are some interesting facts about voicemail messages to think about. 75% of all business calls are not completed on the first attempt. 60% of all incoming calls are less important than the work they interrupt. 90% of all written messages contain incomplete information.
4. Hi, this is [your name]. I’m unable to take your call right now but leave your name and number, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Nobody wants to play phone tag. Skip the back and forth by explicitly telling the caller to leave their name, number, and the best day(s) and time(s) to reach them. Your clients will appreciate you not wanting to waste their time.
9. "Hey, this is [your name]. Thanks for reaching out. I'm busy at the moment, but if you leave your name, number, and message, I'll return your call.”
Here are some of the examples that we have picked for you. By getting inspired by these, you can come up with your own unique greetings too.
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.
Example: 'Thank you for calling [insert name here]. We're sorry we couldn't take your call this time. However, if you'd like to leave us a voicemail we will get back to you within [for example] 30 minutes of receiving this message. Alternatively, if you'd like to reach out by email you can do so at [insert email address]. Again, thank you for calling [insert company name]. We look forward to your message.'
• Hello, you have reached the office of XYZ; I will be out of my office starting on Tuesday, October 18th and will be returning on Monday, October 24th. You can call me when I return or leave a brief message. If this is an emergency, I can be reached on my cell, which is 000-000-0000.
In an ideal world, voicemail would be unnecessary. There would always be someone available to take customer calls and no one would complain about their calls not being returned and/or rejected. But of course, this perfect world isn’t possible. That’s why it’s important to give your callers options when you are unavailable. For example, aside from leaving a message, callers can also choose to listen to some relevant information about your business (such as a list of your services, your address, directions, hours of operation, and more).
The basic rule of thumb is that callers should hear one of two things when they first connect with your voicemail — either an apology for not being able to answer the call or a “thank you” for having called. You can do both if you prefer, but keep it short and to the point.
The intro: Include their name, your name, and a benefit so they’ll keep listeningThe results you’re offeringA questionA statement to peak their interest and give a reason to call backYour final statement and phone number
When leaving your voicemail and phone number, do not say, "Please call me back at ..." Nothing sounds more like a salesperson making a cold call then saying, "please call me back at...".
Let’s be honest, you (hopefully) set up your voicemail when you first got your phone, and it probably hasn’t changed since then. If you’re about to start job-hunting, now is the perfect time to refresh your professional voicemail greeting.
When your small business is closed, ensure that your callers know that! If appropriate, you might want to reiterate your business hours to manage callback expectations.
13. Hello, you’ve reached [business name]. All of our team members are busy at the moment, but if you leave a brief message, someone will return your call as soon as possible.