7.) End on a high note! You don’t necessarily need to say “Goodbye” at the end of a voicemail, because you didn’t really talk to anyone. Instead, try something like, “Look forward to chatting with you!” Use the word “with” instead of “to.” It sounds less like the person is going to receive a parental or boss “talking to” and more like two people who are eager to connect with one another on the phone. It’s a subtle difference, yet it’s a gracious one!
Ivan Gomez is a Force Management Partner who specializes in training inside sales teams. He's also the President and Founder of NextStage, LLC, a consulting firm that helps companies accelerate go-to-market strategies with sales development and inside sales. This blog was originally published on NextStage's website.
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Your voicemail service answers calls and saves messages when you can’t or don’t want to. Messages can build up quite quickly; luckily, we can listen to and/or delete them from our phones, allowing space for more.
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5. Voicemail Greetings For Vacation. As mentioned above, alerting callers that they won’t be getting an immediate call back is of upmost importance for an entity’s reputation and a caller’s satisfaction.
After each one, evaluate your performance. Most systems provide the option of listening to the message you just left. Doing this as much as possible will improve your performance more than anything else. Would you save that voicemail? Would you return that call? Would you return that call right away? Are you missing the basics (alternative phone number, optimal ways to get in touch, a fall-back person to call)? Did you craft it or wing it?
5. Don’t Forget To Smile. Smiling is a total game-changer when it comes to the tone of your voicemail greeting. We’ve all heard someone smiling through a phone, but we rarely think about how different it sounds when we do.
Having a dedicated emergency contact will help make sure anything important that comes up is taken care of. Another option is directing callers to a separate answering service.
Hey, sorry I missed you. There may be one of the reasons why I can’t get to the phone: a) I’m with my girl (laugh), b) I am totally wasted and can’t remember how to use a phone, or c) I just don’t wanna talk to YOU. Leave a message.
You can record a personal greeting, or you can use one of the pre-recorded CenturyLink greetings. Follow the system prompts to select your greeting:
And when you send your email (I always recommend sending an email right after you leave a voicemail message) you can simply say:
Step 2: Press 0 to listen to the message. To rewind the message (or return to previous message) press 2. To play back the header, press 2 3.
2. “Hi! We’re glad you called [company name]. We’re happy to help but we are either on the line with another client or on the go! Please let us know your name, number, and reason for your call today. As soon as we become available, we will call you right back. Thanks!” Ask your callers to leave a short message so you can determine when to return their call.
Hi Joe. It’s Susan in Marketing. I’d like to talk with you about the budget proposal we’re sending out tomorrow. If you have time to chat today, feel free to call me back at 345-3456 or send me an email. Thanks.
Record a personalized greeting, up to 3 minutes long. A common template you can follow is: "You've reached [name]. We can't get to the phone right now, but if you leave a message, we'll call you back."
(Wondering how you can receive texts from your business callers? Check out the OpenPhone App today)