If your recording is vague, confusing, or drags on, customers will lose interest and hang up the phone instead of leaving a voicemail message. To help you create an effective after hours announcement, here are some best practices and sample scripts you can employ. 1. State Your Business Name
If you’re thinking about buying voice mail, don’t just look at the benefit of your convenience. Before you make a commitment to a specific system consider the impact on your customers. Will they be better served? Will you maintain friendly, human service in spite of the voice mail system?

We use our phones for everything: looking up directions, surfing the internet, texting, and even the lesser-known function of making actual phone calls. Even though in our personal lives, true phone calls are going by the wayside, they are still a huge part of how we communicate in the workplace, and along with phone calls, so too, are workplace voicemails.
4. "Hello, you've reached [your name and title]. I'm currently out on parental leave until [date]. In the meantime, please direct all phone calls to [alternate contact name] at [phone number] and emails to [email address]. Thanks, and I'll see you in [month you'll be back in the office]."