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?
Because you never know the quality of someone’s phone audio or your cell phone service, it's not a bad idea to give your name and phone number twice within your message. The thought being, if the person you called can’t understand who you are or how to call you back, how can they be expected to return your call?
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2. Enter your Personal Identification Number (PIN), and press #. Note: If this is your first time logging in, enter your temporary PIN and press #. You will be prompted to select a new PIN and enter it. Your temporary PIN will be provided when your account is set up. Keypad Greeting 1 Standard - plays during normal business hours 2 Closed - plays after standard business hours 3 Alternate - plays during a specific time period when you want to indicate special circumstances 4 Busy - plays when you are on another phone call 5 Sample Greeting: "Thank you for calling. You have reached the voicemail box for [Name]. Please leave a detailed message, and I'll return your call as soon as possible."
Written by Aja Frost @ajavuu
The next example is for a voicemail message left for a prospect or client you are getting back to: “Hi _________, this is ________ _________ getting back with you at (your company). I’m looking forward to speaking with you because we just (give an update here – you have a new special, new product update, added a new client they would know about), and I know that based on (their specific need you uncovered during the last call) this is going to make it even easier for you to (give the benefit you both discussed). I’m excited to share this with you.
“Good morning. You’ve reached the voicemail of [your name]. Today is [date]. Please leave me a message with your name and contact information. Oh, and here’s my motivational quote of the day: [read quote].”
3. Voicemail Greetings For Business. You’ve reached (insert company name.) All of our team members are busy at the moment, but someone will return your call within (insert timeframe) if you’ll be so kind as to leave your name, number, and a brief message.
Thank you for calling [Company Name]. If you know your party’s extension, please dial it at any time. To reach our company directory, press 1. For more information about [Company Name], press 2. If you are an existing customer, please press 3. For billing questions, press 4. To repeat menu options, press 9. For all other inquiries, press 0. 3. Language Options
• Record and Send a Message • Change Your Mailbox Greeting • Change Your Mailbox Name • Select a Voicemail Email Mode • Change Your Voicemail Code • Turn Use of Voicemail On/Off • Transfer to Voicemail • Send a Call to Voicemail. Other Functions. This guide covers just the visual voice functions that you can use from the phone's
Yes, you can make an email personalized, too. But voicemail is already much more personal than an email, and your level of customization should rise to meet that. Plus, if you’ve spoken with the contact in the past, there’s an even bigger opportunity to build on what you already know and cater the message to them.
Come to rely on voicemail to catch your messages, and it’ll be frustrating when it suddenly stops working.
I wish that I’d read this a few years ago. I think that we all have a few voicemails that we wish that we could keep forever, but I lost a few a couple years ago. I think that my current system stores them in a digital messaging system, like you mentioned, so they should be able to be saved. Thanks for the post!
Clearly state your purpose and next steps. Whether it’s a demo, an appointment, or the best contact to talk to, simply ask for it.
An alltime classic technique was offered by Thomas J. Elijah, III, of Elijah & Co. Real Estate, at a SalesMasters meeting. He said to leave a partial message that includes your name and phone number, then pretend to get cut off in midsentence, as you’re getting to the important part of the message. “Cut it off in midword,” Elijah says, “it works like a charm because the prospect can’t stand not knowing the rest of the information, or thinks his voice mail is broken.”
(Follow-up call = you’ve spoken before, made some progress through the sales process and a follow-up call was required)
Follow that with an email that says the same thing, log the call / update your notes in your CRM and MOVE ON!
People pay attention when their name is mentioned. After all, they’ve been conditioned to pay attention to their name their whole life.