7. For extra security, back up your newly recorded voicemails to a storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive, both of which offer free space. The Leadership Brief. Conversations with the most influential leaders in business and tech. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check here if you would like to receive subscription offers and other promotions via email from TIME group companies.
Instead, lead with, "Next time we talk, I want to share two goals on our new product roadmap that speak directly to several pain points you've raised. I'll tell you more in our next meeting. How about next Tuesday?"

Don’t confuse voice mail with automatic attendant systems. Automatic attendant, where the computer actually answers the phone, is the single worst business invention ever. Human answers. Human determines if the person you’re calling is in by ringing their phone and monitoring the response. If not in, human returns and says, “Mr. Jones is not in. Would you like me to help you personally, take your message personally or would you like to leave a detailed message on his or her voice mail?” You faint from the shock.
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.”