"Everyone criticizes the millennials for being the 'me' generation and being so entitled," she says. "I don't think they're so entitled. I think they're just incredibly pragmatic. So for them if a voice mail isn't practical — which most of the time it isn't — and there's a more practical way of delivering the same information, they're gonna go for that." Read & Listen Home News Arts & Life Music Podcasts Programs Connect Newsletters Facebook Twitter Instagram Press Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity Ethics Finances Public Editor Corrections Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Events NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only
State the purpose of your call. In as few words as possible, state why you’re calling. Is it in regards to an interview appointment? Are you following up on a previous meeting?
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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.
Use these step-by-step instructions to set up your voicemail. And don't worry if you make a mistake — you'll always have the option of backing up and changing your response.
Play on phone enables you to play your voice mail messages over a telephone using the phone number you specify.
You can see how this short exercise of writing the messages down can really be helpful.
Buckingham, the trend expert, says that millennials are just doing what works for them.
Great question! Although I don’t know if there is a specific function for this on your particular phone, the best way to save the message is the simplest. Turn up the sound as high as you can and record it onto a digital recorder (like you would use for a lecture), a cassette recorder or your cell phone if you have a voice recorder on it. Then save it as an MP3 on to your computer for safe keeping. You can also Google your vtech model number to see if you can find an owner’s manual. They might have a way to save a recording in there. Probably not, but it’s worth a shot.
But the key to success here is knowing what to say on the second and third voicemail/email attempts BEFORE picking up the phone.
Visit the prospect’s website and investigate their solutions. Use tools and technology that collect more information about the prospect, such as their social profiles, their past experience, their connections, and so on.
“Hi [Prospect's Name], this is [Your Name] with [Your Company Name]. You and I haven’t spoken yet, but I’ve been doing some research on your company and I think you’re a great fit for [Your Company's Solution]. We can provide you with [Top Two Product Benefits] and I know you’ll be happy if we spend just a couple of minutes discussing how this can help you.
With a voicemail, though, you (should) know exactly who you’re calling – their name, their company’s name, how many employees they have, etc. Your message can be hyper-customized to that one person you’re calling. When you make that message just for them, they’ll feel more of a responsibility to return your call.
2. AT&T Wireless: Press and hold the “1” button on the dialer screen of your AT&T wireless device. This command dials you into the AT&T voicemail system. Press “3” to access the Greetings menu.
Voicemails can add value, whether or not a prospect calls you back right away. Even if a voicemail triggers an email response or call back six months down the line, it's valuable. The better your voicemails, the more likely you'll get a response.
Hello, this is Jenny, I’m sorry, at this moment I can’t take your call but please leave a message and I’ll be sure to call you back as soon as I can. Thank you and have a great day.
iPhone users have another option: You can send a voice message from Apple's Messages by tapping the microphone button inside the text box (this works only when you're messaging other iPhones). By default, these voice messages last for only two minutes before they are deleted, but you can change that. Either tap Keep under any sent voice message or go to Settings > Messages and tap Expire under Audio Messages. You can set the expiration date to Never, but this affects only your record of the conversation, not the recipient's.
4. Sprint Wireless: Press and hold the “1” button on the dialer screen of your Sprint phone. This command automatically dials into Sprint’s voicemail system.