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*Note: Some of your users don’t celebrate all the same holidays you do. Remember to keep these voicemail greetings neutral 🌟
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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.
The right way to leave your phone number is to start saying your phone number with your area code and then take a 2-3 second pause while the person listening to your voicemail message gets a pen and paper. Then, continue with the next 3 digits, make another 2 second pause, and then say the last 4 digits. Then, slowly repeat your phone number again.
Thank you for calling [Company Name]. To celebrate the holiday season, we are offering limited-time discounts on all purchases. Please ask your account representative about them today! To place an order, press 1. To follow up on an existing order, press 2. To speak with a representative about our products, press 3. If you have a billing question, press 4. To repeat the menu options, please press the * key. 9. Holiday Closures
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?
1. "Hi, you've reached [your name] at [your company]. I'm unavailable right now — probably helping [type of company] get [X results, e.g. ‘double their leads in 60 days,' ‘hire the best and brightest engineers,' ‘convert 40% more customers.'] Leave your name and number, and we'll discuss how your company can see similar results."
“Good afternoon. You have reached the office of [your name]. I will be out of the office beginning on [date] and will be returning on [date]. Please leave a brief message with your contact information, and I’ll be sure to get back to you as soon as I return on [date]. If this is an emergency or you need to speak with someone before I return, please contact [name of colleague/supervisor], [their job title], at [their phone number].”
5. “Hi, you’ve reached [company name]. We can’t take your call right now but we will call you back as soon as we’re available. Please leave your name, number and reason for your call. We know your time is precious, so to skip the back and forth, kindly leave a few different times of day that work best with your schedule and we will do our best to reach you then! Have a great day.” This greeting lets your caller know that not only your time is precious, but you realize theirs is as well.
Now before we jump into one possible solution, let’s cover an additional step you may want to add to your repertoire:
The first time you access your mailbox, the system will walk you through setting up your password, name recordings, and greetings. Please follow this all the way through and it will not play the tutorial again. The following instructions are for when you need to change something after the initial setup.
If this feature is enabled, be sure to record your voicemail greeting with the appropriate guidance for the caller. For example, “To reach my assistant, press 0.” Set Up Your Voicemail Greetings
Don’t give up when you don’t receive a call from lead you’ve reached out to. You will need to make at least a handful of calls, plus emails and texts, over the next couple of weeks to maximize your chances of speaking to the lead. You may find that leads don’t want to speak directly to you but will communicate through text or email. No matter the avenue of conversation, consider it a win when they start conversing with you through any form of communication. Be persistent. If you don’t hear from them after weeks of effort, nurture them through a drip email campaign. All of the effort you put forth to reach out to the lead may not result in an immediate response but, they may call you in six months and that is a win.
When your small business is closed, ensure that your callers know that! If appropriate, you might want to reiterate your business hours to manage callback expectations.
You prove you've been paying attention by referring to pain points they've previously mentioned and kept the conversation centered around benefiting the prospect. You've also slipped in a specific timeline for when you'd like to connect.
Press # to leave the greeting inactive or follow the voice prompts to activate the greeting.
When recording, choose a quiet area, speak clearly, and use your full name (first and last).