A phone call to your business is often the first encounter your customers and prospects have with your company. If no one is available to take the call, having the best professional voicemail greetings possible is important to leave a great first impression and to ensure that business opportunities don’t slip by.
"Hello, this is [Your Name] from [Your Company Name]. I'm calling because [insert reason for calling]. I'd love to talk to you about [insert benefit you can offer if they call back]. My number is [insert phone number]. I'll also follow up with an email tomorrow. I look forward to hearing what you think. Have a great day. Goodbye!"
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Before the digital era, he says more than 80 percent of business lines had voice mail. Now, he estimates only a third of office phones have it.”For customers, even the most professional voicemail greeting is impersonal, and may even harm customer experience (millennials, in particular, avoid using voicemail altogether).
4. Press # repeatedly until prompted to enter a Technician's function code.
10.) Olá e bem-vindo para John Doe. Por motivos técnicos, não podemos atender a sua chamada no momento. Obrigado por sua compreensão. Estamos trabalhando em uma solução. Se você quiser, você pode deixar uma mensagem em nosso site www.johndoe.de = Obrigado e até breve.
Humor also leaves a lot of room for misinterpretation—which subsequently weakens sincerity and authority. A caller can be very turned off by merely misinterpreting your joke. Why take this risk? Additionally, this could even cause callers to question your character. Say, for example, the president of a company’s mobile phone voicemail greeting was funny. What’s to happen if the caller didn’t like or get the joke? What if they found it offensive? Another scenario is that a caller is reaching out to you for the first time—i.e. they have no idea regarding your personality. What next? The point is, with this type of greeting, humor is bound to be more divisive so just avoid it altogether. c. Poorly Pacing Your Message and Bad Time Management: Don’t speed through your message. Speak clearly so callers know what to include in their message and when to leave the message. At the same time, don’t drag your message out. No one wants to sit through a diatribe. Just get to the point clearly.
If you have an assistant, include their name and contact information in your greeting. If you have a hard time delegating tasks, this is an excellent way to start building it into your processes.
01Hello this is [your name], I’m either on another call or away from my desk. Please leave your details, along with a short message and I’ll get back to you. This is created by individual staff for their specific number or extensions. It’s a great voicemail greeting for work when you are on another line or away from your desk.
Give your callers something to talk about with their friends and colleagues. Give your callers something that would make them want to tell their friends to call and listen to your greeting. Give your callers something to smile about. Give them something to think about. Give them something creative. Something smart. Something…you. “Hi, it’s Bob Johnson. I’m either away from my desk or on another line. Please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.” “Hi, it’s Mary. Today is Monday, and I’ll be in meetings until 11am and then on sales call until early afternoon. Please leave me a message and I’ll return your call then.” “Hi, it’s Jane. I can’t get to my phone right now. But if you leave me a message I’ll call you back as soon as I can.” “You’ve reached John’s voicemail. I’m away at the moment, so please leave me a message. If you need immediate assistance, press zero for the operator.”
4. Give them a realistic expectation: “Congratulations! You’ve reached the right person! It’s [your name]. Unfortunately, you’ve called at the wrong time. Please leave a message with all your contact information, and I’ll call you back within 24 hours.”
Using studio-grade audio recording equipment helps ensure the audio for your business voicemail greeting is clear and easy to understand, minimizing the risk of misunderstandings.
This type of service can be very beneficial as users are still able to craft their own messages, while a professional reads them. In doing so, companies can spend more time on the scripting process, making sure the text conveys everything they want it to. As such, companies may bring in expert teams to draft, revise, and/or finalize the script itself. The bottom line is you can take more time to get the words right. Additionally, in working with a professional voice talent, you are ensuring your words have the utmost impact—i.e. the words are read perfectly with the right tone, resonance, pacing, etc.
These are legitimate questions and the answers will vary depending on your industry and individual prospects. In all honesty, your response rate with sales voicemails probably won't be high—the average response rate for a prospecting voicemail is between 4-6%, industry wide. You'll probably see more engagement using email. And leaving the perfect message takes planning and practice.
“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].”
Expert advice: Four phone script lessons from “Mr. Inside Sales” that will double your close rate
The above section details types of phrasing to avoid; however, it doesn’t detail what users should NOT say on their greeting. Though this is a bit loaded, as there are hundreds of combinations of things one shouldn’t say, there are some key components users should ALWAYS avoid. a. Forget About Slang: You should strive to be as professional and welcoming as possible in your greeting. While this may steer you towards using slang, in an attempt to make callers comfortable, it’ll most likely work against you. As a professional, your demeanor, tone, and speech should be clear cut and well articulated. Using slang undercuts this and works against you. b. Don’t Even Think About Profanity: This is a no-brainer. Never, under any circumstances, curse in your greeting EVER! c. Keep Your Sentences Clean, Don’t Ramble: Introduce yourself and give your caller specific direction. Avoid long diatribes detailing tangent thoughts. Keep it simple and quick. d. Always Return Your Calls: It’s important for callers to feel they are valued. Nothing dissolves this quicker than a greeting that doesn’t stress this. For example, “I’ll call you when I can,” “If I don’t return your call, please call back”—these phrases are terrible and completely destroy any good will you may have with a caller.
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