A word of warning: These greetings will not do you any favors if you're in the midst of a job hunt or work in a conservative industry. Always remember your target personas. If there's a chance they won't appreciate your sense of humor, opt for a straightforward greeting instead.
Here, the oncologist is busy consulting a patient, but he/she leaves ways for the callers to fulfill their needs right away. A lawyer’s office needs to maintain professionalism at all times in order to record the perfect voicemail greeting. Let’s look at an voicemail greeting script example.
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Use a Professional Sounding Email Address You might be tempted to use a free email account for your business so you can save money. I'm talking about the ones you can get one from Yahoo, Google, MSN (hotmail), and Inbox, to name some of the most popular services.
Hi! I’m not here right now, I seem to have broken my tomatoes…You wouldn’t happen to have any tomato paste on you, would ya?
Hello. You’ve reached the offices of [Business Name]. At present, our office is closed for repairs. However, you may reach us at our temporary location, at 555-555-3432. There, we will be able to pick up your call, 9 to 5, Monday through Friday. Thank you.
Before you record your business voicemail greeting, be sure to rehearse it so you feel comfortable and don’t stumble around. You might want to write a script and practice a few times out loud beforehand.
Home | Directory | News | Newsgroups | Tools | Resources | Glossary | Site Map Featuring Voice Mail Information, News, and Resources Voice Mail Services | Voice Mail Systems | Voice Mail Related | Free Voicemail Sample Greetings Sample Voice Mail Greetings A Word About Recording Your Greetings Your voicemail greeting is very important as it can be the first contact people have with you or your company. Your greeting should let the caller know who they have reached, what your status is (out of the office, in the office but in meetings, etc), when the caller can expect to receive a call back, and instructions on what to do if the call is urgent. If you have set up a personal operator, you can direct your callers who need to speak to someone immediately, to "Press 0" to be connected to one of your assistants or colleagues. Another way to make sure that your callers are informed while you are out of the office is to use a Temporary Absence Greeting. For example, if you are going to be out of town on vacation for a week, you can record a Temporary Absence Greeting informing callers that you will be unable to return their call until you return from vacation. Write down your greetings before you start. It is easier to read from the page than to try and ad lib. Here are a few sample voice mail greetings to get you started: Normal Greeting (Without pager notification) "This is (name) of (company). I'm currently unable to take your call. Please leave your name, phone number, and a brief message, and I will contact you as soon as possible. Thanks." "Hi, this is (name). I�m sorry I cannot take your call right now. Please leave a detailed message at the tone along with your name and telephone number. I �ll return your call as soon as I return. Thank you." "This is (name) of (company). I'm currently unable to take your call. Please leave your name, phone number, and your message, and I will contact you as soon as possible. If this message is urgent, press 3 to have me paged. Thanks." Normal Greeting (With Live Connect) "This is (name) of (company). I'm currently unable to take your call. Please leave your name, phone number, and your message, and I will contact you as soon as possible. If this is urgent and you need to speak with me immediately, please press 1 to have the voice mail locate me. Thanks." "This is (name) of (company). I'm currently on my line and unable to take your call. Please leave your name, phone number, and your message, and I will contact you as soon as possible. Thanks." "Hello, you have reached the office of (name) . I�m presently on another call and am unable to speak with you personally. If you will leave your name and telephone number, I will return your call. Thank you. "This is (name) of (company). I'm currently away from my desk and unable to take your call. Please leave your name, phone number, and your message, and I will contact you as soon as I return. Thanks." "Hello, you have reached the office of (name) . I�m presently out of the office or away from my desk. If you will leave your name and telephone number I will return your call as soon as I return. Thank you. "Thanks for calling, this is (name). Today is Friday and I am working from our corporate office. Should you need to reach me immediately, please call (123) 456-7899. Otherwise, please leave me a message and I�ll return your call as soon as possible." "Hello, this is (name). I�m unable to answer your telephone call. I am out of the office from (day) to (day) and will not be checking my voice mail. If you require assistance in my absence please contact (name2) at extension (ext. #). Thank you. "This is (name) from (company). I have left the office for the day. Please leave me a message and I will return your call as soon as possible." Sample �Business Hours� Greeting Script: Thank you for calling XYZ Company. If you know the extension number of the person you are trying to reach, you may dial it now. Press 1 for sales. Press 2 for customer service. Press 3 for the billing department. Press 8 to access our fax on-demand system. Press 9 for a company directory, or press 0 for the operator. Sample �After Hours� Greeting Script: Thank you for calling XYZ Company. We are currently unavailable to take your call. Our business hours are nine to five, Monday through Friday. If you know the extension number of the person you are trying to leave a message for, you may dial it now. Press 1 for sales. Press 2 for customer service. Press 3 for the billing department. Press 9 for a company directory, or hold to leave a message for the operator. If this is an emergency, please enter 911 now to be connected with the after-hours support personnel. More info Copyright © 2012 Everyvoicemail.com ~ 5089 Bristol Industrial Way, Ste C ~ Buford, GA 30518 ~ 678.318.1300
Funny voicemail greetings are usually not a best practice for business-related professional voicemail greetings. However, if your brand is on the light, funny side, it might be appropriate. If you decide to experiment, check with a small group of …
Hello… my name is (your name)’s refrigerator. He/she isn’t home right now to take your call. To leave him/her a message, speak very slowly so I can stick the message with the help of these refrigerator magnets.
Thank you for calling Hair Professional John Smith. If you know your extension, please enter it now. To Book an Appointment, press 1. To reschedule or cancel an appointment, press 2. For Hours of operation, press 3. For other inquires, please press 4.
A word of warning: These greetings will not do you any favors if you’re in the midst of a job hunt or work in a conservative industry. Always remember your target personas. If there’s a chance they won’t appreciate your sense of humor, opt for a straightforward greeting instead. “This is Bond. James Bond. Okay, it’s really [your last name]. [Your first name] [your last name]. I’ll get back to you as soon as I’m done helping M16 save the world — which will probably be tomorrow at the latest. Have a good day.” “Hmm. Gryffindor … No, Ravenclaw. Yes, you definitely belong in Ravenclaw. *Pause.* Okay, you haven’t reached the Sorting Hat — it’s the voicemail of [your name]. Please leave your name and number (and just for fun, the Harry Potter house you think you belong in) and I’ll return your call as soon as possible.” “Hello! You’ve gotten the voicemail of [your name]. Leave your name, contact info, and the answer to the eternal question ‘Which came first, the chicken or the egg?’ Anyone who gets it right will receive a call back.”
Make it funny! Now not everyone is the funniest comedian, and this time to practice a stand-up routine. No one wants to reach your voicemail just to be greeted with 15 knock-knock jokes. But you can easily add some humor, lighten up the tone a bit and try to leave people with a smile. Of course, keep it light – no dark humor here.
9. Hi, this is [your name], [your job title] at [your company]. I’m currently away from my desk, but please leave a message with your name, number, and reason for calling so I can get back to you in a timely manner.
Are you struggling to come up with a voicemail greeting that you believe in? Do you find that everything you record comes out too casual, overly professional, or doesn’t seem to touch all of the bases that you want it to?
Voicemails need to maintain a professional consistency that’s aligned with the entity it’s representing. That said, the structure can vary depending on the situation. There’s no template set in stone. In fact, trite and generic should be off the table. The goal should be a balance of uniqueness and practicality.
Ideally, you have a few scripts ready to go for every call. At a minimum, you should have a cold call script, warm lead script, and voicemail message scripts at your fingertips. Voicemail marketing is an especially important place to use a script. Why? You have 20-30 seconds to leave your message (shorter is usually better). You want it to be concise, engaging, and, of course, encouraging of a callback. When all the information is right in front of you, you don’t have to think about it or worry whether or not you left out anything important. We’ve all probably left at least one message with the wrong callback number or a message where we fail to identify ourselves or our company. Scripts help prevent this!
The biggest barrier is actually getting them to leave the voicemail in the first place. Don’t get in your own way by recording a long, drawn-out voicemail greeting that might do more to convince them to hang up than actually leave a message.