d. Utilizing Ambiguity Over Clarity: When setting up your voicemail greeting be direct and to the point. Tell callers your information, a brief greeting, and direction—i.e. “Hi, this is Jim Shamalam (from Iron Industries). Sorry I can’t take your call right now. Please leave your name number, and a brief message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.” This is ideal, as you inform callers and let them know what they should do to ensure a return call. A lack of direction can lead to callers leaving incomplete messages (lacking contact or other information) or even callers hanging up without leaving a message altogether.
Whether you’re out for the day or are off for the week, the first rule of an out of office voicemail greeting is: let callers know when you’ll be back! You’ll save them the frustration of continuing to call and yourself the hassle of listening to redundant voicemails. It’s also a good idea to set the expectation of whether you are answering messages while you’re away, and who they can reach for assistance in your absence.

4. Remember, They Are Calling for a Reason. If someone takes the time to call and leave you a voice message, they usually have a reason that they are calling.
Being that I have been at Holdcom for a few months now, I decided it was time to change my cell phone voicemail greeting to something a bit more polished. Keep in mind, I have had the same voicemail message for probably 6 years, just transferring the same greeting every time I would get a new phone. Since I never hear my own voicemail, I never thought about changing it. Little did I know, my voicemail message could easily be working against me, and it took me this long to notice?!