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7 Essential Tips for Professional Voicemail Greetings

By Adrianna Noton

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 23Mar2012
Word count: 651
Viewed: 104 time(s)

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Voicemail greetings can influence the way that you are perceived by your business colleagues and clients. They are often the first impression of you to callers. A casual voicemail greeting in most cases, does not project a professional image to the world. That's why it's important to invest some time to create professional voicemail greetings to welcome your callers.

A Few Things to Consider

The most important thing that you should include in your voicemail greeting is the information that you would like to hear from your callers. This can be as simple as their name, call back telephone number, and message. You may also want to ask for the best time to call them back, or if they would rather receive an email response from you instead. With regards to clarity, it's always a good idea to avoid background music unless it's soft. Additionally, make sure you sift through your inbox and clean out old messages. If your inbox is full, you may miss very important messages.

1 - Include Your Name and Your Company's Name Your voicemail greeting should always include your name and your company's name, so that callers will know that they have reached the right person and business.

2 - Offer a Skip Greeting Option to Callers

Consider providing your callers with the option of skipping your voicemail greeting, if they've heard it recently. With most voicemail office systems, your callers should be able to press the * key to skip your greeting and go directly to voicemail. In your message, you can say press * to skip this greeting to leave a message at the tone.

3 - Provide Referrals; Alternate Contact Information

If you are unavailable or on vacation, consider providing the number of a business colleague who can assist your callers. You should also include alternate contact information, whether it's your email address or cell phone number, so that clients can reach you when you're out of the office.

If you have an iPhone, iPad, or Android you can also use a virtual office mobile app that will allow you to receive calls on these devices. Your callers will hear the same voicemail greeting that's on your office phone. You can also use the call forwarding feature on your office phone to ensure that callers can reach you regardless of what device you may be using.

4 - Advise Callers You Will Return Their Call

Advise all of your callers that you will return their call, and not just try to return their call. By doing so, callers will be more inclined to leave an informative message. If you only answer calls at specific times, you should specify the time so that your callers will know when they can expect a return call.

5 - Make Sure Your Voice Matches Your Company's Image

Whenever you record your voicemail greeting, remember you're also representing your company, so it is very important that your voice matches your company's image.

6 - Update Your Voicemail Greeting Frequently

You should always update your voicemail greeting frequently. Keeping it up to date, callers will know if you're going to be out of the office, or attending a convention, etc.

7 - Write a Greeting Script

After you've decided on what you would like to include in your voicemail greeting, you should write yourself a greeting script to use while recording your greeting. The will ensure that all of the information that you would like to provide to your callers is completely covered in the voicemail greeting.

A voicemail greeting can be your first impression to the world, so it's very important to keep your professional voice mail greetings precise and up to date at all times.

Allison Smith is a recognizable voice talent who specializes in voice overs for corporate telephone systems.

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