Professional Voice Mail Greetings help you sound more professional to the people who really count in business: your customers and your potential customers. Making a great first impression is important. Because you only get one chance.
Here’s how to sound more professional even if you can’t answer all your calls personally.
Professional Voice Mail Greetings just sound better
A professional voice mail greeting doesn’t have to be professionally recorded (though they do sound better). They just have to sound better than yours does now.
The first step towards sounding more professional is to hear how you really sound. That’s easy. Call yourself, and let the call go to voicemail. If you’re calling your office and an operator answers, ask for yourself.
What do you hear? In some cases, you may not have recorded a voicemail greeting. The telephone system default may be
- a beep with no message
- your telephone or extension number: “You have reached 212-555-1212. Please leave a message after the tone. Beep”
- a computer generated voice saying your name (the very worst), or
- a prerecorded message such as “please leave a message at the tone”
Seriously? You can’t be bothered to let me know if I’ve reached your voicemail?
Now call your toughest competition. How do they sound? And who would you rather buy from?
Why voice mail greetings are important
Think about your caller: it may be your best client, or a potential client. When they call you it’s an opportunity, to sell more, to build customer satisfaction or loyalty, or to win a new account. So doesn’t it make sense to let your caller know that they’re reached the right voicemail?
Some phone systems help
Some phone systems let you simply record your name. They often play a simple greeting such as “You have reached ____________. Please leave your message at the tone.” But most systems don’t. So here’s a simple voice mail script you can record yourself:
“Hi. This is ________. Please leave your name and message at the tone, and I’ll get right back to you”
or if you’re a bit more creative:
“Hello, you have reached __________. I’m currently helping other clients with (something great you do). Please leave me a message and I’ll be able to help you as soon as possible.”
It’s that easy. But there are lots of reasons that you don’t want your own voice on your voicemail message. It doesn’t sound professional enough. It sounds like you’re a “one person business.”
When you want the most professional image, ask us about professionally recorded voicemail messages for everyone in the business. And if use an “automated attendant” to answer your calls, consider how professional a custom phone system greeting can help you sound.
Ready to sound more professional?
Click here for more information, or call 212-355-6982 (in New York), 203-655-3920 (in Connecticut) or 800-862-8896 Nationwide.
Want to go even further? Consider Informer Messages on hold, that give your callers information they want and that you want them to have, every time they have to wait on hold. What do your callers hear on hold?
