Let’s face it! First impressions matter.
If you want your business first impression to be positive, improve your voicemail greeting. As Jackie Silver puts it, “Voice is the first connection a client has to the business—make it count.”
A professional voicemail greeting lets your clients know you’re dependable, capable, and confident. On the other hand, an unprofessional voicemail greeting can paint a very negative picture of your business and professional demeanor.
So, how do you craft a perfect voicemail script?
In this post, we’ll share some handy tips for recording your business voicemail greeting. But first, a quick crash course on voicemail greetings.
What Is a Business Voicemail Greeting?
A voicemail greeting is a recorded message that plays when you miss a phone call.
This message informs the caller that you’re unavailable at the moment and that they should leave a message. Rather than using a generic voicemail script your phone provider set up for you, you should record a unique message that matches your brand’s tone and voice.
Since you’re crafting this message for your business line, it’s critical that you make it professional and engaging. That said, a professional voicemail greeting should include:
- Your information
- The message
- The Prompt
- Promise to return call
You want the message to count—not to mention reflect your brand’s image—so putting a little effort and thought into it is a worthwhile endeavor.
How to Record a Professional Voicemail Greeting
The best voicemail messages are short, friendly, and straight to the point. Here are some handy tips to help you create a killer business voicemail greeting.
1. Be Unique
You have heard a generic voicemail message, right?
It goes something like this. “You have reached XYZ company. Please leave your message.” That voicemail is basic, boring, and lacks the professional etiquette you’d expect from a professional brand.
Try to branch away from the norm. Make your voicemail script unique and engaging by adding things like your company’s values, statement, or a random fact about your business.
As long as the voicemail greeting is not too long, adding these little bits of information can make it more impactful and memorable to your callers. It can also show your callers that you’re attentive to details and you care about them.
2. Speak Slowly and Clearly
When crafting a voicemail message, articulation is just as important as the tone. Make sure you’re communicating at a conversational pace—not too fast or too slow.
Put yourself in the listener’s shoes.
Have you ever listened to someone on the phone who’s just talking too fast? Apart from not understanding what they’re saying, you feel like the call is taking forever, and sometimes you’re even tempted to cut the call.
You don’t want your customers to feel that way. So always speak slowly and clearly. Avoid using jargon or any confusing phrases. This helps to convey your message articulately.
3. Introduce Yourself
When you call someone for the first time, it can be difficult to determine whether you’re talking to the right person unless you know their voice.
That’s why it’s critical to identify yourself and your business on the voicemail greeting. You can start with something like, “Hello, you’ve reached [name] and [company].”
Reassuring callers that they’ve dialed the correct number can help to reduce the number of hang-ups and wasted calls. It also portrays the professionalism your customers expect of you and your company.
4. Keep It Short and Concise
Short voicemail greetings always deliver results.
An excessively lengthy voicemail can be more damaging than helpful. For the best results, keep the voicemail length between 20-30 seconds.
Keep it short yet concise enough to provide relevant information about your business that would interest your customers. Don’t use your voicemail greeting to upsell new products or read off a list of new services. It just won’t work!
5. Set the Correct Expectation
As mentioned earlier, one of the critical elements of a business voicemail greeting is the promise to return the call.
In line with that, always make sure to state the current time when your callers can expect you to call them back. Will it be after 2 hours? Within 24 hours? Or do you return calls between one and two pm, during lunch breaks?
Whatever the case, make sure to follow through with the callbacks and at the expected time. Failure to honor some of these promises can hurt your business reputation. Worst of all, it can make your customers lose trust in you.
To Sum It Up
That’s it! The best tips for recording your business voicemail.
No more excuses. Now that you have all the advice you need to craft a stunning business voicemail greeting, why not get to it?
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