8 Points to a Great Voicemail Greeting
Posted by Rohit Rohila | Posted in Communication, Things To Do | Posted on 14-06-2007
What does your voicemail greeting say about you? Most people have one of two automated greetings. One that reads their phone number or says the person’s name. Here are 8 important points when recording a voicemail message:
- Say your name: I don’t know how many times I’ve reached a voicemail and didn’t even know if I was calling the right person.
- Thank the person for calling: You don’t need to sit there for 10 minutes explaining how happy you are that somebody called you and how you really want to strengthen the relationship, etc. A simple, “thanks for calling.”
- Tell them when to expect a returned call: By letting them know this, they have an idea of how soon to call back if they have not received a call.
- Ask an interesting question: You can include all the key points in your greeting, but it can still be a little dry and boring. Instead, ask the person to tell you their favorite color or their birthday. During a recent phone conversation with Phil Gerbyshak of MakeItGreat.com, he told me that he has asked about the last book the caller read and if they recommend it, and also what goals he could help the caller achieve.
- Variety is key: Now I am guilty of this. I have had the same voicemail greeting for over a year. It becomes very boring. Mix it up, change your voicemail once a month.
- Make it unique: If you have heard someone else with the same greeting as you, change it now! You must make your greeting unique so that people know right away who they have called.
- Don’t give your life story: If you are on vacation or will be unavailable for an extended period of time, it is fine to say that, but don’t let the caller know your entire life story.
- Be Excited: Why would a caller be excited to talk to you if you sound like you recorded the message at 2:47AM?
Give your voicemail a call and listen to your greeting. If it doesn’t use all 8 key points, perhaps it’s time for a change. Also, if you can’t remember when you recorded your greeting, it’s time for a change.
I highly recommend you take a look at Phil Gerbyshak’s website at http://makeitgreat.typepad.com. He is a very personable guy and will go the extra mile to help anyone out.
Rohit, I found your site via a link from Phil Gerbyshak’s blog. What a delight! You’ve got some great material here and it’s simple, straightforward and kind. And I loved your photo, because it made me feel so welcome. Good suggestions on the voicemail…I’m gonna go listen to mine right now!
Thank you very much for your kind comments Tammy. Phil has been a tremendous help for me in the creation of this site. I’m very glad that the article about voicemails was able to help you
Rohit!
Here you go…
“As you can see, I’m not here right now
But listen up and I will tell you how
You can talk to me, even though I’m gone
By listening to this little song.
Leave your name, number, time of day
And anything else you’d like to say.
Cuz as for me, it’s a well-known fact:
I’m guaranteed to call you back!”
Doesn’t hit all 8…but it sure is fun…don’t you think?!?
I also love this post.
I need to put my voicemail to the test but I do do something different: My previous one ended, “and remember, successful people do what unsuccessful people are not prepared to do” and that always got people commenting on it.
I have a new one now – remember, small steps, repeated consistently, lead to huge results.
I’m going to “steal” Phil’s “which goal can I help you reach today?” I like the immediacy of that question.
Hello Tim, Thank you for the comment. I really do like your voicemail greeting because it is fun. So many voicemail greetings are so monotone, but yours ads a bit of a personal touch and that makes it very inviting for people!
Thank you for your great comment Marcia. I really liked how Phil adds a comment at the end of his voicemail greeting. That is something that you have picked up and it’s something I still need to do. The messages that you get, do people address your comment?
Great post on voicemail. Of course a great way to further personalize voicemail would be to get a free voicemail service like youmail (Spinvox for you UK people) then you can set up greetings for individual people.
Thank you for your great comment. I use a service called CallWave. I will be doing a post about it coming up. Do you use any service and what has your experience been?
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