It probably goes without saying that people prefer to speak to live human beings over leaving voicemails. However, we’re all bound to have to speak to an answering service every now and again. When representing your business, however, the act of leaving a voicemail is not one that should be overlooked as a menial task. It’s important to remember that each voicemail you leave is a reflection of your brand. How do you want your brand to be reflected?
Think before you speak.
Consider some pertinent factors before leaving your message. Who is the message for? What is your relationship with this individual? What is the purpose of your call? Considering these things before you even place your call will help you to determine exactly what type of voicemail you’re going to leave. Again, keeping in mind that your message will reflect on your overall brand image, you want to prepare yourself.
Answering the above-listed questions will help to determine how you’re going to introduce yourself, how you’re going to greet and/or address the voicemail’s recipient and how you’re going to detail the purpose of your call. It helps to know all of this in advance so you don’t spend any time leaving spaces of dead air or filling those spaces with “um” and “ah”. They don’t exactly make for great listening experiences.
Keep it concise.
As much as you may not enjoy leaving messages, people aren’t particularly big fans of listening to messages either. Your best bet is to get your point across quickly and concisely. There’s no real need to provide lengthy details during your voicemail as its purpose should be to get the recipient to call you back in order to get further information. Make absolutely clear how the message’s recipient can get back to you.
Speak clearly and slow enough to be understood.
Branching off of that last point, allow us to ask you a question. How annoying is it to listen to an entire message only to have the final sentence be a “call me back at (inaudible)” request? Not only should your phone number be spoken in a slow and clear manner, but it’s probably best that you repeat it, just to be on the safe side. This saves the listener the trouble of having to rewind the message in order to make sure that it was heard correctly.
Make up for dropped calls.
It happens. You’re right in the middle of leaving a voicemail and all of a sudden – you’re disconnected. As annoying and even embarrassing as this may be, it provides you with an opportunity to showcase your professionalism. Call the contact back and be sure to announce, in your second message, that you apologize for the interruption in the previous voicemail.
If you believe your voicemail message was dropped by the voicemail system before you were finished, try the call again and lead off by telling the person that you believe your previous message may have been dropped. Don’t be afraid to repeat what was said in the previous message just in case it was deleted completely. This saves the listener from having to listen back to the first message over again or fill in the blanks if the first message was never received.
At MeloTel, we offer North American business owners top-of-the-line VoIP-based Commercial Phone Services that have set new standards in the world of professional communications. For more information about making the switch from your old traditional landlines, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the Live Chat feature on our website!
