“Hello, Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam!”
It would be nice to have a fun receptionist like Pam or Ryan from The Office, but many companies cannot afford to hire someone to answer the phone. So what can they do instead? Get a voicemail machine, of course!
Would you call back a company that doesn’t respond to your calls? Probably not. But would you leave a message with a business whose robocall politely tells you they are busy and to leave a message? The latter would be a sensible choice because you know they are professionals and will follow up on your message.
This article will break down why your business needs a professional voicemail greeting and how a quality voice-over talent can amplify your message, making losing customers an impossibility.
Pro Tip: After reading, you can check out small business voicemail greeting examples to understand better how you can transform your business for professional voicemail solutions.
Level up your Voicemail and On-Hold Voice-Over with Top Tier Professional Talents.
Voicemail Messages Are a Great Solution
Despite the importance, some corporations don't treat their voicemail messages as a necessary investment and seem to act like they are too complex to fit the needs of a large company. Megacorporations and large businesses may use the bog-standard voicemail solutions, but smaller companies are in a great position to connect with their markets. Small companies have the opportunity to personalize their customer service — and deliver better quality service than larger competitors.
There are a few things to keep in mind regarding voicemail messages. Every call you receive should be viewed as a possible customer or someone who can direct you to the right customer.
Second, think of the call from the standpoint of your customers. How would you like the conversation to proceed if you phoned a business? It turns out that 30% of messages left on voicemail were not returned for three days or more! Now that is just irresponsible and – most importantly – unprofessional.
Every phone contact or voicemail message should be approached with these fundamentals. You'll get off to a solid start if you keep these principles in mind.
The Making of a Good Voicemail Greeting
Creating a voicemail greeting may seem straightforward enough, but there are a few things to keep in mind.
Obtaining and Confirming Data
Make it clear in your voicemail greeting what sort of information you want to get from callers. Including your name, the name of your employer, and the hours you work could be all it takes. The best means to get in touch with you (either by phone or email) should also be included, along with the option to leave a message. What you want to know from them is just as crucial. This could contain a note and a phone number for a follow-up call and the ideal time to reach them via phone or email. In addition, thank them for their patience and apologize for the inconvenience and delay.
Update Your Voicemail and Set Expectations
Remember the 30% of companies that don’t listen to their voicemails soon enough? Don’t be one of them. Let your callers know if you won't be able to return their calls promptly. Estimating how long it will take you to respond is an excellent idea; this will prevent clients from calling back and asking why you aren't responding to their messages. This is also true if your office will be closed or you will be absent.
Also, make sure your voicemail is up to date. Customers may question your attention to detail and capacity to follow up on projects if you have been away from the office for two months and are still referring to a vacation you took during Christmas. As an added benefit, giving your consumers the most current information about your business and your capacity to respond to their messages can make them feel more at ease.
Get Feedback
Getting input from your customers is critical for creating professional voicemail greetings and automated voicemail systems. It's possible that you're losing valuable customer service information because your department's voicemail greetings aren't clear enough. Neither you nor your customers may be receiving the information either requires.
To make sure that all of your departmental greetings receive the feedback they need to execute their jobs and represent your firm, you should be aware of the following information:
- Intercepted calls
- Dropped calls
- Diverted calls
- Time spent on hold
- Comments from customers
Customize and Personalize Your Voicemail Greetings
Set business hours and play different voicemail messages depending on whether you're working or not. Alternatively, you may make up temporary voicemail greetings, such as one for while you're in a conference or on a plane, for example. If you’re wondering this is a bit much, you are not wrong. Good customer service comes at a price!
Maintain Brand Consistency
Your communication mediums, including telecoms, should reflect your brand consistently. You should employ the same corporate messaging throughout all of your marketing touchpoints and high-quality writing, voice talent, and sound while recording your professional voicemail greeting.
It’s crucial to compose and record high-quality professional voicemail greetings – so don't miss a trick by ignoring it. If you don't have experience creating voicemail greetings for organizations, leave it to the pros.
Hire a Voice-over Specialist
But whose voice do you use?!
Well, getting things right from a practical standpoint is the expected baseline. But who wants just to fit in when you can stand out from the crowd and smash it out of the park with a memorable voice that truly resonates with the listener's very soul, to the point where they hesitate to hang up the call? Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration. But you see the point; connecting with the caller with an authentic voice-over talent amplifies your brand in each spoken word.
While you may say to yourself, “Bah! A professional voice-over is needlessly introducing cost to a voicemail when I could just do it myself.” While you may have an incredible voice, having a nice voice is only one piece of the puzzle. Voicemail shouldn't be a chore, but more often than not, companies employ bland, unintelligible speakers as their choice – which confuses the process and puts off the one calling. By searching for a voice-over professional on a platform like Voquent, you open the door to the perfect voice to reflect your company's image – across a range of multilingual voice-over options.
Your audience will be able to tell the difference between a pro and an amateur.
Voicemail Options
Understanding you need to revise your voicemail content is only the first step in this race. There are a variety of types of voicemail, each categorically unique in its purpose and the way that the voicemail should be constructed.
Greetings for Your Voicemail
In most cases, personal voicemail greetings are the ones you record for your company or office phone number to inform callers as to why you are unavailable and how they might reach you instead. In this case, it may not make much sense to utilise a professional voicemail, as this may confuse the caller who is looking for a specific person. Although, this doesn't mean that there is nothing to be learned from voice-over – like how to write the ideal script for your content.
Greetings for Business Phone Calls
When a client or customer calls your business, whether it's outside of working hours or during a time when your team is unavailable, it's vital to have a business voicemail greeting to meet them. A top tier voice-over talent can provide an incredible opportunity to enhance the greeting and elevate it to excellence – that's one way to bring people back!
Greetings for the Funny Bone
Some may not always expect a professional message depending on your market audience. You can be funny and witty with your voicemails, as long as you’re not expecting someone important! In which case, maybe avoid using the puns? This may be more useful for personal voicemails for friends and family.
Holiday Greetings
Holidays are fun for the entire community, and we don’t want to bring down the vibe with a monotonous voicemail! Make a cheerful voicemail with all of the necessary information and wish them a good holiday season while you’re at it. Always a good call for the holiday period.
Greetings for a Vacation Absence
Going on a vacation is necessary for your physical and mental health. But the world doesn’t stop because you’re taking a break. Let your clients know you’re away for more than a few days and when you will be back. Leave them an alternative way to contact you if there is an emergency.
Concluding Tips
- Remain enthusiastic and informative through the voicemail. Add all the necessary details while keeping it short.
- Ask the caller the reason behind their call so you can be prepared when you return their call. Provide a secondary means of communication for emergencies, so they know you are responsible despite your schedule and commitments.
- TTYL, BRB, BTW, and other acronyms aren't used by everyone; try to remain professional with your vocabulary.
- If your company has multiple departments but one number to reach them all, mention how they can be reached separately or any information that will guide them towards a possible solution.
- Remember that a business voicemail greeting can be improved exceptionally by using top voice-over talents.
Finally, keep in mind that voicemail is a subjective medium that takes shape based on the recipient's viewpoint. So spend time creating good voicemails that cater to your audience. If you feel your customer umbrella is too varied, remain professional, so you don’t lose anyone for trivial reasons.
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