Recording professional voicemail greetings is easy but many people find it to be akin to public speaking, and are therefore apprehensive about starting. First of all, lets acknowledge the elephant in the room and just say that nobody in the history of the world enjoys the sound of their voices being played back to them. Once you can accept that, getting a professional voicemail greeting or Auto Attendant menu recorded will be a lot easier. To help you get the right tone and tenor of what you’re trying to communicate over you business voicemail, we’ve put together this handy list of resources for you.
Putting the “Pro” into Professional Voicemail Greetings
Some of us may still remember a time when voicemail was a blank canvas for pranksters and humorists. They would use voicemail greetings as a place to begin recordings as if they were answering the phone (“Hello? I can’t hear you… Just kidding! Leave a message…”) or to flash some personality with music or themed messages. Unless your business is a costume rental facility or joke and magic trick shop, it’s best to avoid this strategy. Instead, try to remember a few key points to focus on-
- Recognize the Importance of the Call Make sure to acknowledge the value of the inbound call to you and your business and/or express some regret for missing it. You don’t need to be effusive or extravagant, but a little validation about the significance of the caller’s needs will go a long way.
- Identify Yourself This should go without saying, but you should always make a point to give the caller verification of who you are or what department/extension they’ve reached. The last thing you want to do is not verify the correct voicemail box information and leave the caller feeling embarrassed for having contacted the wrong party.
- Pacing This one is, in my humble opinion, the most important of all. Brevity is the lifeblood of effective communications, and this goes as much for advertising and public speaking as it does for voicemail messages. Do yourself and your callers a favor and keep in mind the length of your messages. Plus, who knows, maybe by doing this they’ll return the favor and not leave you an audio book of a message in return. Hopefully…
- Be Yourself Whether this means you are using the same friendly tone you would in a conversation for your personal extension recording or that you’re speaking in terms that are on-brand for your business in the general messages, remember to be authentic. Your callers found you by way of your digital footprint and customer endorsements, and you want to make certain that the expectations they set are met in full with every interaction, including your voicemail.
Remember to Call for Help When You Need It
Recording professional voicemail greetings is more than getting over listening to the sound of your own voice and focusing on a few key elements. Sometimes it also comes down to time and motivation. When you find yourself without a surplus of either of those, it’s time to consider professional assistance. Having a VirtualPBX Greetings Manager and these tips isn’t always enough, sometimes you need to actually have access to voice talent as well. Fortunately, we have a relationship with Snap Recordings that allows for exclusive pricing on their hundreds of professional, HD audio recordings preformed by Hollywood voice actors. Plus, you can either contact our own Customer Support Team or lean on some basic voicemail script suggestions across the web for inspiration on actually penning the script itself. Either way, as long as you follow these four basic suggestions, you’re sure to record plenty of polished and professional voicemail greetings before you know it.
