Business Voice Mail Greetings

Business voice mail greetings is important as it is a daily communication tasks in business. Your voice mail can be the first contact people have with you or your company.

What are the main elements that sets a good voice mail greetings? Is there any examples for effective or creative professional voice mail greetings?

Elements of Business Voice Mail Greetings

According to wikipedia:

“Voicemail (or voice mail, voice-mail, vmail or VMS, sometimes called messagebank) is a centralized system of managing telephone messages for a large group of people. The term is also used more broadly, to denote any system of conveying voice message, including the answering machine.

If you ever heard of “the elevator pitch” (the name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch should be possible to deliver in the time span of an elevator ride, meaning in a maximum of 30 seconds and in 130 words or fewer), you shall aware that an effective voice mails are similar types of pitches.

The main purpose of a good business voice mail greetings is to keep your callers intact. It is part of a good business phone etiquette.

Here is your practical A-list of the key elements on voice mail greetings:

5 Key Elements of A Good Business Voice Mail Greetings

1. Slight pause
A 1-2 second pause before your greeting is played to callers leaves some rooms for breathing and not creating a hassle situation.

2. Identity
Provide your name and the name of your organization/department to ensure the caller he/she reaching the right number/person’s contact.

3. Time
You may provide the day of the week or the time current voice mail is recorded when you are not available.

4. Instructions
If there are other options available, what are the key(s) callers can press on their telephone for immediate assistance.

5. Follow Up
Is there any possibilities that when callers can expect a return call, or if it is urgent matters, what is the name and extension of a colleague who can provide assistance.

For a simple illustration of the above elements, look at this example:

Hello. This is (NAME) of the (DEPARTMENT) of Business Club. For the week of (DATE) I will be on leave and not available to answer your call until (DATE or DAY). If you require urgent assistance please contact (NAME OF CONTACT) at (TELEPHONE NUMBER). If you need to reach someone immediately please press “07”. Thank you. (19 seconds)

10 Business Voice Mail Greetings Examples

1. Hi, this is (name) of (company). I’m currently unable to take your call. Please leave your name, phone number, and a brief message, and I will contact you as soon as possible. Thanks.

2. Hello, this is (name) of (department) at Harvard Business School. I’m sorry I can’t speak with you at the moment but if you’d like to leave your name, telephone number and details of how I can help you I’ll get back to you soonest possible. Thank you for calling.

3. Hi, you have reached Obama’s voice mail, I am not available at the present moment, but if you leave your name, number and a short message I am sure to get back to you as soon as possible.

4. This is (name) of (company). I’m currently unable to take your call. Please leave your name, phone number, and your message, and I will contact you as soon as possible. If this message is urgent, press 3 to have me paged. Thanks.

5. Hi this is Clinton, I’m either away from my desk or on the phone, please leave your name and number along with a short message and I’ll be sure to get back to you. Thank you.

6. Hello, you have reached the office of Santa Clause; I will be out of my office starting on Saturday, December 24th and will be returning on Monday, December 26th. You can call me by Monday when I return or leave a brief message. If this is an emergency I can be reached on my cell, which is 222-777-1225

7. Thank you for calling. You have reached (company). Our business is officially closed over the Christmas-New Year period. I will be back in my office at 8:00 AM, Monday, January xx 20xx. Please call back then. Thank you and have a happy holiday season.

8. Hello, this is (name) of (department). I’m on another call at the moment but please don’t hang up until you leave your name and your telephone number and I will call you back in (amount of time) (make sure you can meet the time) or so. Thank you.

9. Hi, this is (name) of (business name). I’m sorry I’m not available as I’m overseas until (day and date). If you have any business which requires my immediate attention please call (telephone number). You could also send me an email at (email address) and I will attend to it as soon as possible. Thanks for your consideration. Cheers now.

10. This is (name) of (company). I’m currently on my line and unable to take your call. Please leave your name, phone number, and your message, and I will contact you as soon as possible. Thanks.

Even though hiring or outsource the messages to professional voice recorder may seems a good idea but as an opinion, it is always better to record the messages in your very own voice.

In summary, you may turn away customers, clients, or leads with a poorly recorded voice mail greetings. It is important that your business voice mail greetings invites your callers to leave their message and call back information, so you don’t lose any leads in purpose.

Business Resources - Business informations you ever wanted.