Did you know your voicemail greeting might be the first impression a potential new client gets of your business? So, you need it to be a good one!
Call your own number. How does your voicemail greeting sound?
Do you even have one? If you don’t then I suggest you remedy that as soon as possible, and here’s the reason why….
Let’s say you need a plumber. You don’t know one personally so you turn to Google. Your search returns a long list of plumbers in your area and they all sound like what you’re looking for. You call the first one on the list. It rings and rings and rings. You hang up.
You call the second one on the list. It’s answered by a robotic sounding voice that says ‘thank you for calling, we can’t take your call, please leave a message.’ It doesn’t say ‘thank you for calling Jerry’s Plumbing’, which is what you were expecting. Have you called the right number? You’re not sure. You hang up.
You call the third number. It’s answered by a friendly, professional voice that thanks you for calling Pete’s Plumbing, and apologises that nobody can take your call right now, but Pete and his team are more than likely out on a job. The voice assures you that Pete will call you back as soon as he can, and invites you to leave your name, number and a short message. You decide that Pete’s Plumbing sounds like a professional business you can trust and you leave Pete a message.
If you do have a voicemail greeting, does it reflect your brand and how you want your business to be perceived? Lots of people hate hearing the sound of their own voice when they hear it recorded, and hate the process of recording themselves. Their nervousness or dislike comes across in the message…probably not what you want your client to hear!
Fear not! Help is at hand in the form of my super-useful Top Ten Tips for a great voicemail greeting and a template to help you write your script.
If you’d like even more information about voicemail greetings and on-hold messages here are a couple of blogs I’ve written on the subject (spoiler alert – if your customers are ever left on hold and you don’t have on-hold messages to play them, you’re missing a huge marketing trick).
https://lizdrury.com/blog/why-your-business-needs-a-professional-voicemail-greeting/
https://lizdrury.com/blog/the-facts-about-on-hold-messages/
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