{"id":344,"date":"2015-04-27T17:28:08","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T17:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/csm210469\/?p=344"},"modified":"2016-04-20T15:26:06","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T15:26:06","slug":"give-good-voicemail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/give-good-voicemail\/","title":{"rendered":"Give Good Voicemail – Master the Art of Leaving Messages!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Including these seven steps in your voicemail practice will increase your productivity and elevate your standing as a true customer service professional.<\/strong><\/p>\n\"People\n

What\u2019s the difference between a great voicemail message and one that\u2019s lacking (and therefore stands less of a chance of getting returned right away, if at all)?<\/p>\n

It comes down to whether you \u201cgave good voicemail\u201d \u2026 or not! Wouldn\u2019t it be great if there were official voicemail rules people had to follow?<\/p>\n

Here are some of the most effective ideas I\u2019ve found on leaving effective messages, avoid wasting the time of the recipient \u2013 and having a better chance of getting your call returned!<\/p>\n

1. Start (and end) each message with your name and number<\/h3>\n

This makes it easy for the recipient to replay the message and capture your number \u2013 without having to listen to it all again. Do this until you are absolutely sure they have your number memorized or in their database (and how would you know that?). In other words, people are accessing their messages from places other than their offices, so always leave your contact information with every message. You can speed up the return of your call with this simple step.<\/p>\n

2. Prepare your message \u2013 in advance<\/h3>\n

What exactly do you want to say? Jot down a few notes prior to calling so you will remember everything you need your listener to know (and allow them to prepare properly before calling you back).<\/p>\n

3. Brevity is bliss<\/h3>\n

Make each message one minute long or less. Have more to say? Give the recipient an overview of what you\u2019d like to discuss, and ask them to return your call. Sending a brief email is also another great alternative.<\/p>\n

4. In addition to your name and number, leave an actual message<\/h3>\n

Give them a clue as to why they need to call you back (including what information you need), when you\u2019re available and the level of urgency of your call. These are especially important if you\u2019re not well-acquainted \u2013 otherwise the recipient may delay the return call because they don\u2019t have all needed information \u2013 or they might delete your message thinking you\u2019re a telemarketer.<\/p>\n

5. Smile<\/h3>\n

This will enhance your tone \u2013 and without any other non-verbal cues (such as face and body language), your tone is all you have to communicate with.<\/p>\n

6. Match the volume and tonality of the recipient<\/h3>\n

A quick and effective way to create rapport is to match your recipient\u2019s outgoing message. If they sound quiet and shy, so should you. If they are ebullient and full of enthusiasm, well, fire it up!<\/p>\n

7. Include your availability<\/h3>\n

Phone tag can be frustrating, and one of the best ways to avoid it is to advise your listener when you can best be reached in the next couple of days. Another alternative is to schedule a phone meeting through their assistant or via email.<\/p>\n

Including these seven steps in your voice mail practice will increase your productivity and elevate your standing as a true professional. Share this with your business contacts \u2013 they\u2019ll appreciate your help and you will all be on the same page!<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honor\u00e9e Corder<\/a> is CEO of Honoree Enterprises & Honoree Enterprises Publishing. Honor\u00e9e is the best-selling author of more than a dozen books, and her mission is to inspire and motivate people to turn their vision and dreams into their real-life reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Including these seven steps in your voicemail practice will increase your productivity and elevate your standing as a true customer service professional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":169,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8140,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/8140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}