What does your voicemail say about you?

Sometimes – this week for example – I spend oodles of time on the phone. In the course of arranging and conducting interviews for clients, I do lots of dialing. And as a communicator, I can’t help but analyze some of the things I hear after I punch in those 11-digit numbers.

For starters, I am amazed at the number of business people who answer the phone by saying just “Hello.” Right off the bat, I don’t know if I’ve called the right party, so I have to ask, “Is this Joe Jones?” Suggestion: Answer the phone with your name, even just the first name: “Hello, this is Chris speaking.” That would be nice.

What if you’re not there? What does your answering machine or automated voicemail system say? Believe it or not, this is what I heard when I phoned a consultant the other day: “You have reached the number that you have dialed. Please leave a message.”

Ha ha. Very funny. So, did I reach the right number? Are you operating a real business or is this your personal line and you’re using it to run your consulting gig on the side? In this case, I left a message for the person and followed up with an email to say, “I THINK I left you a message!” (Of course his email sig doesn’t list his number; another of my pet peeves.)

And then there are the mumblers. They leave YOU a voicemail message that’s so muffled that you can’t decipher their name. You actually phone them back, and you STILL don’t know who they are because they’ve also mumbled on their voice recording.

What about the secret vacationers? You dial their number and leave a message, expecting a call back in a day or two. Of course you don’t know that they’re on a three-week South Seas cruise, because their outbound message was mum on the subject. (I know some people don’t like to say they’re away because of security and privacy concerns. On my home phone I never reveal that I’m out of town, but I do so on my business line as a courtesy to clients, prospects and colleagues. If I’m going to be checking my messages from a remote location, I’ll often just say that I’m in meetings or away from the phone for the day. At least they’ll know why I’m not returning the call quickly.)

So, here are my suggestions:

1. Always include your name in your outbound voicemail message.
2. Speak clearly; don’t mumble.
3. If you’re not able to return calls within 24 hours, say so.
4. Use humour if you wish, but remember to follow suggestions 1-3.

Comments

[Gloria Hildebrandt]

Another annoying time waster is people's messages on your phone that zip off their name and phone number quickly, and only once, with the result that you have to replay the message a few times in order to capture it, if you even can. Sometimes I don't get the name and have to return the call and say, sorry, but who are you? It's better to leave a message with your name, company, phone number, slowly and clearly. And it doesn't hurt to repeat it at the end of your message. The more comprehensible your message is, the better prepared I can be when I return your call.

[Donna Papacosta]

Good points, Gloria. When I leave my name and number, I always repeat the number.

[Leesa Barnes]

Oh Donna. Thanks for the laugh! Both you and Gloria talked about mumblers. I often get people who leave their phone numbers so quickly on my voicemail, even if I rewound and listened to it a dozen times, I still don't catch it.

Yes, your phone number is familiar to you, but not to me. And I waste so much time trying to press my ear into my phone to listen to what the person has said.

When I leave a voicemail, I cite my phone # multiple times - once at the beginning and twice at the end. And when I say it at the end, I first say "416-555-nine eight seven six" and then "416-555-ninety eight, seventy six".

[Joan Vinall-Cox]

Thanks Donna. I've made some changes ;->

[Christine Smith]

Totally agree with you, Donna. And, how about those voice mail messages that go on, and on, and on? Like a good writing,voice mail messages should be clear, concise, coherent and correct.

[Daniel Ho]

Due to the widespread nature of mumblers, I'm totally dependent on our systems capturing CallerID.

Now, for the people that block their CID or calls from technologies that don't think this bit of info is important...that's a whole different pet peeve! :-)

Oh, and while I'm ranting...if you must call me from a cellphone, please make sure that you are calling from a quiet area and you actually have a decent connection to the cellular tower. I don't know how many times I've just given up because I had NO IDEA what the voice mail said and sometimes don't even know who called!

[cate]

Great advice - I was given this tip some years ago when I was working for a community organisation. It really made callers feel at ease and wanted.
P.S
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