7 Pro Tips for Creating Perfect Business Voicemail Messages

Any business owner knows that the best way to find, and keep, a customer is by speaking to them directly.

While email and text messages have risen in popularity, many customers still report that speaking with a business owner on the phone is what makes them most likely to purchase a product.

But as a busy business owner, this isn’t always possible.

Creating a professional voicemail message to greet your customers when you are away is the best way to help you retain customers and grow your business to amazing new heights.

Want to learn how to create the best business voicemail messages that you can?

Read on to learn more about professional voicemail messages and pro tips for making the perfect one for your business.

What to Say on a Business Voicemail Message?

Unlike a phone call, a business voicemail message is something both permanent and new customers will hear when they try to reach your business, but a representative is unavailable.

Which is why it is so important to design a professional voicemail that will answer all your potential customer’s questions, as well as make them feel valued.

First and foremost, know that a professional voicemail message should be clear and informative, but also not too long so that your customers hang up before leaving their information.

Your voicemail message also needs to sound friendly, which can be difficult if you are trying to record one yourself.

Hiring a voice actor who has a naturally friendly voice can help you accomplish this with much less stress than if you try to record it yourself.

Additionally, while it may be tempting to start selling your product to your customer via voicemail, know that if you have more than one product that this can actually scare a potential customer away.

Instead, focus on general information such as your company name, and alternative ways to contact you if there are any.

You should include information about when you may possibly return the call.

For example this could include business hours, mentioning any lunch times or other midday periods when you are unavailable.

If your company provides emergency services outside of normal business hours, this should also be mentioned in your business voicemail messages.

Have some ideas about what you may want to include in your business voicemail message?

Look at some of the tips below to get started.

7 Pro Tips for Business Voicemail Messages

1. Be Unique

While it may seem easy to say the name of your business, then ask a customer to leave their name and number so you can call them back, this is boring and overdone.

But this doesn’t mean you need to get crazy with your business voicemail messages either.

Instead, work to find the middle ground, something which is unique, exciting, but still easy to understand and straight to the point.

To avoid mistakes when it comes to being unique, write your script in advance then read it out loud to yourself and family members (or coworkers).

They can give you feedback as to if the voicemail sounds professional while also piquing their interest.

If you are struggling to be unique it can help to hire someone to write your script for you.

It can also help to look at the voicemail greetings of companies similar to yours, as they can show you unique ways of grabbing your customer’s attention that you may not have thought of previously.

If you are looking to write a professional business message to play while customers are waiting on hold you should also consider adding unique hold music as this can help break up the monotony and keep the customer from hanging up.

2. Keep it Under 30 Seconds

The average attention span is waning.

Many market research professionals estimate that the average attention span of consumers is only one third of what it used to be.

Therefore the shorter you can keep your professional voicemail message, the better.

Remember, this isn’t the time to sell your product, rather it is the time to give the customer all the information they need in regards to contacting you.

Stick with the basic information as much as possible, as well as an estimate of when you will get back to your customer.

Even if you won’t be able to return their call for 1-2 business days, state this in the voicemail, this way they will be prepared for your return call when it does come and they won’t feel as if they wasted their time waiting for it.

If you really want to sell your products to customers while they are calling your business, consider doing so via a voice over during hold or dial music.

3. State Your Business Name First

According to one survey, the average individual receives 23 misdials or spam calls per month.

Unless your business has an especially unique number, you will also likely receive some spam calls or voicemails from people who have dialed the wrong number.

Stating your business name right off the bat can let these people know they have called the wrong number before they take up valuable voicemail box space.

Not to mention that most scam artists aren’t looking to reach a business, but rather someone who doesn’t know what they are doing.

So stating your business name early in your professional business voicemail can get these people to hang up without wasting your time later.

4. Smile When You Talk

People desire friendly service, and if they hear a monotone voice when they leave a message for your company, this will not leave them thinking very positively about it.

The best way to ditch monotone sounding professional voicemail messages is by smiling as you record your message.

Some people have a voice that naturally sounds more monotone than others, and this can make it difficult for them to record their own business voicemail.

When this is the case, you should look into hiring a professional voice actor to record your business voicemail message for you.

This way when customers call, they will feel warm and welcome rather than bored.

5. Speak Slowly and Annunciate

You only have thirty seconds, which may leave you thinking that you should speak as fast as possible in order to fit in as much information as possible into your message.

While this may seem like an easy solution to the time limit, if you are speaking too quickly your customer will not understand and they may hang up without leaving a message.

You want to go for quality, not quantity when it comes to professional voicemail messages as this is what will help you retain clients.

After you write your script, practice a few times to ensure you are speaking slowly and clearly.

You may even want to record yourself and play it back to friends and family for some feedback on how quickly you are speaking.

If you find that you can’t seem to speak slowly enough, or you get too nervous while practicing that it causes you to speed up, then know it may be time to hire a professional to help.

6. Don’t Have Any Background Noise

Although the life of a business owner is busy, recording your business voicemail message while there is a lot of background noise will scare potential customers away.

Background noise during a phone call is unprofessional, and during a voicemail, this sentiment is increased tenfold as customers expect you to take the time to re-record if the background noise is too much.

Noise like cars, people, or even basic office sounds will distract your potential customer from listening to the menu options.

They may select the wrong one, or hear something incorrectly and decide not to leave a message at all.

If you don’t want to lose customers from an easy to fix mistake, take extra time to record your business voicemail message without any background noise.

For those who simply can’t find a quiet space in their office or at home, you may want to consider hiring a professional as they can often use a studio or other sound proof room to record your professional voicemail without any background noise.

7. Keep Your Professional Message Up to Date

It may seem easy to record the perfect business voicemail message then leave it on your machine for years and years to come.

While it is easy, it is not what is best for your business.

You need to ensure your business voicemail is always up to date, especially because it may be an initial point of contact for a potential client.

As a general rule, you should update your professional voicemail any time the information in it is no longer correct.

For example, if your hours change, then it’s time to update your voicemail.

If an employee leaves, or is promoted, ensure your voicemail reflects this.

If the information in your voicemail rarely, or never, changes, it is still a good idea to update your professional voicemail once every 1-2 years so you can ensure you are continuing to deliver the best message possible through your business voicemail.

Voicemail Message Examples for Business

Are you still stumped when it comes to writing the perfect professional voicemail message for your business?

Below are some examples which can help get you started.

Example of a First Contact Voicemail

As mentioned, you likely won’t always be there to answer your work phone.

Here is an example of a professional voicemail that can help you gain a customer even while you enjoy your time off, or are busy with another customer.

“We are so glad you have reached out to us at ______. While we are sad to have missed your call, please leave your name, number, and the particular product you are interested in and we will get back to you during our normal business hours of ________. If you are calling during our normal business hours, we will return your call shortly.”

This message can be lengthened to include extensions for specific departments if your company is exceptionally large.

It can also be shortened if you wish to replace the business hours and call back time with a simple estimate of when the customer can expect to hear from you.

Example of an Out of Office Professional Voicemail

“Hello, this is ______ with ________ I hope you are having a great day. I am out of office from _____ until _____. If this is an emergency, please contact ______ otherwise leave your name and reference number and I will give you a call back as soon as I return.”

While this particular message isn’t incredibly unique, it doesn’t need to be, as it is more for returning customers than new ones.

It’s a great message because it includes all the necessary information in a script that can be read in 30 seconds. It also includes contact information in case of emergency, as well as an idea of when the caller can expect a return call.

Example of a Hold Voice Message

Do you plan to leave your customers on hold?

Then try a business voice message like this one.

“We are so happy to serve you here at ______. While we are busy on the other line, we hope that you will wait a few minutes so we have a chance to speak with you. You are the _____ caller. Need to hang up? Press _____ to leave us a message and we will call you back!”

As you can see, this message gives much more information than a simple “you are the ____ caller” message.

But it still includes valuable information as to when the caller can expect to speak to someone.

We recommend playing hold music in between the relays of this message for best results.

Overall, we hope by now you have an excellent idea of the best professional voicemail message for your company.

If you don’t, know that we are always here to help.

Contact us to create your perfect professional voicemail today.

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