By Kate Zabriskie
How many times has this happened to you? You call someone and get his voicemail telling you that he will be out of the office until Sept. 6. The only problem is, it’s Oct. 8 when you place the call. Or, someone leaves you a message, but you can’t clearly hear her name or number. The only part of the message that is really understandable is that the call is urgent. I refer to this as voicemail hell. It’s a horrible place, but the good news is there are some steps you can take to stay out of this hotspot.
Read the manual. Take a look at the instructions that came with your voicemail system. What? You’ve lost the book? No excuse; search for it online. Put your phone model in Google, and you will probably find the manual.
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You don’t have to return calls in the order they were received. |
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Improve the quality of your outgoing messages. If you give people information so they can help themselves, you will save them—and yourself—time.
- Identify your name, organization and telephone number in your outgoing message.
Example: “Hi, this is Karen Smith with Adcomine at 212-555-1234.”
- State that you are not available and any other important information.
Example: “I’m out of the office today, January 3rd. I will be returning January 5th. I will not check voicemail until I am back. If this is an emergency or you need immediate assistance, please call Bill Withers at 917-555-6543.”
- Tell people how to leave an appropriate message.
Example: “Please leave a brief message stating how I can help you, along with your phone number, and I will call you back.”
- If you prefer email, offer that as an option. If you have an unusual name or company name, spell out the email address.
Example: “You may want to email me at ksmith@adcomine.com.”
- To cut down on repeat calls, state that you will return calls within 24 hours or whatever timeframe you use.
- If you change your message when you go out of town, don’t forget to update it again when you get back.
- If your system allows callers to bypass your message by hitting the pound key, tell them that, especially if you have an unusually long message.
Stay on top of your messages. What frustrates callers isn’t always the fact that they have to leave a voicemail, but that their calls are not answered promptly. Unless you state otherwise, you should check messages once a day and return those calls. Here are some other guidelines:
- Have a pen and paper ready.
- Listen to all of the messages before you return calls.
- Remember, you don’t have to return calls in the order they were received.
- Don’t save messages you don’t need. If you wrote down the information from the call, most of the time there is no reason to save the original recording.
Don’t perpetuate the problem. Are you tired of long-winded, difficult-to-understand voicemails? Stop the cycle by leaving concise and understandable voicemails:
- Speak slowly and leave your phone number at the beginning and the end of the message.
- Limit your comments to one or two subjects.
- If you are rambling, for the sake of others and your reputation, stop yourself and rerecord.
- If you need action of some sort, state what you need.
Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Kate Zabriskie is founder of Business Training Works Inc., which helps people develop the skills they need to be successful at work: business etiquette, interpersonal communication, business writing, presentation, customer service, negotiation and time management. The company’s clients include Microsoft, Georgetown University, Schering Plough, the USDA and Bank One. For more information, visit www.businesstrainingworks.com or call 301-934-3250.
October 2006
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