Your voicemail greeting is the first impression you make on your callers, so you want to make sure it's clear, professional, and appropriate for the situation. But how do you personalize your voicemail greeting for different callers or situations? Here are some tips to help you create a voicemail greeting that suits your needs and reflects your personality.
Before you record your voicemail greeting, think about what you want to achieve with it. Do you want to inform your callers about your availability, your services, or your current projects? Do you want to direct them to another contact, a website, or a message option? Do you want to express your gratitude, your enthusiasm, or your apology? Depending on your purpose, you can tailor your voicemail greeting to match your tone, message, and call to action.
Another factor to consider when personalizing your voicemail greeting is your audience. Who are you expecting to call you? Are they potential clients, existing customers, colleagues, or friends? How formal or informal do you need to be with them? How much information do you need to provide them? How do you want them to feel after hearing your voicemail greeting? By knowing your audience, you can adapt your voicemail greeting to suit their expectations and needs.
Tailor your voicemail greeting to a specific audience, but be careful of the information you provide. Never announce your street address, for example, unless you are creating a voicemail greeting for an office or business. While you can tailor your message to a specific audience or a general audience, be aware that scammers can use your information for fraud, identity theft, or other crimes. The same is true of personal information you post online. Even certain business information could negatively affect you, your business, or your employer were it to be made public. Think hard before you speak. Say only what you need to say. Keep it meaningful but brief. You can make a good impression, just be sensible.
Your voicemail greeting is also an opportunity to showcase your style and personality. You can use humor, creativity, or emotion to make your voicemail greeting stand out and memorable. However, be careful not to go overboard and offend, confuse, or annoy your callers. Keep your voicemail greeting short, simple, and relevant. Avoid using slang, jargon, or clichés. And don't forget to smile, speak clearly, and sound confident.
I agree that smiling and being enthusiastic are important while creating your message. I have had comments after reaching someone that they liked my message and I sounded very happy.
People tend to speak faster than usual when they are nervous. Recording a message can cause nervousness or "stage fright" in some people. If recording a message (especially an important one like a voicemail greeting) makes you uncomfortable at all, make a conscious effort to speak slower as you record. Then play back your recording to hear how it sounds. If you are speaking too fast or any words are unclear, take a few deep breaths and record it again.
Depending on your phone system and service provider, you may have different options to personalize your voicemail greeting for different callers or situations. For example, you may be able to set up multiple voicemail greetings and assign them to different groups of contacts, such as work, personal, or urgent. You may also be able to change your voicemail greeting depending on the time of day, the day of the week, or the season. You may even be able to use a voice recognition feature to customize your voicemail greeting based on the caller's name or number.
Finally, when personalizing your voicemail greeting, don't forget to follow some basic etiquette rules. Be polite and courteous to your callers. Thank them for calling and apologize for missing their call. Provide them with a reason for your absence and an estimated time of return. Invite them to leave a message and tell them when and how you will get back to them. And end your voicemail greeting with your name and a friendly sign-off.
One way to improve your voicemail greeting is to ask for feedback from others. You can ask a friend, a colleague, or a customer to listen to your voicemail greeting and give you their honest opinion. You can also listen to your own voicemail greeting and evaluate it yourself. Ask yourself if your voicemail greeting is clear, professional, and appropriate for the situation. If not, make some adjustments and try again.
Feedback that I once received from a client was that they had to wait too long to leave their message. I thought I had chosen a well-rounded voicemail greeting for a wide audience. Although, I realized I could cut-back on some information so clients would be more likely to stick around for the *BEEP* and more easily access me and my services.