Here's Why Leaving Voicemail is for Bad Business
John White, MBA
Helping brands become visible | Fractional CMO | Former Inc. Magazine Columnist | Celeb Interviews: Mark Cuban & Marcus Lemonis
What's the first thing you do when you get to the office every morning? I bet you rush in and just can't wait to check your voicemail.
Wait, you don't? You view checking voicemail as a chore too? Well, you're not alone!
At one time voicemail was a disruptive and innovative new technology. Who can forget their first answering machine in the '80s? We used to have some fun with those recording greetings!
However, like all technologies voicemail's utility has diminished over the years. Now there are far more efficient messaging services available. Text messages, instant messages via social media, and emails are all a more robust and effective way to deliver a message.
My disdain for voicemail stems from my days in the mobile industry within the B2B channel. In one of the positions, I had a colossal client base that I was responsible for managing. I was constantly bombarded with calls from customers.
I would get out of meetings, and the icon would always be lit up on my phone.
Here's the root of my frustration with this clunky process:
- Dial into voicemail
- "Please enter your password."
- "You have... Seven... Unheard message. To listen to the message press 1."
- "Your message from 9...8...0...4...6...1...9...8...9...9 sent Thursday... September, 19th 2016... at... 4:30 pm.
Then, sometimes I'd have to listen to the same message three times just to get a return phone number because the recording broke up right when the person was leaving their number.
To this day, I still cringe when I see a voicemail notification on my phone.
To continue reading click on over to my column on Inc. Magazine.
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8 年Note to self "Do Not leave John a voice mail" now I feel bad about the last VM I left you! Lol
Consultant @ Miller & Associates | Financial Accounting Expert
8 年For a quick message voicemail is good. I start and end w/ my phone #. It is also good in collaboration w/ a letter and/or email.
For the most part, I am in agreement, voicemail is tedious. On the other hand, with email & phone hacking, a voice message may be more secure for sensitive information.
Litigation Paralegal, who continuously seeks opportunities to learn and to enhance the lives of people in local communities, both professionally and through non-profit/volunteer efforts
8 年Voicemail does makes me cringe. Not only do we have to follow prompts to get into messages, as discussed in the article, but now I have scrawled notes about the call, so I have something else to keep track of (unlike in email, where the history of our conversation is right there in one place). There is an expectation of some kind of returned communication to the caller/emailer, even if it is just to say, "thanks, got your voicemail, roger that." Unlike email, a response to a phone call will either require you to remember/find the caller's email (my preference) and in your reply add in the contents of those scrawled notes (so you can throw your notes away), or, if you call back, you run the risk of playing the dreaded time-suck called phone tag. Email for business - so much more efficient! How ironic that my post about this was so lengthy. :)
Concierge Jo-Anna~Communications Connector
8 年so true, john. especially when they're inactive messages..."please return my call" with no idea why or what for-aarrgghh! i won't spend days, nor do i force anyone else to, by leaving inactive messages where we'll be obliged to try 'n tag ad finitum! let's skype, or if geographically feasible...meet for drinks!