Give Boring Voicemail the Boot by Mary Cantando

    When was the last time you actually listened to your business voicemail recording? Although most of us consider ourselves interesting, creative individuals, I’ll bet that’s not how your voicemail sounds. Think about it. How many thousands of times have you reached someone’s voicemail only to hear the old sing-song message: “This is Joe and I’m out of the office or on another line, but your message is important to me. Please leave me a message here and I’ll get back to you by the end of the day.”   

    There is no reason for anyone—with the possible exception of a funeral home, and I think even a funeral home can be a little creative—to present a mundane voicemail message to callers. Get past the blinders that tell you there is a standard script for voicemail and it must be boring! Do us all a favor and create an interesting, upbeat voicemail recording.

    Here is a six-step process that requires less than ten minutes, and leaves you with every caller thinking, “Wow, she sounds creative. I bet she’d be fun to work with!”

1.    STOP everything you’re doing and listen to your voicemail recording RIGHT NOW. If it’s as boring as I predict, use follow the next five steps to create an interesting, intriguing message.

2.    Write a fun message. Make it SHORT but interesting. You don’t really have to tell your callers why you are not answering. They don’t really care anyway. They just want to leave their message quickly, and get off the phone with some level of confidence that you’ll call them back.  Consider using words like “great day,” “excited,” “just as FAST as I can.”  (If you called me, you’d hear this message: “Hi this is Mary and I hope you’re having a great day. Leave me a message here and I’ll get back to you just as soon as possible.”

3.    Once you are satisfied that you’ve got your message right, you’re stand up (important!) and be ready to smile while you’re talking (equally important!)

4.    Record your message at a pace that’s a little faster than you ordinarily speak. Don’t race through it, but don’t drag through it the way most voicemail messages typically sound.

5.    Play it back and re-record until you’ve got it right.

6.    Once you’re happy with the results, sit back, listen…and SMILE!  Knowing that you’ve given old boring voicemail messages the boot!

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