Would you suspect this woman is woried about break-ins? Most of us dont
record our personal foibles so conspicuously for the world to hear.
Nevertheless, people can hear a lot between the lines of what we say on our
voice mail.
Last month I needed a graphic artist to do some work for one of my
extremely conservative clients. I phoned Mark, an artist whose work I had
seen and liked a lot. His answering machine blasted ear-splitting rock music
through the receiver. Then his voice boomed over the electric guitar, Hey
there, dude, dont be crude. Jes croon me an earful of sweeeeeeet sounds
right at that lone tone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beep. I banged the receiver
quickly
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How to Impress Everyone with Your Outgoing Voicemail Message 249
back into the cradle to shut out horrible fantasies of how my client
would react if he had to call Mark. His thirty-second talent show might
have been an appropriate sample of a rock musicians taent. But a
businessperson should opt for a more sedate outgoing message. The
message you leave on your answering machine reflects your work. Keep
yours friendly, neutral, and up-to-date.
And heres the secret: to give the impression you are really on top of
your business, change your message every day. Studies show that callers
perceive people to be brighter and more efficient when they hear an updated
message each time they call. If appropriate, let callers know where you are
and when you intend to be back. If you have customers who need to be
attended to, this is crucial.
Try something like this on your office phone: This is (name). Its
Thursday, May 7, and Ill be in a sales meeting until late this afternoon.
Please leave your message and Ill get back to you as soon as I return. That
way, if you dont call a client back until 4 p.m. he isnt steaming.
Also, keep it short. Some people change their message every day, but its
too long. I had a colleague, a public speaker named Dan, who in his finest
mellifluous voice imposed his thought for the day on all unsuspecting
callers.
Last year I was working on a project with Dan and had to call him three
times in the same day to leave a progress report. Each time his machine
answered: Hello, this is Dan, and heres my daily motivator. He cleared his
throat for his big recorded peformance and then continued. Did someone
ooja
(Ooja)
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