You’ve Reached the Voice-Mail of…
ningcontentIt’s part of our every day lives. We ‘talk’ to it several times a day. It can be a tremendous help and it can make us crazy. I’m talking about voice-mail.
There was a good article on the Microsoft Small Business Center recently called 10 tips for effective voice-mail messages. I agree with everything Jeff Wuorio wrote but I’d like to highlight a few of my pet peeves:
- He asks us not to repeat what the system already knows. It makes me crazy when the caller takes up valuable time telling me the date and time he or she called. The vast majority of voice-mail systems give you that information each time you call in for a message.
- Jeff also advises us when preparing our outgoing messages to ‘use humor and offbeat material with caution.’ I would strengthen that advice from ‘use it with caution’ to ‘don’t use it at all!’ Whether it is a business call or calling someone at home, I’m not really interested in listening to music, hearing poems or trying to interpret your baby’s gurgling.
Now I’ll add a few of my own:
- Say your name, title and company clearly. I hate it when I have to listen to a message over and over to understand who called.
- State your phone number slowly and clearly. How many times have you had to listen to a message a second time to get the number right?
- I don’t think we could live without voice-mail at this point — we’ve all been spoiled. But I think we can make the experience better and more efficient by following Jeff Wuorio’s and my humble advice.
Article by Melanie Holmes, Vice President of World of Work Solutions for Manpower, and courtesy of Manpower’s Contemporary Working blog. Melanie shares Manpower’s extensive knowledge while building strategic partnerships with government, universities and other leadership organizations across the country. She is also responsible for social responsibility at Manpower, which includes diversity, volunteerism, community involvement, community relations, philanthropy and workforce development.
