6 Key Components Of A Professional Voice Greeting

A professional voice greeting can be a great marketing tool.

So you want to record a very professional voice greeting, but you don’t know where to start?

Don’t worry, we’ve made a list of the most important components of a voice greeting, whether you intend to use it with a voicemail box or as part of an interactive voice response system provided through your favorite answering service.

Here we go!

  1. An upbeat tone of voice. It’s always important that your tone of voice demonstrates just how willing and ready to help you are. You can say you want to be of service and that you’re a professional as much as you want, but this is an area where it’s important to show it, too. A warm tone of voice is like an open door for communications and tells the caller that they’re welcome to stay awhile.
  2. Optimal length. About 20- to 25-second recording is ideal for a voice greeting. After all, if you don’t take enough time, you’ll end up crowding all your words together, making it hard for callers to understand you. If you spend too much time, though, people will hang up rather than waiting around to see when you’re going to finish. Write down what you intend to record and practice it a few times with a stopwatch for the best result.
  3. Identification. Who are you? When a voice greeting starts, that’s the first question most callers have. If they’re not certain you’re the person they want to call, they may not leave a message, so make sure to include your name, department and company name in all voice greetings.
  4. Validation. For many callers, the voicemail system isn’t their favorite, this is something to keep in mind when recording voice greetings. Thank your caller for calling or apologize for being unable to answer the phone personally. These little nods to their inconvenience can become big bridge builders.
  5. Other options. Sometimes, people need help right away or they’re simply unwilling to leave a message. Don’t just leave it at that, if there’s another phone number for assistance with their issue, give it out or at least give the caller an option to return to the operator. A short email address can sometimes also fit into a voice greeting if you speak very clearly.
  6. When to expect a return call. You generally know how quickly you turn your voicemail box around, so instead of leaving people hanging, be straight. Whether you generally return calls within the hour during the workday or you need 48 hours to account for possible emergencies, callers who know this upfront feel like you’ve been honest with them and are often pleasantly surprised when you call earlier.

Before you record your professional voice greeting, make sure you’ve practiced a few times so you sound confident. A lot of information can be conveyed by your voice, don’t let your voice greeting be the thing that stops your callers from leaving messages for you or your department. Instead, be sure to use these six elements to create a voice greeting that really makes an impact.

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