The voicemails that your business leaves, as well as the message on your answering system, will have a substantial impact on potential customers’ perception of your business. When you strive to ensure that you leave the best possible messages, you will be able to improve their perception. Hiring a call answering service can go a long way toward improving the quality of your company’s voicemails and ensuring that your business is always putting its best foot forward.
Your Outgoing Voicemail
There are several things you will want to do when you record the message for your voicemail answering system. Using an after hours medical answering service can help to reduce the likelihood that your clients will even have to interact with your messaging system. In addition, the right call answering service can ensure that your customers receive top-notch customer service during their interactions with your business. Our expert team at Care XM can enable you to have the best interactions with all of your customers through our call answering services.
Tell When you will be Available
When a customer calls you outside of your regular business hours, you will want to ensure that they know why you aren’t answering the phone. State your normal business hours in your message, so that they will know when you will be available. If you are out of the office on vacation, you will want to include the date that you will return to the office. This helps to keep your customers informed.
Ask for Information you Need from the Caller
The best way to get effective voicemail messages is to ask for the information that you need. This may depend specifically on your business. For example, you may need their contact information, information about why they are calling, or other identifying data. When you ensure that they know what to provide to you, you will often have much higher quality messages that are easier to respond to.
State When They Can Expect a Return Call
When you don’t tell your employees when you can expect a return call, they may call back regularly until you answer. When you inform your customers when they can expect a return call, you can reduce the volume of unnecessary calls that you get. This also helps your customers to plan effectively, because they will have a time frame for when they can expect to hear back from you.
Update when you Get Back in Town
If you updated your message when you left town, it will be important to ensure that you remember to change it when you get back into town. Otherwise, you are sending the message to your clients that you aren’t keeping up to date with your business. Regularly updating your messages can help to keep your clients informed, as well.
Leaving Voicemails
Leaving voicemails is another important component of portraying your business in the best possible light. When you have a call answering service make these calls for you, you can be confident that a skilled professional will be representing your business.
Speak Slowly
When you leave a voicemail, it is important to ensure that you speak slowly. When you speak too quickly, it is likely that it will be difficult for the recipient to understand what you are saying. By speaking slowly, you can prevent miscommunication and misunderstandings.
Leave Number
If you intend for the recipient to call you back, it will be important to ensure that they have your contact information. In order to do this, you will likely want to leave your number at both the beginning and the end of your voicemail. If you prefer another avenue of contact, such as email, you will want to include this in the message.
Short and Sweet
Few people want to listen to lengthy messages left on their answering machine. It is useful to ensure that you keep your messages short and to the point. Only include necessary information in the voicemail, such as why you are calling and what you expect from the customer.
Don’t Improvise
Improvisation can easily make your business come across as less professional. Decide what you are going to say and how you are going to say it before you make the call. When you improvise, you will likely find that there are more “filler” words that makes your message seem less than businesslike.
Don’t Call at Odd Hours
Unless it is an emergency, you should refrain from calling at odd hours. This can reflect poorly on your business. Try to call only during regular business hours. While this may mean that you reach their answering machine, because they are also at work, it will make your business look better.
Our team at Care XM is dedicated to providing the array of call answering services that are necessary in portraying your business in the best possible light. To learn more about the right steps to handle a voicemail, contact us at Care XM today!
John Jackson says
John Jackson call me back