I’m always surprised when I receive a voice mail message that sounds akin to this:
Hithisis Mgarblegarble, call me.
I have no idea who the caller is, what she wants, or how I’m supposed to get into touch with her. My work and cell phones have caller ID, but if the caller is in an office the number displayed on my screen usually isn’t a direct line but a general corporate number. Also, I have to call the person back (if I can figure out how) instead of taking a more meaningful action.
An organized way to leave a voice mail is:
- State your name, slowly and clearly.
- State your telephone number, slowly and clearly.
- Repeat your telephone number, clearly.
- If appropriate, also state your e-mail address, slowly and clearly.
- Explain why you are calling.
- Request the action that you would like from the person you are calling.
- Hang up.
A well-crafted voice mail message means that the person is able to actually find what you need or take care of the situation before getting back into touch with you. The best voice mail messages won’t even need a call in return.
Hi, this is Erin Doland from Unclutterer.com. My telephone number is 5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5. I’ll repeat that, (555) 555-5555. You can also reach me by e-mail at email at email dot com. I’m calling because the documents you had delivered to our office this morning were blank. I’m guessing there was a printing error. Can you please send another set of documents to our office this afternoon? Thank you.
We also get messages on our phone that say:
“Hi, BKSIHGSNIG (or something),”
“This is Jamie… I want to know about that job so call me back.”
Since no BKSIHGSNIG lives at our house, we never had any idea who the message should be with. Also, we have no idea how to call Jamie back and tell her that she has the wrong number.
I like the idea, but I’m not sure about the order. I would switch steps 5 and 6 up to step 2 and 3. I want to hear who it is and what they want right away. Get right to it. Then leave all your information at the end. This also gives people time to find a pen if they need to jot down your info. (As a reporter I come across this situation daily) Here’s my 2.0 revised version of the list:
State your name, slowly and clearly.
Explain why you are calling.
Request the action that you would like from the person you are calling.
Hang up.
State your name, State your telephone number, slowly and clearly.
Repeat your telephone number, clearly.
If appropriate, also state your e-mail address, slowly and clearly.
Explain why you are calling.
Don’t you think that’s better??
oh geez…I left the “hang up” part in the middle. Delete that and put it at the end…lol.
Melody! It’s fun to see blasts from the past in the comments section!
I suggest the number at the beginning so that when the person replays your message, the contact information is right up at the start. This way, they don’t have to listen to the whole message a second time.
Great tips Erin. I always get out chuckle when I get a call and the client speeds up when they say their number.
Andrew
http://www.Organizing-Toronto.com
In response to Melody, I would stongly recommend to say your number at the beginning. If for some reason I miss the number at the end I don’t want to have to replay the message to get to that important detail. I can’t tell you how many long rambling messages I’ve listed to with a quickly said number at the end. I have to play it back 2 or 3 times to get the information and it easily takes 10 minutes of my time for one message.
Ideally you would say your number once in the beginning and once again at the end:
State your name slowly and clearly
State your number (and/or email) slowly and clearly
Explain why you are calling
Repear your name and number slowly and clearly.
this helps a ton!
Thank you for bringing this topic to everyones attention. I grew up in a family business environment before the ages of technology had come into its own. Our one and only home number also doubled as the family business line. All six of us children knew how to take information down and give information out, clearly, accurately and distinctly. This early training has served me well in the high-tech information soiciety we live in of cell phones, e-mails and voice mail. I believe if people pretended that the message they were about to leave was to pick up their ten million dollar check someone had bequeathed to them and receiving it all hinged on the attorney being able to contact them based on their message, we all would slow down and stop smashing a string of truncated words together.
Thank you very much!! There is nothing more irritating than a voicemail that doesn’t convey meaningful information. “Call me” messages are a waste of time as are messages that rattle off contact information so quickly one must replay the message several times to get it all down. I always am prepared with pen and paper when I crank on the voicemail, but there are still people who go too quickly. Also, though this has improved a lot, leaving voicemail messages from a cell phone – especially while driving – can drive the lucky recipient nuts trying to understand them. Thanks for raising awareness on these issues!
i think the worst one i ever got was
“honey, this is your aunt. i know we haven’t heard from you in a while but your grandma died and the funeral is this saturday. call me back for details”
it wasn’t anyone i know and this was pre-voice mail, no caller ID and no *67.
i didn’t even have a way to call her back to say she had the wrong number and the long lost grandchild wasn’t ignoring her.