We’ve all had to do it: the person we are looking for on the other end of the phone is note there and we end up “talking” with voicemail.
That’s where you can either shine or fail. Please try for “shine.”
Recently I had to recruit a group of people for a large event assignment. This involved a number of people having to call me, most of which didn’t reach me the first time. This is where it got interesting.
Most of the messages were:
- Unintelligible.
- Spoken so fast that I had to replay them several times to record the call back number and listen to the name they left me.
- Short with the phone number left only once, if at all.
- Messages left without a reason telling me why they were calling me.
After weeding through these messages, I came to some basic conclusions about what should be done when you leave a message on voicemail for someone:
- Speak slowly.
- Say your first and last name clearly. And repeat them at the end of the message. “This is_____ calling for____.”
- Leave your phone number more than once, at the beginning and end of the message. Be deliberate: “Please call me back at two one four seven seven zero one one nine one.”
- Thank them for calling you back.
Here’s an example message:
“Hi this is Paul Maynard calling for______ about the assignment you are advertising for for April 24. I can be reached at two one four seven seven zero one one nine one. I look forward to your return call. Again, this is Paul Maynard at two one four seven seven zero one one nine one. Thank you.”
Now I was able to have enough information to call back and call them by name. Most phone were answered with “hello.”
We will cover that in another post.
Relentless
