What's the best casual but professional, cheery but polished, cordial but slick voicemail recording?
Tell 'em who you are and what to do:
"This is Conor Grogan, leave a message."
And smile when you say it.
(You could also say "please leave a message.")
It's professional, no-nonsense, and doesn't keep people waiting to leave their message.
Any extra's like "I'm not here right now" or "I will return your call" are obvious and unnecessary.
5 Answers
Most people understand when they ring your cel and they don't get you to leave a message. So, instead of the lengthy "Hi you've reached... please wait after the... and it's my mom's addiction to piankillers that nearly... so, 1-2, you know what to do..." SKIP IT. This is all you need to say:
"Hi. You've reached _______ ________'s voicemail."
And for pig's sake, DON'T PLAY MUSIC.
Let's face it, voicemail is dead (See Farhad Manjoo's piece in Slate for the why: http://www.slate.com/id/2217998/)
I think that a good outgoing message should discourage people from leaving messages. After all, your phone already tells you that you missed their call and you can read a text or an email much faster and more efficiently.
Tell 'em who you are and what to do:
"This is Conor Grogan, leave a message."
And smile when you say it.
(You could also say "please leave a message.")
It's professional, no-nonsense, and doesn't keep people waiting to leave their message.
Any extra's like "I'm not here right now" or "I will return your call" are obvious and unnecessary.
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You can't go wrong with "Hi, you've reached Conor. I can't answer your call right now, but please leave a message and I will get back to you shortly."
At this point, people know how to use an answering machine or voicemail. Just let them know they've reached who they were trying to reach and all will be well.
Then again, my own voicemail is "Hi, you've reached Mitch. Leave a message and then it will be my turn to call you." Not very professional, but a lot of fun.