1. Don’t hide behind your voice mail.
Whenever possible and practical, answer your own phone
or take calls that are forwarded to you by your assistant.
Most people prefer to speak to you directly. Good customer
care requires that you answer your own phone at least
some of the time. When you do, you send a positive message
of availability.
2.
Update your greeting regularly.
You should always update your greetings to reflect your
schedule and provide callers with the best time to reach
you. Your caller should be able to figure out an expected
timeframe for a callback by the greeting they here. Additionally,
if you are going to be away from your phone for a prolonged
period of time, let your callers know when you will return
and provide the name and number of a co-worker who can
be reached in your absence.
3.
Respond to messages promptly.
Depending on the nature and urgency of the call, if your
callers don’t receive responses within a reasonable
period of time (usually 1-2 days), they will begin to
assume that voice mail is an ineffective way of communicating
with you. Get into the habit of regularly checking for
messages at least three times a day, including every time
you come back from being out of the office for lunch or
a meeting.
4.
Encourage people to leave effective messages.
Try saying something like: “Please let me know the
reason for your call and any specific information I need
to know in order to help you.” Additionally, you
may want to encourage people to e-mail you with any details
they think you might find helpful. Lastly, in the rush
to leave a detailed message that covers all the important
points, many callers often forget to leave their phone
number. State in your greeting “Please leave your
phone number, even if you think I already have it.”
5.
Give people the option of pressing # and 0.
Nothing is more frustrating than being forced to listen
to the same voice mail greeting you have heard the last
nine times for a tenth! Most phone systems will allow
you to set it up so that your caller can bypass your greeting
by pressing the pound (#) key and go straight to leaving
you a message. Likewise, if your system allows, give your
callers an out completely by allowing them to press “0”
and reach a company operator.
6.
Plan and prepare your return calls.
Making specific notes on what you want to cover in the
call, rather than relying on memory, can cut way down
on the time you spend on return calls. You can also make
your calls more efficient by conditioning the call up
front by stating a time frame. The best times of the day
to return calls are 1/2 hour before lunch and 1/2 hour
before the end of the day. People will have less time
to chat and are more focused on getting the job done.
7.
When leaving messages, don’t assume.
 |
Don’t
assume the person you are calling recognizes your
voice. Always state at the beginning of your message
“This is so and so calling.” |
|
Don’t
assume the person you are calling has your phone number
handy. Make it easy for him or her to respond
by including your number in your message. |
|
¸Don’t
assume the person you are calling knows what you are
talking about. Introduce your response with an
opening that tells them why you are calling. |
8.
Keep your outgoing messages short and to the point.
Limit the length of your voice messages to between 20
seconds and two minutes. Likewise, you want to avoid unfocused
messages that go all over the place. If you group several
topics together into one message, the person may wait
until they can address all the topics before taking action
and/or responding.
9.
Tell them how to reply.
You can make it easier on the person you leave a message
for by giving them some guidance about how you would like
your message responded to. If the call is simply an FYI,
let them know that. If you want other actions taken, be
specific.
10.
Take security measures
Unauthorized entry into your voice mailbox can potentially
cause anything from embarrassment to disaster for you
and your company. Take the following precautions:
|
Use
between 5 and 10 digits for your security code. The
more numbers you have the harder it will be for someone
to figure out. |
|
Avoid
overly simply or obvious codes. Numbers such as your
birthdate, anniversary or simple numbers such as 2222
are easy to deduce or figure out. |
|
Memorize
your code. Don’t keep your code written in the
phone directory of your time management system or
on a slip of paper you carry in your wallet. |
|
Every
so often, change your code. This is especially important
if you have an employee who knew the code and has
left the company, or if you think the code has been
compromised in any way. |
