While emails have become an increasingly popular way to contact a business, you still need to have a voicemail handy for customers who want to give you a call but don't reach you at a good time. Without a proper voicemail you will miss customers who don't leave their call back information or who are put off by a lack of voicemail infrastructure.. We've got tips on how you can ensure your voicemail is not only not hurting your business, but encouraging customers to come trust your business with their needs.
- Identify yourself. It may seem silly, but plenty of people dial wrong numbers or otherwise erroneously call a business. So announce who they're calling so that they know whether or not they've landed in the right spot. "Hi, you've reached Joe's Plumbing, I'm sorry we can't take your call right now...""
- Call out your location. This is particularly important if you have multiple locations that cover different service areas. Let them know which location they've called to avoid headaches down the road. And even if you don't have multiple locations, there may be similarly named businesses that you'll want to be sure to distinguish yourself from by clarifying your address to a caller.
- Reiterate your business hours. Make sure to let them know in the voicemail when your business is open and accepting calls. This not only guides them on when they can best contact you, but will also alleviate any annoyance they may feel at you not answering the phone by clarifying expectations.
- Consider an after-hours answering service. If you've got room in your budget and considerable call volume, it might be worth it to hire a third-party answering service for when your business is closed. An answering service will do intake on customer calls and pass the information to you to call customers back during your business hours. This can be a great benefit both to you and your customers by organizing and streamlining the process.
Proper voicemail set up and etiquette is just one way you can ensure you're not losing out on customers because of minor mistakes.
