Ever heard the term BVM? That stands for BEFORE VOICE MAIL. Can you remember those days? Believe it or not....there was a time when there was no voice mail. Before automated attendants. Before, "I’m not at my desk right now." Just good, old-fashioned human beings talking to each other.

People often tell me, "I HATE VOICE MAIL!" As we talk further, I find that it’s not really VOICE MAIL they hate, it’s the AUTOMATED ATTENDANT. That dull, monotone, recording chip that is suppose to "welcome callers."

Is there anyone reading this that will disagree that the first voice one hears when you call a company sets the tone - starts the process and is the voice that should "welcome" the caller into the company? Why on earth do companies put a dull, monotone, robotic message on their voice mail to represent their goods and services?

In our recent survey of ‘What bugs you on the telephone?’, the automated attendant is now the 2nd most frustrating ‘bug’ to the American public; coming in right after "being put on hold" which remains the number one frustration!
Let’s get your system up and running to satisfy, not aggravate your callers.

There are three parts to what is referred to as "voice mail."
1) THE AUTOMATED ATTENDANT - Affectionately labeled ‘the groaner’ because that’s what most people do when they hear the lethargic: "Thank you for calling XYZ. If you know your party’s extension, please press it now. Blah, blah, blah."

If you’re the caller, it’s important to realize the moment you hear the "Th...." in "Thank you for calling," you can normally press zero and bypass the dull, robotic, monotone introduction to the company. In most cases, you’ll reach a person. Although, as the caller, if you make repetitive calls to one person or company, learning the ‘extension number’ will expedite your call.

If you’re using the automated attendant at your company, please remember that you’re not married to the ‘voice’ that came with the machine. It can be recorded to reflect the mood and style of your company, which by all standards should be upbeat, bright and friendly. (Most robotic, monotone, digital chips are not any of these.)

So, one of the first things you need to consider if you’re using the automated attendant is to re-record the initial greeting that came with the machine. Have one of your bright, happy, friendly sounding employees be your ‘voice of choice.’ Make it an American Idol contest.

The recording should be as conversational and friendly sounding as possible. And yes, recorded with a BIG SMILE. Also, consider hiring a professional voice-over expert to record your opening message to your callers. It’s worth it.

A friend of mine recently wrote her own automated attendant message and recorded the opening message to her callers herself. She made it sound as though you were on a theme park ride. Very clever. Part of the problem with the Automated Attendant is the dull, somber sounding voice. Call your own system and then ask yourself if that’s the voice that you want welcoming your callers. If not, re-record!

2) THE GREETING - Feel as though you’re missing a few messages on your voice mail? It could be the way you greet your callers. Your greeting to the caller needs to give USEFUL information. If you’re using the standard: "Hi, this is Bob and I’m not here right now," well DUH, that’s a hot lot of news. Re-think the process and your greeting.

When your personal voice mail message greets the caller, you’re obviously away from your desk or on the phone. So use those very precious moments to be creative and give the caller pertinent information. No one wants to hear where you’re NOT. They need to know where you ARE.

Here’s a sample: "Hi, this is Nancy Friedman, in the sales department. I’m in a staff meeting till 3 p.m. Go ahead and leave a message. I do check messages often and calls will be returned. If you need me sooner, please call my assistant, Valerie, at extension 41 and she’ll find me for you. Thanks and have a super day!"

Most important on a greeting is to let the callers know: WHEN YOU WILL RETURN. It’s nice to know where you are, but callers NEED to know when you’ll return. And it’s a good idea to always leave an escape valve. Otherwise, your callers get what is affectionately labeled ‘voice mail jail.’

(NOTE: This particular tip does mean you’ll need to re-record your greeting daily - about an eight-second job that can be done from anywhere in the world.)

If you’d prefer NOT to do a daily recording of where you are that’s OK too. Use a generic message. Start your message off with the positive: "Hi, This is Nancy in Sales and I am in the office all week and will return all messages."

The phrase "I’ll return your call AS SOON AS POSSIBLE" is not necessary. It’s obvious. And there are many folks who just don’t return calls. Then you’re fibbing!!! So if your Voice Mail greeting says: "I’ll return your call" - then do it. Or don’t include it in the greeting.

Surveys indicate most people will leave a message if they hear you check your machine. Our surveys also show callers respond to a friendly, happy greeting much better than a blah, blah, dull one. So be sure you’re SMILING when you record your greeting.

If you’re going to be out of the office for longer than a day, we suggest you let your callers know that. We’ve seen salespeople lose important clients because calls weren’t returned in a timely manner. They had left a generic "I’ll return your call as soon as possible" and didn’t.

And when you call someone and hear the "I’ll return your call as soon as possible," you might consider zeroing out and finding out if the person is actually in the office. We’ve done that several times and found that the person left a ‘generic’ message but was in Hawaii for a 2 week vacation and didn’t bother to fix his greeting or check his messages.

3) THE MESSAGE - This is your opportunity to be GREAT. Leaving a message on voice mail for someone is your electronic business card. You’d probably be pretty embarrassed to hand someone your business card with the wrong phone number, or one that was all messed up, wouldn’t you? Then why leave anything but a GREAT voice mail message?

Remember, when someone goes out to lunch, to a long meeting or is gone for a few days and comes back to their office, they hear something like this: "Hello, you have 52 NEW messages." And yours is somewhere in there. It needs to stand out. You have a lot of competition.

There are three kinds of messages to leave. A POOR, AN AVERAGE and A GREAT. Let me explain all three.

Have you ever had this one?

POOR: "Hi, this is Bob, give me a call."

You probably have. It’s maddening, too. Bob who? I know 3 Bob’s. And from where I’m calling, I’m unable to bring up his phone number. The poorest of the poor.

AVERAGE: "Hi, this is Bob, call me at 291-1012. I need to ask you something."

So ask it....on the message you leave. Voice mail is asynchronous communication. Since so much information flow these days is one way, use your message to get the ball rolling, leave enough information to move a process forward. Chances are when the call is returned the answer will be included.

GREAT: "Hi, Nancy. This is Bob Smith, Acme Distributors. I’d like to get together with you to discuss the proposal I sent over the other day. There are some new ideas to talk about. I’m in and out of the office myself, but please call my voice mail and leave me a time we can meet, or call my secretary Debbie at extension 22, and let her know the time. Either way is fine. Look forward to seeing you. Again, it’s Bob with Acme at 291-10-12. That’s 291-10-12."

The GREAT message has all the meat necessary to do business. And the phone number is repeated at the end, twice and slowly. Notice too, it’s clustered. We didn’t say 1-0-1-2. We used 10-12. It’s an important technique that makes it easier for the other person to remember your number.

Remember, the person you’re calling gets a lot of voice mail messages, so in order for yours to be ‘heard,’ be GREAT - not average. Also, upbeat, friendly messages are far more apt to be returned first. So again, remember to smile when you leave a message.

Exercise your options. Various voice mail systems will allow you to play back what you recorded and offer an opportunity to re-record. Take that option. Don’t hesitate to use these options because it can save you a lot of aggravation.

Also, remember, sometimes people go on vacation and forget to say so in their greeting. Or their mailbox may be full. Check in with the operator and ask if the person is in the office, or ask the operator if your contact has an assistant you can talk with. Whenever possible, do leave a voice mail message, too. Since voice mail is obviously here to stay, we might as well make it work for us, not against us.

TIPS

• Expect to encounter voice mail. Be prepared. (Only 30 percent of all calls are connected to those you need to talk with, on the first try.)
  
• Don’t "wing" a message you’re going to leave. Be prepared. Have an objective. Know what you’re going to say. Messages without thought will sound amateurish.
  
• Return all calls...or have them returned on your behalf. There’s little value to having voice mail unless a message is returned. If your greeting says you will return all calls....then by gosh, do it! Or remove the part that says you will.
  
• Avoid leaving bad news messages on voice mail. Example: "Hi Nancy. This is the veterinarian’s office calling. Remember you dropped off Trixie this morning? Well...." (You get the picture.)
  
• Ask for a call back time when leaving messages. A simple "I need to hear from you by ‘such and such’ can help. Not fool proof, but does help. It gives direction to the listener.
  
• Smile, smile, smile. And then smile some more.

About the author
Nancy Friedman is president of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training and a popular speaker at association, chamber and corporate meetings. Call 314-291-1012 for more information; or visit the Tel Doc Web site at www.telephonedoctor.com/keynote