Making The Most Of Technology:
Making Your Voice Mail More Effective

Gone are the days of pink message slips filled with cryptic messages, transposed phone numbers and misspelled names. In this age of technology, a business lacking a voice mail system, no matter how basic, is the exception rather than the norm. There are several ways to make your voice mail system more effective.

• When recording your message, if your system has the capability, remember to let the caller know within the first few seconds how he or she can bypass your message. If you call others with this voice mail capability, note in your contact management software, card file or address book, how to bypass that person's message.

• Keep your outgoing message short and simple. You'll help callers save time by recording a brief message that includes the basics and excludes extraneous information. Include a Web site or e-mail address to reach you too.

• Make sure your outgoing message sounds professional. Anything less will project the wrong image. Avoid cutesy or corny recordings because they are more appropriate for your personal phone line. Also, review your message after you've recorded it to ensure that there are no unwanted background noises and that your voice sounds clear. Often your message is the first impression you give, so make it a professional one.

• When recording your message, don't forget to let the caller know if he or she has a limited amount of time to leave a message.

• Change your voice mail message regularly. If you receive messages from the same clients often, consider changing your message monthly.

• Identify yourself on your message. Instead of saying, "Thanks for calling. Please leave your message at the tone," say, "You have reached (your name). Please leave your message...." If a caller is unsure about whether they have reached the right person, they may not leave a message.

• Ask the caller for the best time to return his or her call (and do the same when you leave messages for others). This simple request will spare you the agony of phone tag because you'll know when someone will be in his or her office to take your return call.

• If you are out of your office a majority of the time, consider combining your voice mail system with a paging system. When someone calls, you can give them the option of paging you immediately.

• Don't save all of your voice messages. Instead, take action. After writing down or entering the message and number, erase the voice mail message. Some voice mail systems assign expiration dates to incoming messages. After a period of time, your saved message will be deleted.

You may consider your voice mail system just another piece of office technology, while others view it not as an add-on to a phone line, but a gold mine. How you choose to use your voice mail system may mean the difference between getting by or getting ahead.