If you don’t have a professional voicemail greeting, you may be turning away prospects without even realizing what’s happening.

As hard as you try to answer every business call, you won’t always be able to. Some calls will have to transfer to your voicemail. Will your voicemail message be a reason your prospects may decide not to work with you? 

“A professional voicemail recording boosts your credibility, makes you seem more competent, and encourages whoever's listening to it to continue the relationship,” writes Aja Frost in a recent HubSpot article.

Crafting Professional Voicemail Greetings for All Occasions

Frost also points out that having only one message is shortsighted. You need different messages in specific situations, including:

1. Business

Let’s start with the basics for your work phone. Obviously, you need to start with a greeting and your name. Then, after you’ve established that it’s unfortunate you can’t talk at that moment, you can proceed a few ways.

You can ask the prospect to leave their name and contact information. When you do this on your business voicemail greeting, you should also give them a relative time frame during which they can expect a call back from you (for example, within 24 hours). By doing this, you’re subtly giving them a guarantee that they’ll hear back from you. Also, keep it short and sweet.

Offering different ways to reach you is also a reassuring technique for voicemail messages. Give your prospect the option of leaving a voicemail. State your email address or alternate phone number on voicemail greetings as another contact point. If the matter they’re trying to reach you about is urgent, they probably won’t bother leaving a voicemail. They’d rather keep trying to get a hold of you.

Short lists of places to get answers to commonly asked questions can also come in handy during voicemail messages. Do you get a lot of calls about one specific subject explained in detail on your company's website? Use your professional voicemail greeting script to direct the caller there. Frost recommends professional voicemails along the lines of, "If you're looking for information on [X], please check out our [Facebook page, company website, etc.]. If you want to know more about [Y], take a look at [Z page on our site, our YouTube channel, etc.]. Still have more questions? Leave your name and number, and we'll return your call straight away."

2. Vacation

If you’re leaving the office for vacation, your prospects and clients need to know they can’t expect to hear from you for a while. So, after your traditional voicemail greeting script and statement of your name, explain that you are away from the office. How in-​depth with information on your vacation you want to be is up to you, but be sure you leave the dates you will be away in the message. Many professional voicemails also include the name and contact number of someone else in the company the caller can reach out to if they need to talk to someone before you return to the office.

Here's one of the best voicemail greeting examples: "I'll be out of the office from May 1 through May 5. Please contact Maria Jones at Ext. 123 if you need assistance during that time. She is familiar with all our products and can connect you with the right person in my absence. Or leave a message, and I'll return your call as soon as I return."

3. Holiday

Chances are, when you're out of the office for holiday time off, the rest of the office will be as well. When this happens, you can begin your voicemail with a standard professional voicemail greeting of some version of "Hi!" or wish the caller a happy holiday. Then explain that your team or office is closed for the holiday. If you're one of those masochists who still checks their email during holiday breaks, you can direct the caller there to reach you. Then give a pleasant send-off.

For example, "Our company is closed for the holiday until Monday at 8:00 a.m. to give our team a well-​deserved break. We realize you might need us during this time. Please email me at mjonas@​bestcompany.​com, and we will get back to you as soon as possible."