Professional Business Voice Messaging

---

The phone rings... what do you do? Answer it of course, but what if you are not there? Do you leave it to transfer to your answer phone message? And what if you don't have an answer phone message? Well, if you have a business, with no voice messaging system, you could loose your customers if you're not there to pick up the phone. And if you were the client ringing, could you imagine the frustration of having no one to answer your call? You would be certain never to ring that business again!

Whatever line of work you are in, your business cannot afford not to have a professional voice mail service on your phone system. A friendly voice message that answers promptly and professionally, directs the caller to the right department, or informs your client of the latest deals or offers and changes to opening hours is key to your business success and plays crucial role. The voice you choose for your phone system becomes part of your company's brand. A trustworthy calming voice that takes your client on a journey of positivity and understanding.  

​So.. is it necessary to have a professional voice message?

It's the first impression that potential customers will receive of your business. Callers instantly form an opinion of your business based on the voice that they hear. What message about your brand will they hear? The way the message is delivered to your client is important. Is your greeting informative, professional sounding and consistent with your brand? If not, you could be sending potential clients to your competition.
​

​Maintain your Brand.

The sound of your brand is equally as important as its look. You work hard on your brand colours and logos, etc. and they reveal to your clients how you want them to feel when considering your products or services. So, of course, is the voice and music on your phone system. You can continue to project your brand identity directly where customers experience it – in their ear!
​

​Increase sales with an on-hold message.

According to a national study published by The North American Telecommunications Association 90% of callers hang-up in less than one minute with silence while they are kept on hold and the survey found that when callers were presented with On Hold Messaging verses silence or a radio commercial they would stay on hold longer and were more likely to exhibit interest in the product advertised. They were also more likely to retain information and were less agitated. Callers stayed on the line up to 25% longer when provided with on hold messages verses silence or even background music. When you consider that a single recorded message could drum up more business for you, it just doesn’t make sense to not leverage this quality time with your customer.​

Professional recordings vs your secretary or office temp?​

It is tempting to record yourself, or ask your office temp who has a nice voice. But would you have the right recording space in which to record in? Without the right recording space your audio would have lots of reverb. It would of course be cheaper, right? but remember you are presenting your business to potential customers. A professional voice over artist would not only sound better, have the perfect recording space and the right tone of voice to advertise your business, they would also be contactable at any time should you need the message updating. Your office temp on the other hand would have moved on and you would have to record a different voice thus breaking up the continuity of your brand. Using a professional voice artist means knowing that you’ll have access to the same talent for future needs.​

​Who has legal rights to the recording?

For example, say the employee who created the voice recordings later quits or is terminated. Who has the legal rights to those recordings? The ex-employee could cause legal issues for the company without some kind of concrete contract. You may have to remove them. Such legal issues could be avoided with professional voice recordings done by a third party.
​

​Make your phone message leave a lasting impression.

Callers have noted that a high-quality telephone greeting shows that the business they’re calling is reputable, stable and professional. This sets the right tone for customer interactions, adding credibility and hopefully increase sales. You don’t have the advantage of a personal, face-to-face interaction, so it’s even more important to deliver a super-efficient, brand-consistent, customer-oriented brand image.
​

---

​So what tone should your Phone Message convey?

​Let’s not overlook the personality that your phone system conveys. The business messaging program draws prospects in, builds trust, and participates in the sales conversion process. Your branding, including your phone message, should convey the same professional quality and attention to detail.
A professional voice over recording cannot be overstated. It will project to your callers that the way you communicate with them is on point for your brand and that they deserve the highest level of service possible.

There is no getting away from the fact that the sound quality of a professional voice recording is dramatically better than an in house recorded message. Professionally mixed and mastered phone system recordings are optimized for the specifications of business phone systems and this also means no garbled voices, background noises, reverb, or cut off messages. If the voice in the phone message is not engaging and recorded correctly your client would switch off and hang up.

A voice over artist worth their salt would have been trained and would have experience of performing and reading scripts. They would bring an air of professionalism to the message and therefore to your business. They would have a high quality recording space or studio, acoustically treated and free from background noise. They would have quality equipment to record with using a professional microphone and DAW so that the voice would sound resonant and clear and they would also know how to add music to your recording to keep your listeners engaged further. They would also be happy to help you help you write your phone message for you and would be competent in delivering your message in a variety of different ways to match your branding and business type. They would be able to sound serious, business-like or up-beat and relaxed, matching the tone of the voice to the type company. The culmination of which would result in having a voice message that would be able to make your clients feel looked after and comfortable thus building a sense of trust between the listener which would be beneficial in increasing repeat buyers and boosting sales.

And it's not that expensive to hire good voice artist. Please contact me here or listen to my on hold message here. It's more affordable than you think.

This article was written by Sarah Jackson and DL Merlin.