Holiday Voicemail Greetings

With the holidays in full swing, your holiday voicemail greeting message might be something that you need to create for the days your business is closed or hours are shortened. Whether it is for your companies main voicemail greeting, or for your employee’s individual voicemail greetings, here are some tips to get you started.

Professional Voicemail Greetings

Are your callers greeted with a standard voicemail greeting message?

“Press 1 for sales, Press 2 for billing.”

The old saying is true: there is never a second chance to make a good first impression. That is particularly true when it comes to your company’s outgoing message.

Why It’s Important

Many companies don’t have a live person answering the phone anymore. Most rely on automation to get a small amount of data from the caller to get them to the right person.

The voicemail message greeting is the first communication that prospects and clients hear if no one is available to answer their call. So the message must sound strong, professional, and trustworthy.

It’s also important that even if your company does answer the phone with a live person. A message is just as important if the person can’t answer the phone. From a busy overflow to an out-of-office message, voicemail greetings frequently give callers the first impression of your company.

Much like your website and social media engagement, voicemail greetings show the caller how professional your company is. Even though most people prefer to talk to a live person, holiday voicemail greetings can introduce your company to the person and give them a better calling experience.

What Should Your Company Voicemail Message Say?

The short answer Is that your message should get right to the point. Explain why your company is not answering the phone and invite them to leave a message.

“Hello, you’ve reached Press8 telecom. We’re currently unavailable, but we would like to speak with you. So please leave your name and number and your reason for calling. Someone will call back as soon as possible. Thank you.”

You should also let Them know when they can expect a callback. For calls after hours, let them know when your team will be back in the office:

“Hello, you’ve reached Press8 telecom. We’re available by phone from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Central time Monday through Friday. You can also contact us by visiting our website, Press8.com, or emailing us at info@press8.com. If you prefer that we return your call, please leave your name and number after the tone. Thank you.”

Some companies like to use humor in their voicemail greetings. Be cautious with humor. For a business in a conservative industry, adding humor is more likely to be a turn-off. You may end up with more hang-ups than voicemails if the caller isn’t aware of the company’s humorous streak. Humor may work for a digital marketing agency, but a financial services firm is probably not the place.

Stumped for a script? Hubspot offers examples of professional voicemail greetings on its website.

Make sure after the holidays that your system returns to the normal voicemail greeting. Nobody wants to hear that end-of-year message in March!

Desk Phone Voicemail

Anyone with an office line should also have a personalized outgoing voicemail message. Teammates can take advantage of their voicemail messages to notify callers when they are unavailable. Use it for working from home, going on vacation, or when you are planning to be out of the office for an extended period, such as maternity leave.

Again, keep it short, simple, and get the message across quickly:

“Hello, this is Tamara with Press8 Telecom. I’m either away from my desk or on another call. Please leave your name, number and a brief message and I’ll return your call as soon as I can. Thank you.”

Is email a better way to communicate? Let them know that in the voicemail:

“Hello, you’ve reached Tamara at Press8 Telecom. If you need a quick response, please send an email to info@Press8.com. I’ll be in touch by the end of the day. If it’s not urgent, leave me a message with your name and number. Thanks for calling.”

For a teammate who will be out of the office for vacation, or other reasons, the same rule applies:

“Hello, This is Tamara. Thanks for calling. I’m out of the office from June 1st through June 15th. If you need help with your VoIP system before then, please call John at 555-555-1212. Thank you.

You can also use outgoing voicemail for other messages to your callers:

“Hello. Tamara is no longer with Press8 Telecom. Please forward all future calls and requests to John Smith at 555-555-1212. Thank you.”

Holiday Voicemail Greetings

Just like your everyday voicemail message, the holiday voicemail greetings should also sound professional and trustworthy. But it’s also important to make sure that it is short and not lengthy.

Start By wishing your callers happy holidays. Will your office be open, closed, have limited hours or extended hours? Let your callers and customers know right up front:

Happy Holidays from Press8 Telecom. We are open during regular business hours throughout the holidays. We will be closing the office on December 23rd and re-opening on December 27th so that our teammates enjoy the holiday with their loved ones. We will also close on December 30th for New Year’s and re-open on January 3rd for business as usual. Thank you for calling.

While the office is closed, use a different message that explains the absence:

Thanks for calling Press8 Telecom. Our office is closed for the Christmas holiday, but we’ll be back in the office on December 27th. You can leave us a message. We will respond when we return to the office. Happy Holidays!

Include contact information of an on-call emergency teammate if there is one.

VoIP makes and office communication easy and less expensive all year round. A VoIP system accommodates all your needs easily whether your year-end is a busy or a quiet one.

Contact Press8 Telecom today to talk about upgrading your phone system to a new, flexible VoIP system that is just what your business needs for less money than a traditional hosted PBX system. We’ll give you a free quote on the system that’s just right for your company.

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