Look Good on Voice Mail

Your use of voice mail tells others a lot about you. Here's how to make a good impression.

1) Present a Positive Image

Your outgoing voice mail message should be simple, positive, and professional. State your name and company followed by concise directions. You may want to leave a daily message because it shows that you check your messages and tells callers what to expect. For example, "Welcome to Steve Kaye's voice mail at Personal Quality. Today is Monday and I will be out, helping a client improve profits. Please leave a message and I'll return your call tomorrow." This message lasts nine seconds.

Make sure that your outgoing message is unencumbered by music (turn off the radio), rustling papers (sit still), and background noise (close the door). These sounds make it make it difficult for callers to understand your message. Similarly, avoid gimmicks such as singing, reading poetry, or citing long lists of credentials. These appear unprofessional.

2) Practice Professional Courtesy

Some people use voice mail to screen calls. Although this may control interruptions, it becomes rude if you never respond to the messages. Those messages are very important to the people who left them. That's why they called.

Set aside a time each day to return calls. If the messages were left by people whom you do not want to talk to, have an assistant return the calls. Or call back when the other person will be away from the phone and leave a message. The brief moment that you spend on a return message helps the caller continue business and frees you from receiving additional unwanted calls. For example it takes eight seconds to say, "Hi, Chris. This is Steve Kaye responding to the message you left today. Please remove my name from your call list. I have no interest in cryogenic ant farms."

- - - - - - - -

IAF Certified Professional Facilitator and author Steve Kaye works with leaders who want to be more effective. His innovative workshops have informed and inspired people nationwide. His facilitation produces results that people will support. Call 714-528-1300 or visit his web site for over 100 pages of valuable ideas. Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.stevekaye.com

Reuters - U.S. mortgage foreclosure filings dropped for a second straight month in February, and notched the smallest annual increase in four years as housing-rescue efforts contained activity, a report released on Thursday showed.

AP - Oil prices hovered around $82 a barrel Thursday in Europe as traders weighed stagnant U.S. crude demand against a gradual global economic recovery.

AP - Just how fast can India grow? Ask Manal Farooq, who can't make gloves quickly enough.

AFP - US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has warned the European Commission its plans to regulate hedge funds and private equity groups could spark a transatlantic row, a paper reported Thursday.

AP - Japan's economic growth was weaker than first estimated in the fourth quarter, underscoring a patchy recovery in the world's No. 2 economy.

AFP - The US Senate has adopted a 140-billion-dollar raft of measures aimed at shoring up unemployment benefits and setting out tax breaks to spur job creation.

AP - The Federal Reserve, still dusting itself off from a fight that threatened to trim its powers, could emerge from a congressional overhaul of banking rules as the top cop over the nation's largest financial institutions.

AP - Businesses trimmed inventories at the wholesale level again in January even though sales rose for a 10th consecutive month. The dip in inventories underscored that businesses remain cautious about restocking their depleted shelves.

AP - The Senate voted Wednesday to extend key pieces of last year's economic stimulus measure, including help for the jobless and money to help financially strapped states pay for health care for the poor.