[178] How to Leave a Voicemail Message

Learn What To Say When Leaving a Voicemail Message

 

 

Hey amigos y amigas, today we will learn how to leave a voicemail message PLUS we will learn how to record a Voicemail greeting! Enjoy :)

Episodes mentioned

[177] How To Start Conversations Over the Phone

Transcript

Hey can I ask you something…. – What’s your experience with leaving voicemail messages? Do you have any funny stories to share? Leaving voicemail messages is one of those things that if possible, we’d avoid it. It’s just scary for an English learner, isn’t it? To leave a voicemail message… knowing that you have to keep your messages short, speak loud and clear and sound confident. Too many things to think about! Ok today, we are going to tackle this fear once and for all. I’ll get back to you after this jingle – Go!

Hey amigos, you are listening to English Made Simple, this is episode number 178, number one-hundred and seventy-eight, numero ciento setenta y ocho.

My name is Milena from www.englishmadesimple.net, I’m the host of this amazing podcast, going over 2 years now! Sounds crazy I know!

Welcome to my regular listeners and welcome to the new listeners as well – where have you been hiding? Thanks everyone for tuning in to episode number 178, nice to have you here.

Before we begin, I hope you learnt something in episode 177. We covered how to make inquiries over the phone, I gave you some tips and simple phrases to help you get started. If you are new to the show please go back to the last episode and have a listen to those phrases.

Today is slightly different but still related to the last episode.

Let’s say you wanted to call someone and make an inquiry and that person doesn’t pick up their phone. To pick up the phone is to answer the phone. It’s a phrasal verb.

So that person doesn’t pick up, and you are thinking ok cool, I’ll just call back – but NO – then you hear that dreadful message (correction: dreaded message): “Hi, this is Luke Skywalker, I am not available right now, please leave a message after the beep. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you”

Aaargh, you are thinking, crap I need to say something, ooooh what do I say, think, think… nothing comes to mind, you are not prepared and you hang up.

To hang up means to end the call. It is another phrasal verb.

Ayaya, your heart is racing, you’ve got a mini anxiety attack, short of breath and you are pacing around the house. Oh damn, I need to call that person again.

How many of you can relate to this story?

I remember hanging up the phone every time I heard a Voicemail message. I froze with fear and couldn’t speak.

Ok, let’s see how we can make this process a lot easier – how to leave a voicemail message and not feel like an idiot afterwards, but feeling confident.

Today we are going to learn how to:

*record a voicemail greeting – by the way, do you know what this is? I’ll explain it soon.
*how to leave a voicemail message – the key is to do it slowly and clearly. But we shall go into it soon.
*and I will share two tips on how you can perfect your voicemail message

I don’t know about you, but this sounds Amazing!

I will share examples with you, so it’s easier for you to remember and also, so that you can start using them straight away.

Let’s start with the voicemail greeting first.

A voicemail greeting is a greeting that you record on your phone. This is played when you are not able to answer your phone. The person who calls you will hear the greeting and then leave a message.

At the beginning of the show, I used an example of a voicemail greeting – I used the name Luke Skywalker. He is a character from the Star Wars movie for those of you who hadn’t heard of Luke Skywalker before.

So, the greeting I used was: “Hi, this is Luke Skywalker, I am not available right now, please leave a message after the beep. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you”

Instead of Luke Skywalker, use your own name, and ta-da you have your voicemail greeting.

You know what? I would shorten this greeting even more. Let’s make it simpler. Let’s make it shorter.

“Hi, this is Luke. Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you.”

Easy peasy japanesy!

You can also say … and I will call you back as soon as I can. Thank you.

Let’s try a different name….Hi this is Ricardo….

It’s been a long time since I recorded my voicemail greeting. I am going to change it to something completely different.

To tell you the truth, I don’t like when people leave me a Voicemail message. I prefer when they text me on my phone or email me. I can see what the call is about straight away. It saves me time from logging into my Voicemail and playing the message, then waiting for it to finish. I am a bit impatient.

So my new Voicemail message would be something like: Hi, this is Milena. Please know I check my Voicemail once per week. You may leave me a message here and I will call you back later in the week or preferably, you can send me an email to milena@www.englishmadesimple.net and I will reply to you asap. Thank you

It’s going to be something like that. It’s a bit long isn’t it? Haha It goes against my advice! haha

But for you guys just keep it short. Hi this is Ana Jones, please leave a message and I will call you back as soon as I can. Thank you!

Why should you record a voicemail greeting?

It makes you look professional. Especially, if you are applying for jobs, calling agents for accommodation, enrolling in to courses, have your own business and so on, it’s important to have your Voicemail greeting set up& configured. You only need to do this once!

My first tip for you today, is to write it down and when you are ready to record simply read it out.

You will probably have to practice it a few times, until your voice is stronger, louder and clearer. That’s your homework now, in case you haven’t got a Voicemail greeting.

Now onto the next point … what have we got for today….

Alrighty, this is the scary part now. How to leave a Voicemail message.

What do you say and how long should it be?

Both great questions.

Who are you leaving the message for?

Is it for someone you have not met before OR is it your friend? I think it’s easier when it’s your friend haha You can just say: Hey, man. It’s me. Call me back. Simple.

If I get a message like that – I would be wondering: Who is me? I still like it when people leave their name, I don’t have to be guessing who is calling.

Righto, let’s continue.

Let’s imagine you call a property agent, you don’t expect you get a Voicemail message. You expect them to answer the phone. In this case the Voicemail starts to play.

What I would do is hang up. End the call.

Take a pen and paper and write down exactly what you will say. Then call them back. This way you will make sure you say what needs to be said, you will not forget to say your name at the end and also share your phone number.

Here is an example of how to leave a Voicemail message for the property agent called Han Solo:

Hi Han Solo, my name is Chewbacca. I am calling regarding the property you have for rent on Jones Street in Adelaide. My name again, it’s Chewbacca and my number is 8936563, that’s 8936563. Please call me back when you can. Thanks.

That’s it!

Have you noticed how I slowed down towards the end of the message? I spoke slower and clearer. This is because when the person on the other line hears your message, they will be writing down your details before calling you back. Let’s make it easy for them to call you back!

So that was my second tip for you guys today.

And also don’t forget to write down your message just in case you get too anxious and forget to say your name at the end of the message.

You can see how this short exercise of writing the messages down can really be helpful.

Cool bananas! I hope that was clear as mud!

So today, you’ve learnt how to record your own Voicemail greeting and how to leave a Voicemail message. Remember amigos, transcriptions to all of the episodes are available on the English Made Simple website, simply go to www.englishmadesimple.net/podcast

You can copy these exact greeting messages I shared with you today!

Thanks for joining me today and thanks for listening. I hope you learned something new today.
Weon Inteligene is away on holiday, coming back soon to enlighten you in the next episode!

Guys, you’ve been an amazing audience, and you’ve been jamming with Milena from English Made Simple. Until next time. Hasta la proxima!