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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to leave better voicemails. Now,

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Speaker 1: I know that a lot of people hate voicemail. A

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Speaker 1: good chunk of people just completely ignore it and would

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Speaker 1: prefer people send a text if they can't reach them

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Speaker 1: right away. But maybe you're leaving a message for someone

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Speaker 1: you don't have a texting relationship with, and since with

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Speaker 1: smartphones people can tell who called and then hung up,

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Speaker 1: you might find it more polite to at least say something.

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Speaker 1: So how can you leave a better voicemail? I'm taking

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Speaker 1: today's tip, along with some others this week from a

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Speaker 1: new book called The Little Book of Life Skills by

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Speaker 1: Aaron zammit Ruddy. She interviews dozens of experts on how

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Speaker 1: to do various activities in our daily lives. For voicemails,

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Speaker 1: she interviewed Joel Schwartzberg, who is the author of Get

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Speaker 1: to the Point, Sharpen your Message, and Make Your Words Matter.

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Speaker 1: Schwartzburg offers a few ideas. First, after the beep, give

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Speaker 1: a short salutation just hi, Laura will work. Immediately identify

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Speaker 1: yourself and the capacity in which you are calling. This

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Speaker 1: is John from x y Z company. Give your phone

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Speaker 1: number immediately. Now, yes, the person's phone is perhaps recording it,

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Speaker 1: but sometimes it's a switchboard number that comes up, so

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Speaker 1: you want to make this clear. Do not offer long explanations.

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Speaker 1: Generally with a voicemail, you are trying to get the

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Speaker 1: person to call you back, not to deal with the

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Speaker 1: entire matter in your message. So give a one sentence

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Speaker 1: report on why you're calling or your connection to the person.

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Speaker 1: Then make your request, just one request. I'd like to

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Speaker 1: talk with you about working together on a conference panel.

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Speaker 1: That's sort of thing. Then give your contact information again

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Speaker 1: and end with appreciation and what you want to happen next. Thanks, Laura,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to talking with you. This should be short.

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Speaker 1: No one wants to listen to a minute long voicemail.

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Speaker 1: They don't even want to read a transcription of a

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Speaker 1: minute long voicemail. Schwartzberg explains that the reason this format

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Speaker 1: is an improvement is that most people wait until the

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Speaker 1: end of a voicemail to leave their contact info, but

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Speaker 1: if the recipient doesn't catch it the first time, they

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Speaker 1: will be forced to listen to the entire message. Again,

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Speaker 1: which is incredibly annoying. So listing it twice, once at

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Speaker 1: the beginning and once at the end increases the odds

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Speaker 1: of the person following through. Now, it doesn't guarantee it.

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Speaker 1: Nothing does, but given how many people just flake on voicemail,

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Speaker 1: you want to do whatever you can in the meantime.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b E the

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Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also

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Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i

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Speaker 1: heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out

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Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward

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Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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