Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to leave better voicemails. Now,
Speaker 1: I know that a lot of people hate voicemail. A
Speaker 1: good chunk of people just completely ignore it and would
Speaker 1: prefer people send a text if they can't reach them
Speaker 1: right away. But maybe you're leaving a message for someone
Speaker 1: you don't have a texting relationship with, and since with
Speaker 1: smartphones people can tell who called and then hung up,
Speaker 1: you might find it more polite to at least say something.
Speaker 1: So how can you leave a better voicemail? I'm taking
Speaker 1: today's tip, along with some others this week from a
Speaker 1: new book called The Little Book of Life Skills by
Speaker 1: Aaron zammit Ruddy. She interviews dozens of experts on how
Speaker 1: to do various activities in our daily lives. For voicemails,
Speaker 1: she interviewed Joel Schwartzberg, who is the author of Get
Speaker 1: to the Point, Sharpen your Message, and Make Your Words Matter.
Speaker 1: Schwartzburg offers a few ideas. First, after the beep, give
Speaker 1: a short salutation just hi, Laura will work. Immediately identify
Speaker 1: yourself and the capacity in which you are calling. This
Speaker 1: is John from x y Z company. Give your phone
Speaker 1: number immediately. Now, yes, the person's phone is perhaps recording it,
Speaker 1: but sometimes it's a switchboard number that comes up, so
Speaker 1: you want to make this clear. Do not offer long explanations.
Speaker 1: Generally with a voicemail, you are trying to get the
Speaker 1: person to call you back, not to deal with the
Speaker 1: entire matter in your message. So give a one sentence
Speaker 1: report on why you're calling or your connection to the person.
Speaker 1: Then make your request, just one request. I'd like to
Speaker 1: talk with you about working together on a conference panel.
Speaker 1: That's sort of thing. Then give your contact information again
Speaker 1: and end with appreciation and what you want to happen next. Thanks, Laura,
Speaker 1: I look forward to talking with you. This should be short.
Speaker 1: No one wants to listen to a minute long voicemail.
Speaker 1: They don't even want to read a transcription of a
Speaker 1: minute long voicemail. Schwartzberg explains that the reason this format
Speaker 1: is an improvement is that most people wait until the
Speaker 1: end of a voicemail to leave their contact info, but
Speaker 1: if the recipient doesn't catch it the first time, they
Speaker 1: will be forced to listen to the entire message. Again,
Speaker 1: which is incredibly annoying. So listing it twice, once at
Speaker 1: the beginning and once at the end increases the odds
Speaker 1: of the person following through. Now, it doesn't guarantee it.
Speaker 1: Nothing does, but given how many people just flake on voicemail,
Speaker 1: you want to do whatever you can in the meantime.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod that's b E the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
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