More electronic etiquette – Voicemail

Okay, here we go again with yet another inspiration from one of my Facebook friends.  Last time it was email etiquette.  Now let’s move on to voicemail etiquette.  Does it drive you crazy when someone calls you at your office and doesn’t leave a message  —  just hanging up when the message time starts?   My poor frustrated Facebook friend said,  “leave a voicemail! If you call someone and they don’t answer–leave a voicemail!”

Another FB friend then chimed in, “please, even if you think we have it, leave your phone number.”

And yet another FB commenter added, “Hang in there and remember they’ll continue to not leave their names and make you guess who they are when they call and get you.”  This is probably true because as we all know old habits are hard to break.

To that I’ll add,  does it drive you even crazier when the caller just says “call me when you get a chance?”

To me, that’s  an open-ended question that’s you are afraid to answer.  For instance, has anyone ever said, “Can you do me a favor?”  Now before I’m going to answer that one, I want to know exactly what that favor is!  So leave details for the person you are trying to reach.

So recently I have been making an effort to be more thoughtful when leaving voicemail.  But I’ll take these suggestions a step further.  Be sure to leave a few details in your voicemail.  I want to know what my caller needs.  That helps me prioritize callbacks.  If you just want to say “hi” and chat for a few, tell me that.  If you need something really important, tell me that too.

With all the things we have to worry about in our day-to-day business and personal activities, voicemail may not seem important, but for many of us it is part of our daily life. And I think we’re all ready for something to make our day go a little smoother. For more suggestions, check out this article.

I hope someone out there reading this post will think more about the voicemail messages they leave.  One change a little at a time can make a huge impact.  Think about it!