Most real estate agents can’t survive without their SmartPhones close by. When you get busy, there will be times you just can’t answer all of your calls no matter how hard you try. Whether the calls you miss are personal or business calls, having your voice mail properly setup is important.
You may have clients you know calling you, prospective clients that you have never spoken with or even people that are calling for personal reasons. Identifying who you are in your voice mail message is important if you want to portray yourself as a professional.
Voice mail setup doesn’t have to take a long time or be complicated. Before you pick up the phone to record your greeting, take a few minutes to write your script and practice to make sure you sound professional.
Here are some tips to make sure your voice mail greeting is professional and polished when you can’t answer the phone.
- Speak slowly so you are easy to understand.
- Immediately state who you are. Include your name and the company you work for.
- Share an alternative way to reach you in your message such as email, your website or by text message.
- If you are not going to be able to return calls for an extended period of time, record a temporary greeting that let’s your callers know that.
- If you set an expectation in your voice mail for how quickly you return calls, make sure to honor that promise.
- You do have several things that are important to say but don’t let your message go on so long that people get frustrated and hang up.
If you aren’t sure where to start, here is a sample voice mail script to help you. Remember, your voice mail doesn’t have to last forever. Keep it current and fresh and change it when needed.
“You have reached Jane Smith with ABC Realty. Your call is very important to me, so please leave me a message at the sound of the one with your contact information and the reason for your call and I will get back to you within 24 hours. You may also reach me at jane.smith@abcrealty.com or send me a text message if you would like. Thank you for calling and I look forward to talking to you soon.”
You might also state in the voicemail that if the caller has called after normal business hours you will contact them the next business day. I have had agents state that if they are calling after 7:00 PM the call will be returned after 9:00 AM the following day.
Another note to make is stating that if this is an emergency; please text you and you will respond as quickly as possible.
There will be times you might have to break the rules, but rules are made to be broken, but also sets the boundaries and the expectation for the caller.
When you receive a text message and you cannot respond quickly you might type up a response and save it to your NOTES on your SmartPhone. Then when you cannot reply quickly just coy and past the test as your response. Here is an example:
“Thank you for your text, unfortunately I am not available to respond at the moment, but please know your message is very important to me and I will respond as quickly as I can. You can also email me at jane.smith@abcrealty.com as I do check email throughout the day.”
And the last tip I have for you is you might consider changing your voicemail daily to tell the caller or the person texting you know your schedule for that day. This is a little excessive but is very effective.
Remember, it is extremely disrespectful to the person who you are physically with to take a text message without first asking them if they mind you taking a moment to reply that you are busy. This is just common curiosity, so be respectful to the person you are with as their time is just as valuable as yours and think how it would make you feel to have the shoe on the other foot.
Don’t forget to setup your voice mail on your office phone in addition to your cell phone. That message can be similar but might suggest they call your cell phone number as an alternative. Remember, take your time and don’t rush and keep recording it until you get it perfect!
And a find note, when calling or texting someone allow them time to get back to you. Make sure you are clear with your message, leave your name, phone number (yes, it shows up on called ID, but not everyone will have this feature) your email and website. Leave your message and always end the call with “thank you and I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.”
If you already have a relationship built with the person you are calling you won’t need to leave all the details, but all the same leave a clear message, take background noise in consideration and be professional and polite.
If you enjoyed reading these tips on the best practices of using your SmartPhone and Text Messaging, please feel free to share, email this blog or comment below.
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