Jul 20 How to Create a Professional Main Greeting

Don't try to relay too much information in the main greeting when you can put that information later in the call tree.

For example if you want to give the caller directions to your office, offer them the option of chosing a number to dial to hear those instructions. Don't put that in the main greeting because some people might not need directions and yet they will have to listen to them everytime they call.

Use a professional voice recording.

Even though you can make your own main greeting using your PC or cell phone, I wouldn't recommend it. It's always best to pay a voice talent to make the recording for you. There are websites that offer multiple voice talents including languages other than English, all over the Interent and they use their own recording studio to make the sound crisp and clear. Press8 Hosted PBX offers this service through their Audio Production Store.

Remember a company directory.

Callers don't always remember an employees extension. Giving them access to a company directory with names and associated extensions is always helpful.

Give the caller the option to press '0' for an operator.

Even if you do not have an operator, anyone can answer these calls. It's just important to have an 'out' for customers who don't want to work through a call tree and want to talk to a real person.

Do not use advertising slogans in your main greeting unless they are very short.

Have you ever called a company only to sit on the phone while they played advertising messages to you? It can be annoying if you have a long advertising slogan that customers have to listen to each time they call your organization. For example: "Thank you for calling Ardvark Moving where you are the main reason why we move so fast and why we are always trying our hardest. Our customer comes first every time and in every instance...' See how much of your valuable time they have wasted? Don't do this to your customer. Let them get to where they want to go quickly.

Nicely written professional main greeting

"Thank you for calling XYZ company. If you know the extension of the person you are trying to reach, you may dial it at now. For sales press 1. For customer support press 2. For billing press 3. For directions and office hours press 4. For the company directory press 8. For the operator press 0. To hear this message again, press 9 now."

After hours main greeting:

"Thank you for calling XYZ Company. We are currently unavailable to take your call. Our business hours are from nine to five, Monday through Friday. If you know the extension of the person you are trying to leave a message for, you may dial it now. For sales Press 1. For customer support press 2. For billing press 3. For directions and office hours press 4. For a company directory press 8. To leave a message in our general mailbox press 0. To hear this message again, press 9 now."