I was focused on some important projects yesterday, so ignored my phone. By this morning I had 12 voice messages. Only 3 were worth listening to.
If you are going to leave a message with someone do yourself and them a favor and follow this simple mantra: move the conversation forward.
If you are initiating the dialog then be clear about why you are call and what you would like from the other person. I hate getting messages that say, "Hi Kenny, this is SoAndSo. When you get minute, give me a call back." Unless you are my wife or my child, why should I call you? I'm left to assume I have better things to do.
When returning someone's call and you get their voice mail (assuming you know why they called you in the first place) do your best to leave them the info they need in the voice message. In this way you are moving the conversation forward. If the topic is too complicated for a simple voice message and a synchronous conversation must actually happen to be effective, then suggest a couple of times that you would be available to have the necessary discussion. Again, you are moving the conversation forward.
Sure, this means you have to take two seconds and think about what you will say if you get the other person's voice mail box, but by moving the conversation forward you save yourself and the other person time and frustration. In my opinion, it is the professional and courteous thing to do.
Bonus Thought 1: Use Voice Mail instead of Email to respond to email messages. Typing a lengthy reply can be time consuming. In many cases you can get your thought across much more quickly with your voice. So instead of pecking away at your keyboard, pick up the phone.
Bonus Thought 2: Use Jott. It's a free service that will allow you to speak a message and have it converted to text and then emailed to the recipient of your choice. There are so many good uses for Jott that detailing them would be an entire other post. Give it a try if you haven't already, you won't be disappointed.
If you are going to leave a message with someone do yourself and them a favor and follow this simple mantra: move the conversation forward.
If you are initiating the dialog then be clear about why you are call and what you would like from the other person. I hate getting messages that say, "Hi Kenny, this is SoAndSo. When you get minute, give me a call back." Unless you are my wife or my child, why should I call you? I'm left to assume I have better things to do.
When returning someone's call and you get their voice mail (assuming you know why they called you in the first place) do your best to leave them the info they need in the voice message. In this way you are moving the conversation forward. If the topic is too complicated for a simple voice message and a synchronous conversation must actually happen to be effective, then suggest a couple of times that you would be available to have the necessary discussion. Again, you are moving the conversation forward.
Sure, this means you have to take two seconds and think about what you will say if you get the other person's voice mail box, but by moving the conversation forward you save yourself and the other person time and frustration. In my opinion, it is the professional and courteous thing to do.
Bonus Thought 1: Use Voice Mail instead of Email to respond to email messages. Typing a lengthy reply can be time consuming. In many cases you can get your thought across much more quickly with your voice. So instead of pecking away at your keyboard, pick up the phone.
Bonus Thought 2: Use Jott. It's a free service that will allow you to speak a message and have it converted to text and then emailed to the recipient of your choice. There are so many good uses for Jott that detailing them would be an entire other post. Give it a try if you haven't already, you won't be disappointed.
