Business Voicemail Voiceovers

[KingHippo]

Basically I'm talking about when you call up a voicemail box and you hear "Press 1 for sales, press 2 for billing..." I tried recording my voice for this task but when I listen to myself it doesn't seem right for this purpose of directing voicemail. I'm looking for a voicemail voiceover generator or voice services that are free or very low cost. Any ideas?

[Evan]

A few things here:

1) You'll always be critical of your voice. I re-record any of my voice mail messages at least 10 times, and still unsatisfied, just keep whatever comes out the tenth time.

2) If you want something, you're not going to get it for free. I'd also stay away from the text-to-talk services you see where you type a message and it reads it. It just sounds computerized, fake, and impersonal.

3) Your concern is probably that they'll hear the voice in the system and then realize it was YOU upon calling them back. That is a good concern to have.

A better question to ask yourself -- do you NEED to have all these multiple mailboxes to make it seem like your a huge company if your not? If I call a company and hear "press or say 1" or whatever -- I am usually frustrated with the company pretty quickly. I don't think it makes it more professional either.

[vangogh]

I want to echo Evan's last point and ask do you really need all those mailboxes? Are you trying to make yourself seem bigger than you are?

When I launched my first website I went with a half dozen different emails. Part of the purpose was thinking it would help sort the mail I got and part because it made me seem like a bigger company. It wasn't a good idea. I'm better selling to people looking for me and not a big company and I didn't really need to separate the email I received.

With my new site I display one email. The voice mail message is me and it's basically the same one I use on my home phone. The only difference is I mention the business name on the business line. There are a lot of advantages to a small business being transparent and letting the world know it's a small business.

[KristineS]

Most people really hate getting those voice recordings that say "Press 1" etc. I know I do. Mostly they are just barriers that stand in the way of the customer accomplishing what they want to accomplish. My guess is your customers will be a lot more satisfied if you make it easy for them to talk to you, not harder.

[orion_joel]

When i make calls if i get a voicemail message that says who i have called and to please leave name, contact number and reason for call. I am much more likely to leave a message then if i get a really long spiel with numbers and options to which i may just hang up and could not be bothered waiting (unless one of those options is to speak to a real person)

[mr.ro]

Yeah I think this is an issue that we all go through with our businesses at one point or another. I know I hated my voice at first so then I got a female family member to redo it for me and that worked out the best. If someone in your family can do that for you that would be the best and cheapest route to go.