Surprise – it’s your phone!

While you’re out listing properties, negotiating deals and working with clients you can’t always pick up the phone when it rings. That’s where your trusted voicemail and your recorded personal greeting enter the picture.

In many cases agents don’t even take the time to program their voicemail, let alone do a personal greeting – but that’s another topic altogether.

Your personal greeting, when used correctly can literally be your new best friend that can be saving you time, making your clients happy and making you money.

Allow me to explain

When someone calls and leaves you a message there is an expectation in their mind that you are going to respond instantly.

We live in a connected age where people’s patience is low and their demands are high, so even if you return their call in an hour, to them it feels like an eternity. Read more about how quickly you have to respond to leads in this previous article. You won’t believe it!

Your and their expectations of reasonable can be light-years apart, so in essence, you are in a lose/lose situation. Your clients expect you to call any minute, but your schedule has you busy for hours!

The easiest way to defuse this situation is to set the expectations of how you work and when you return calls in advance … and this is where your personal greeting comes in.

By recording a greeting that specifically acknowledges the caller, yet at the same time tells them when you return calls, you have set a clear expectation that both sides can understand and honour.

The key here is that whatever times you say you will return calls … that you follow through on your promise and return the call at that time.

When you do this, return calls when promised, you are creating a clear image in you caller’s mind that you are professional, reliable and follow through on commitments.

And if the situation arises that you can call back sooner then promised … then you’ve created a WOW by under-promising and over-delivering!

WIN/WIN!

Here’s an example script that you can use and personalize as you see fit – my conversational style is very informal so again, make this a voicemail message that speaks like you do.

Hey there, Michael Krisa here and I apologize for not being able to take your call personally. Your business and time are important to me, so please leave me your name, phone number and a detailed message of how I can best serve you so that when I do return your call I can be prepared.

I return calls from 11am – 1pm and 4pm – 6pm so please let me know which time slot works best for you.

Once again, thank you for your call and have an awesome day!

Now a message like that does many things:

• Acknowledges that a caller’s business is important to me.
• Gives them specific instructions as to what information to leave me.
• To avoid phone tag, it tells them to select a specific time slot for my return call.
• Wishes them a great day!

Obviously there are many different ways to make this even better or change it up: include today’s date at the beginning of the salutation to stay current, change it from your name to the “Office of” … to make it seem you are bigger then you are, etc.

The point of it all is that you set clear expectations from the very beginning, and lay a solid foundation for your relationship with your client.

Oh and as for those 4 Little Words That Are Costing You Business …

As you read the script below, imagine you are the caller listening to this message and ask yourself how does it make you feel:

Hello, Michael here and I can’t take your call right now.

Please leave me your name and phone number and I’ll call you back at my earliest convenience.

Thank you.

Did you spot them?

How does “at my earliest convenience” make you feel?

Does it say I respect your time, I welcome your business … or is it all about me, I’m the one in control and I’ll fit you into my schedule when I can?

These two examples of personal voicemail greetings convey completely different feelings to the caller.

If you want respect, you need to offer it first and recording a personal greeting that conveys that will create stronger business relationships and a more profitable business.