Voicemail -- A Powerful Marketing Tool

Want my contact info? Call my business line. Then listen. For as long as I can remember, I have left my email and mailing addresses on my outgoing voice mail. And because my message is a marketing endeavor (complete with new book and product info), it tends to be long. So I give people the option to hit ‘1’ to skip the rest of the message, or ‘to stay on the line for contact information.’

Yet, I still get people who get the listening equivalent of a thousand-yard stare when they hear a voice mail - glossing over the details, and not hearing my contact information. Then they leave a message asking for said information.

Actually, the voicemail can be a powerful marketing tool. You can announce a speaking engagement, the availability of a new product, or that you're working with a new client. As an entrepreneur or teleworker, you can alert people to your weekly schedule, alternative contact info or travel plans.

But voice mail is powerful only if it's used correctly. Consider two of the three rules of public speaking: Levity, brevity and repetition (for the sake of our callers, nix the repetition). Leave up-beat, informative messages (pith, optimism and humor help create a memorable impression). Keep your message short; people appreciate brevity. And give people an out; if your voice mail system allows callers to bypass the message and begin leaving a message by pressing a certain number, tell them.

Also, call your own phone number and explore your voicemail service to see what options it offers callers - whether bypassing a message, leaving an urgent message, leaving multiple messages, etc.

So if you call seeking my mailing address, listen to my message. Or 'just hit one to bypass my message and go straight to the beep.'

Jeff Zbar, the ChiefHomeOfficer.com, is a speaker, writer and expert on alternative officing. He is the author of Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers and Their Managers (Made E-Z Products, 2002); Safe@Home: Seven Keys to Home Office Security (FirstPublish 2001) and Your Profitable Home Business (on CD-ROM from Made E-Z Products). Visit his Web site to subscribe to Home Office Success Stories, his free electronic magazine on home business and teleworking.