Not a Fan of Voicemail
I have never been a fan of Voicemail for many reasons but it was not until the other day when I wrote Why you should stop using Auto-Dm! I found the main reason why I dislike Voicemail. My friend @michaeldcc, a local blogger who I respect for his great work on his blog Poder 5 , made a comment regarding how voicemail was not personal at all.
For those of you that have met me, I am passionate about conversing with others. Some people might think I talk a lot but I just like keeping the conversation going.
Reasons why I am not a Fan of Voicemail
- Long messages people leave when they reach your voicemail. For some reason people actually think I stay on the phone long enough to listen to the complete message. When I had my voicemail active, I would hear who and proceed to call them back.
- Consumes precious time when in most occasions you can’t resolve the problem until you get more details or a clear explanation of what was left on the voicemail message.
- Most of the time the person that left the voicemail will repeat the message anyway.
- One way conversation since the only option you have in the voicemail is to listen to the person who left you a message. Very little interaction.
- If someone leaves a message that I don’t agree with it annoys me. Voicemail does not give you the opportunity to defend yourself.
I keep myself away from any channel that has little interaction and is time consuming.
Until I can get some good reasons on why to activate my voicemail, here are alternate channels people can contact me: email, twitter, facebook, linkedin, beluga, SMS, and my blog.
So if you have to get a hold of me please keep voicemail out of the equation.
Did I miss any pros and cons on voicemail? Feel free to share your thoughts.
Photo Credit by Pen Waggener
Totaly agee. It’s not personal, specialy for prospecting is a big no.
Thanks for stopping by.. I have to agree with you it is pretty useless for many things!
Thanks for stopping by.. I have to agree with you it is pretty useless for many things!
I must say, never used voice mail. Even when I had the chance to leave a voice message, I chose not to. I prefer interaction, and if I really can’t interact, an email will do more than fine. It’s really hard to focus on a long sentence spoken via voice mail, compared to a normal voice call and a normal email. Fortunately it’s not a very common practice here in Italy so I am not hurting anyone’s feelings.
It is great to hear that in your culture interaction is key. In mine is is key also to the point we are very inefficient because in many occasions we can work something remotely but they prefer to see you in person. Like everything there are pros and cons.
It is great that you are not hurting everyone’s feelings. Sadly although people want to see you physically in Puerto Rico they feel it is ok to use automated messages thanks again!
It is great to hear that in your culture interaction is key. In mine is is key also to the point we are very inefficient because in many occasions we can work something remotely but they prefer to see you in person. Like everything there are pros and cons.
It is great that you are not hurting everyone’s feelings. Sadly although people want to see you physically in Puerto Rico they feel it is ok to use automated messages thanks again!
Thought-provoking, Raul. I normally answer my phone live except when I am on the phone or with a client. But I find that without voice mail, I would lose potential clients and so I continue to update my voice mail daily so people know my schedule. The high volume of clients I had in the last month meant that I could end up with 3 or 4 messages while I was working with one client. Though my ideal client is someone who is loves using technology, I still have plenty that only use the phone to communicate. LinkedIn, Facebook, or even e-mail are foreign to them.
Thought-provoking, Raul. I normally answer my phone live except when I am on the phone or with a client. But I find that without voice mail, I would lose potential clients and so I continue to update my voice mail daily so people know my schedule. The high volume of clients I had in the last month meant that I could end up with 3 or 4 messages while I was working with one client. Though my ideal client is someone who is loves using technology, I still have plenty that only use the phone to communicate. LinkedIn, Facebook, or even e-mail are foreign to them.
Julie,
That is perfect if it works for you that is great. On my side my clients are willing to use other channels. I am a firm believer that if a tool works for you and your clients keep on using it. My worries on the post is more on the side of those that don’t get back to you. Or some other issues where the time of response is critical especially when the person feels they left you a message.