Voicemail in English - Everything You Need to Know

Hi I'm Anne Marie with Speak Confident English and welcome to this week's

Confident English lesson. Recently one of my students asked a fantastic question

and I thought that you might have the same question in English. Here was her

question, "Recently I've been wondering how to leave a really good voice message

or even how to set up my own voicemail when I can't pick up my phone." That is a

fantastic question because definitely communicating on the telephone is always

a challenge and voicemails - particularly in business - are an important part of our

daily life. Now before I go any further I do want to say it was awesome that she

used the phrasal verb *to pick up* the phone.

As you know, native English speakers love phrasal verbs and we use them all the

time. *To pick up* the phone is a common phrasal verb that means to answer the

telephone. In her question, we could also say "...when I *can't get to* the phone." That

is another common way to say that we're unable to answer or check our telephone.

But now let's get to the focus of today's question: how can you

successfully leave a telephone message for someone else and how to set up a

voice message in English on your phone. In today's Confident English lesson

we're going to talk about three things: number one the basic rules about leaving

voice messages, number two what you should and shouldn't say when you leave

a voice message for someone else and I'll give you some examples, and finally

how to set up a voice message on your phone so

that when you can't get to it, when you can't pick it up,

someone can leave a message for you. Let's start with the basic rules of

voice messages and this is a great opportunity to use one of my favorite

acronyms and principles in life. This is the KISS principle - keep it short and

simple. Yes, with voice messages keep it short and simple! Let's be honest for a

moment. Have you ever received a telephone call and you looked at your

phone to see who was calling and you thought 'oh I just don't have time right

now. I can't talk to this person it always takes such a long time' so you

don't answer it, you just put it down and you let the call go to voicemail. I've

definitely done that and you probably have too because the truth is sometimes

we just don't have time. Our lives are busy and we just want to know the

important information, make a quick decision, and go on with the rest of our

day. And we certainly don't want a five-minute voicemail where we have to

listen to someone go on and on and share way too many details. We just want it

short and simple. And here are a few ways to help you do that.

Number one - prepare in advance. If you're nervous about leaving a voice message or

you're not sure what you want to say, take some time to prepare in advance. You

can write down some notes, some key words, practice saying it out loud to make sure

that you are able to communicate clearly, keep it short, and focus on the most

important details. Now when I say keep it short, in English-speaking culture we

like voicemails to be twenty seconds or less! Twenty seconds or less. That's not a

lot of time so you have to think very carefully about what you need

to say in that voice message and again preparation will always help you do that.

The second thing you can do to help you keep it short and simple

is to speak clearly and speak slowly. If you want someone to return your phone

call, they need to understand what you want or what you need. And this is

another reason why practicing in advance can be really helpful, it will help you

make sure that your pronunciation is clear and that you speak a little bit

more slowly. You want to give the listener a little bit of time to think

about what you're saying, to take notes about the details. If you need to share

your phone number in the voicemail, you want to do that slowly so that the

listener has time to write down that information. Now there's just one more

rule for leaving voice messages and this one is especially true in business -

always be kind and polite. Use kind and polite language and I'll definitely

share some examples with you in the rest of our lesson today. Now let's look

specifically at the information you need to include when you are leaving a

voicemail for someone else. Number one of course your name. Unless

you're calling your best friend or your mom, always include your name. If it is a

personal phone call and more casual you could only use your first name but if

it's for business purposes, I do recommend using your first and last name.

Now the second detail is optional, this is specifically for business phone calls.

You should include your company name or the department where you work, for

example if you are calling another company to get information, to ask a

question, or to clarify something, you want to include your name and the

company where you work. If you work for a really large business and there are

multiple departments and hundreds of people who work there, it's possible that

you will call someone else within the company. Maybe you work in marketing and

you need to talk to someone in the accounting department. When you do that

you should definitely include your name and which department you're in. Here are

a couple of examples: if I am calling another company I might say this in my

voice message, "Hi Lynn, this is Anne Marie Fowler with Speak Confident English" or

if I'm calling someone else within the business I might say, "Hi Lynn this is Anne

Marie in accounting" or "this is Anne Marie in the accounting department."

Now the third detail that you need to include for personal and business

voicemails is the reason you are calling and this is one of the most important

details because they need to know what you want, why should they call you back.

Now don't forget we have to use that KISS principle - keep it short and simple.

You might be calling with five questions or maybe there are several things you

need to talk about, you want to try to summarize it into one or two very short

clear sentences to state why you're calling. Again here are a couple of

examples, "Hi Lynn, this is Anne Marie with Speak Confident English. I'm calling to

follow up on our discussion at the conference last week" or another example

"Hi Sue, it's Anne Marie in accounting. I'm calling to discuss the paperwork you

submitted for reimbursement yesterday." In both of those I've used just one

sentence to talk about my reason for calling. The fourth detail to add to your

message is what is the best way for them to contact

you. Is it best for them to call you back? Would you prefer an email or a text? And

is there a day of the week or a time that is best for you? And this is where

you definitely want to leave your phone number. Now again, if you're calling your

mom or your best friend, they probably have your phone number (I hope) but if

you're calling for more professional or business reasons, again it's important to

leave your phone number, they need to know how to contact you. And this is

where it's important to speak clearly and speak slowly. I also recommend that

you say your phone number twice. Give your phone number once and repeat it.

Have you ever listened to a voice message and someone shared their email

address or their phone number only one time and you didn't have enough time to

get all the information so you have to listen to the whole voicemail again just

to get that phone number? It's super frustrating. We don't want to do that so

I recommend repeating your phone number two times so that they have the

opportunity to get all the information they need to contact you. Here's an

example, "Hello Lynn, this is Anne Marie with Speak Confident English. I'm calling

to follow up on a discussion we had at the conference last week. The best way to

reach me is by phone, Monday through Friday, anytime during the work day and

my number is 222-231-2323. Again my phone number is 222-231-2323

Now that's not my real phone number.

It's a fake number. I don't know whose number it is but it's

just an example to show how to repeat it twice in your message. Ok so a quick

review: in a voice message you leave your name, your company or department if

necessary, the reason that you're calling and

best way to reach you, including your phone number or an email address. So now

we need to end the voicemail and we always do it in a very simple and polite

way. Typically we end a voicemail with thank you or have a good day. The

examples that I've just used are really focused more on professional English but

in the online lesson I've given you several more examples of both

professional voice messages and more casual or personal ones, so if you want

to look at additional examples and more common expressions or sentences that we

use, be sure to check out the online lesson. Now that you know the rules of

voice messages and the information you need to include, let's talk about putting

a voicemail in English on your phone. Number one start with a greeting and

this is very simple, just a hello or hi. And then follow that with your name.

Again you want to state your company or your department if you are setting up a

voicemail on a telephone that you use at work. Number four - state that you're

unable to take the call. It might be something simple like I'm sorry I can't

take your phone call right now or maybe it's letting the caller know that you're

on vacation. Number five - ask the caller to leave you

a message. And finally number six - let them know that you will definitely

return their phone call or give them someone else to contact. Maybe it's an

emergency or perhaps you're on vacation and you'll be away for several weeks but

this person needs to talk to someone now. Is there someone else they can call? If

so, be sure to include that information. In this video lesson I'll share with you

an example of a common voicemail that you could use on your own phone but once

again I've included more examples in the online lesson so if

you'd like to take a look at those be sure to visit that lesson. Here is a very

common, basic example, "Hello, this is Laura Brown. I'm sorry I can't take your call

right now but please leave a message after the tone and I'll be sure to call

you back as soon as I can. Thank you." And that's it! Very simple, clear, and

short. So now it's time for you to practice. As always I do have a couple of

challenge questions for you in the lesson online. I would love for you to

take a look at those questions and share your answers with me. You can do that by

sharing in the comment section at the bottom of the lesson. Thank you so much

for joining me and I look forward to seeing you next week for your Confident

English lesson.