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Greet Local Business Customers with Customized Call Greetings

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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Every local business should consider using customized greetings—it improves the customer experience and lightens the load for customer service teams. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ready to learn more? Here&#8217;s everything you need to know. </span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">What Are Custom Greetings?</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Custom greetings play automatically when someone calls your business. If a customer calls you, a custom greeting is a prerecorded message they will hear before an agent picks up the phone.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Custom greetings are, as the name implies, completely customizable—you can tailor them to your specific needs. You can set your greetings to automatically play after hours when no one is in the office, or you can use them for every call. </span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-23906" src="https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer-1024x896.png" alt="woman talking to customer" width="640" height="560" srcset="https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer-1024x896.png 1024w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer-300x263.png 300w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer-768x672.png 768w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer-571x500.png 571w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer-360x315.png 360w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer-160x140.png 160w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer-350x306.png 350w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer-100x88.png 100w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer-392x343.png 392w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/woman-talking-to-customer.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Benefits of Custom Greetings</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To some businesses, using custom greetings may seem like a waste of time without much benefit. But they’re actually easy to set up and can deliver some amazing advantages. The exact benefits will depend on how you use the greetings, but they can include the following.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Make a Good First Impression</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Customized greetings come across as very professional. They can improve the customer experience by ensuring that every call gets answered—even the after-hours ones. This can greatly improve a customer’s opinion of your business. </span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Immediately Deliver Necessary Information </span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Custome phone greetings can also be used to provide important information to your customers.  For example, an after-hours greeting can tell customers when they can expect a call back from you. In some cases, your call greetings may answer the customers’ questions at the onset, so they don’t even need to continue on the call. This saves both you and your customers valuable time.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Route Callers to the Right Person</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You can use custom greetings to route callers to the correct person or department. This can be done with a pre-recorded greeting that informs callers to press a number based on who they want to talk to. Through greetings like these, customers get access to the information or service they need with very little effort. And, you ensure that your team members don’t waste time on calls that they aren’t qualified to help with. </span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Improve Efficiency</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Delivering necessary information and routing callers to the right person increases your business’ efficiency. Customers will be routed to the person or team most qualified to help them, so your team will be able to focus their efforts on other tasks. </span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Improve the Customer Experience</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When phone greetings are used correctly, they provide callers with the information they need quickly, which leads to higher customer satisfaction. Your customers will appreciate your ability to answer their questions in a timely manner. </span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Eliminate Missed Opportunities</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Say goodbye to missed calls and opportunities. Call greetings ensure that every call gets answered—even when your team is off the clock. </span><b>Pro tip:</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> make sure your greetings encourage customers to leave a message so you can call them back as soon as possible. </span></p>
<p><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-23907" src="https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer-1024x896.png" alt="man talking to customer" width="640" height="560" srcset="https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer-1024x896.png 1024w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer-300x263.png 300w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer-768x672.png 768w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer-571x500.png 571w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer-360x315.png 360w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer-160x140.png 160w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer-350x306.png 350w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer-100x88.png 100w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer-392x343.png 392w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/man-talking-to-customer.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Best Practices for Custom Greetings</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As you set up your business’s custom greetings, keep the following best practices in mind:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Match your brand’s tone (calm, professional, friendly, etc.)</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Keep the greeting brief</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Make callers feel welcome</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thank callers for calling</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Apologize for missing the call</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Remove all dead air and unnecessary sounds</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Consider adding sub-menus in addition to main menus</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Personalize the menu options based on common customer needs</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Make sure the auto attendant or recording is easy to understand </span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Get a professional voiceover if you can’t make a quality recording yourself</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thoroughly test every custom phone greeting on your phone system before launching it </span></li>
</ul>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">Types of Call Greetings</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You can easily adapt custom greetings to fit your business’s needs. The following customized greetings are the most common:</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Welcome Greetings</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Welcome greetings are designed to let customers know that they dialed the right number. They can also include additional information, such as your business hours or the phone queue.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Interactive Voice Response Greetings</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These greetings have a phone tree that allows your customers to connect with specific departments or offer other options. This is where our tip on sub-menus can come into play. For example, you can have callers start by choosing a language and then proceed to select a department. Or they can choose a department and then a specific service. These kinds of greetings might say things like: </span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Press 1 for English.”</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“If you know your extension, please dial it now.”</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Press 1 for customer service.”</span></li>
</ul>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Routing to Available Agents Greetings</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This type of customized greeting is designed to keep your customers calm as they wait for someone to answer the phone. It lets them know that their call is being sent to another agent who will assist them with their concerns.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Delay Announcement</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These are greetings that are designed to keep the caller updated about their wait time. They can be interspersed between other greetings or music. For example, you may have a delay announcement play every two minutes saying something like:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Thank you for your patience. A representative will be with you shortly.”  </span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">After-hours Greeting</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As the name implies, this greeting will be set to play only when your business is closed. At the very least, it should let the caller know when you will open shop again. It can also enable the caller to leave a message for you and inform them about how long it will take to get a callback.</span></p>
<h3><span style="font-weight: 400;">Voicemail Message</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Depending on your industry, you may opt to use voicemail messages during business hours. It could be as simple as a prompt to leave a voicemail and the assurance that someone will get back to the customer as soon as possible. This is especially common if the caller needs to talk to a specific person who may be busy at that moment. It might sound something like this: </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Thanks for calling [Name] at [Business]. I’m unfortunately busy at the moment. Please leave a message, and I&#8217;ll get back to you as soon as possible.&#8221; </span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">While the Customer Is on Hold</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Many custom phone greetings will involve putting the customer on hold for at least a few minutes. This is most common when a short waiting time is necessary between the greeting and the customer being connected to an agent. So, what do you do to keep your customers entertained or at least engaged while they wait?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some common options include:</span></p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Playing messages about promotions</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Giving frequent updates about the call wait time</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Playing music</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Offering tips related to your industry</span></li>
</ul>
<h2><b>Make Call Greetings a Part of Your Communication Strategy</b></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Custom phone greetings are an excellent way to make a positive first impression on people calling your business. They can come in handy outside of business hours and give customers more information that they may need. Overall, custom phone greetings are an important part of your overall communications strategy. </span></p>


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