Guides

Practical guides

Everything you need to know about professional telephone availability, with example scripts you can use right away.

A good phone greeting is not about elegant sentences but about the right order: who you are first, then what the caller should do, and only after that the rest. These guides show how to handle that per situation, with scripts you can use word for word.

They also cover the things around it that you would otherwise have to chase yourself: which audio format your phone system wants, what you may and may not do with music on hold, and when you have to tell a caller that the call is being recorded. Where we rely on a source, that source is named.

Business voicemail: 10 example scripts

Ten ready-to-use voicemail scripts for businesses and practices, plus the four essential ingredients of a professional voicemail greeting.

A phone menu that does not annoy callers

The golden rules for a good phone menu: four options at most, the right order, always a way to reach a human, with a complete example script.

Hold music and music rights: how it really works

Can you simply put music on your phone's hold line? How copyright, neighbouring rights and "royalty-free" music really work.

Which audio format does your phone system need?

WAV, MP3, 8 kHz: why phone systems are so picky about audio files, and which format the well-known systems expect.

The holiday greeting: staying professional while you are away

What should your business phone say while you are on holiday? Three example scripts and a checklist so customers never call into silence.

Public holidays: the most predictable closures, forgotten the most

Closed for Christmas or another public holiday? How to tell callers properly, with example scripts and a simple once-a-year approach.

Record it yourself or have it made? An honest comparison

Recording your own voicemail or welcome message is free. Yet it rarely sounds right. An honest comparison, costs included.

The queue message: what to say to callers on hold

What should a caller in the queue hear? Example queue messages, and why "your call is important to us" does not work.

An English phone greeting: when and how?

International callers on the line? How to create an English or bilingual phone greeting that sounds professional, with example scripts.

Call your own business: the ten-point self-test

When did you last call your own business? Ten things to check, from the number of rings to what happens after hours.

"This call may be recorded": what are you required to announce?

Does your business record calls for training or quality? Then callers must hear it up front. What that notice should contain, with example scripts.

Writing tips: a script that sounds great

Small writing tricks with a big effect on your phone greeting: a pause in the right place, emphasis where it counts and sentences that sound natural.

Answering machine on your mobile phone

Set a professional AI voice as your mobile phone's voicemail greeting: write your text, download the MP3 and set it via your provider's call-in menu.

After-hours voicemail greeting: what to say and how to set it

What to put on your phone outside business hours, with concrete scripts for general businesses and healthcare, plus how to schedule it per system.

Set up voicemail on your KPN business mobile

What KPN offers on mobile voicemail, and how to put a professionally recorded greeting on it instead of your own voice recorded in the car.

Set up voicemail on your Odido business mobile

Odido offers three welcome messages and only one of them mentions your company name. Here is how to set it, and how to put a professional recording on it.

Voicemail on your Vodafone business mobile

Vodafone has the most extensive voicemail menu of the three networks, with a temporary message and an away message. Here is how to use that for business.