10 Tips for Leaving Better Voice-Mail Messages

Are you the type who leaves rambling, endless voice-mail messages? That's not the way to make a good impression on clients, co-workers, or the public at large. The Art of Manliness offers 10 tips for leaving the perfect voice-mail message, including these two:

State your name first. You would think this would be so basic that it shouldn't even be mentioned. However, I can't count the number of times I've gotten voicemails where people go on and on and I don't even know who's talking to me until the very end. Pretty annoying.
State your number right after your name. Many people wait until the very end of the message to state their number. This will irritate the receiver of your message because if he doesn't get it down, he then has to sit through the whole damn message again to hear it repeated.

Best tip of the bunch: Be brief. I'll often get voice-mail messages from PR folks who go on and on and on -- and I rarely listen all the way to the end. Of course, I'm probably guilty of leaving the occasional rambling message as well. You know what they say: Admitting you have the problem is half the battle... Photo by Fabricio Zuardi.

Rick Broida

Rick Broida, a technology writer for more than 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he contributes to CNET's iPhone Atlas.

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