use voice mail for increasing your productivity

If you want to be a high achiever and make your life a continual series of successful events, then you must master the art of time management.  There is no other self development topic that comes close to helping millions of hard working men and women reach their gaols than time management does.  In today's article we are going to talk about the benefits of voice mail and how it can help increase your productivity while at work.

The days of secretaries who would take all of our calls and write down all of our message are over.  What has replaced them are direct lines of communication that can come right into our world literally at any minute of the day.  One such line of communication is voice mail, but if used properly then these nifty machines can greatly improve your productivity.

First of all let's go over the importance of voice mail and why this service is a benefit to us in the office and our time management.  For one thing, voice mail enables you to give our information to someone without ever having to talk to them.  There are many times in which your day is so tightly scheduled that you cannot spare even five minutes talking on the phone.  So when you need to pass along important information to someone on another line, but do not want to discuss anything further with them, then voice mail is ideal.

Voice mail also allows you to communicate on your own schedule in terms of time.  For example, you do not have to wait until 9am to pass along important information to someone.  You can leave voice mail at anytime that suites you.  And this service is available 24 hours a day, seven days per week, so  you can never miss an opportunity to leave your messages. 

Below are a few tips that on how to leave better voice mail messages that will help get your information through with better efficiency:

* Know exactly what you are going to say before making the call.
* When you are leaving your message, speak clear and slow so that the recipient can understand what you are saying.
* Make the most important points first in your message, with the lesser items second. And before you hang up, quickly recap those first “most important” items.
* Leave a detailed time-frame of when you will be available for return calls, if any.
* When you are stating a long mailing address or return phone number, speak extra slowly.  In other words, leave your address and numbers very S – L – O – W – L – Y.
* Be sure to wait until after the voice mail “beeps” before leaving your message.  You do not want the beginning of your message getting cut off.
* Give your phone number twice, once at the beginning of the call, and then also at the end of the call.  And again, be sure to speak your number very slow and clear.