Tips for Successful Voice Mail Usage
When a telephone call cannot be answered, a voice mailbox records messages from callers or routes the calls to another extension, department, or designated “personal assistant.” For a complete list of mailbox features, please see the Campus Information and Telephone Directory. Use the tips listed below to help your callers leave a message or be directed to another extension when you are unable to answer telephone calls.
Personal Verification (Record Name) - press 168
The message header (Jane Doe, Biology Department, extension 3-1234) identifies the caller if the caller has a mailbox on the system. The message header precedes any message left by the caller. This “introduction” ensures that the recipient knows the information needed (i.e., the caller’s name and extension) to return the call. The message header also becomes a default greeting for mailbox owners who have not recorded a personal greeting, or have turned the greeting off. The message header, combined with a system recording would announce, for example, “Jane Doe, Biology Department, extension 3-1234...is unavailable.” With this recording, the caller confirms that the correct person and extension have been reached. In addition, when creating a telephone distribution list, the message header of each individual added to the list is “read back” as confirmation that the correct extension was included.
Custom Operator (Personal Assistant) - press 165
Personal Assistance allows a voice mail owner to link another person’s extension to their mailbox. When this feature is enabled, callers are offered the option of dialing 0 to be automatically transferred to the selected “personal assistant,” or to leave a message in the voice mailbox. (The extension number of the personal assistant is not made public.) When the call reaches the personal assistant’s extension, the mailbox owner is announced in case the personal assistant needs to customize the answer greeting.
Note The individual selected as the personal assistant must have a voice mailbox on the system in order for this feature to work properly.
Record a Greeting (Personal Greeting) - press 46
A personalized greeting can be recorded to provide callers with useful information when you are unavailable to answer calls. Many people have a practice of recording a new greeting every day indicating whether or not they are on campus and/or when they are likely to respond to messages.