Week 94: The Trailing Voicemail – #AlphaFemaleFriday

Week 94: The Trailing Voicemail – #AlphaFemaleFriday

“ WEEK 94 / 133 – 133 WEEKS TO SUCCESS “

Which is more aggravating: a full voicemail box where you can’t leave a message or the person who leaves their life story on your voicemail box? I used to think the former, but when time becomes of the essence, more and more I find that trailing voicemails are the bane of my professional career. Brought to you by the same folks who use “um” and “you see” excessively comes the debut of the trailing voicemail. By trailing voicemail, I mean not only people who have ridiculously long voicemails before you can speak your peace, but those who also leave you painfully winding monologues on your voicemail. You’re attempted to delete and skip—but what if you miss something critical?

You don’t want to be on the receiving or the giving end of the long voicemail. If you’re calling someone on the first place to discuss something with them, then don’t have a one-sided discussion. Schedule a call with them or send them an e-mail to jump on a call. “But,” you may say, “won’t leaving a curt voicemail make me sound rude?” No—not necessarily. It’s all about tone and content of the message, and lack of conviction leads to indecisiveness.

In the same way that we fall of the bike again and again until we can ride with our hands up and no training wheels (okay, granted, I still need to hold onto the bike with both hands), it takes practice before we can become comfortable leaving messages on the phone. Some people get quite nervous doing speeches in public, and I get nervous from time-to-time leaving voicemails for strangers I haven’t met on the phone as well. When in doubt, write down a quick checklist of all the things that need to be mentioned and cut it off after sixty seconds. At that point, it’s a monologue—not a brief message. Eventually you get the hang of it, and you get quite good at it. You come up with your own style and it flows out like water.

Cheers,

Kelly

@AlphaFemSociety tweets by @KellyRGonzales

About:

Each week, I take a tip from Lois P. Frankel’s book, Nice Girls Still Don’t Get the Corner Office, and explore how each of these tips affect myself and other women in similar positions on the road to becoming the women we want to be. There are far and few between who are a few steps behind me, and many more who are far advanced. I found that Lois P. Frankel’s advice applied to novice, intermediates, and experts alike. It helped me see that I was already doing right, served as a reminder to keep on doing what I was doing and how to keep that momentum going. The book also showed me areas where I could improve, and gave realistic tips to jump on board. There are a total of 133 tips, and explore one tip per week in a program I call: 133 Weeks to Success.

Join the movement using the hashtag #133WeeksToSuccess with posts which are posted every #AlphaFemaleFriday.