How to leave a great voicemail

I'm not sure if you can still do this with answerphones…

…but about 5 years ago, you would get the option to re-record the voicemail you just left, at the end of the call.

For example, if you called an Orange mobile number and left a voicemail, after a few seconds of silence, the recorded message would say,

“To listen to your message, press 1. To re-record your message press 2.”

I used to be so awkward on the phone that I would often make a complete mess of my message, and end up re-recording it many times over.

This one time, I was calling the MD of a big potential client to ask for a meeting.

I was so flustered, and so nervous, I could barely string a sentence together.

Despite practicing for 5 minutes beforehand, I ended up getting it wrong and, mid-sentence, I just trailed off into obscenities.

“Hi this is Al, I'm just calling to… erm… I mean I'm wondering if you, I mean we could… Sorry. What I meant to say was… ahhhhhhh balls. I've totally messed this up. What a dick…”

So I just waited, in silence, until the recorded message kicked in and I could press a key to re-record.

When it finally did, I heard 3 words that immediately made me sick to my stomach.

“Thank you. Goodbye.”

FUCK! There's no option to re-record.

FUCKSHIT! I've just actually left that message on Keith's answerphone.

I'd love to say that Keith saw the funny side and is now a great client who I work with regularly…

…but he didn't.

And I don't.

If you want to avoid being a dick like me, use the template outlined by the Neo-Sage forum. Here's the video:

Let me know if you've ever done anything equally embarrassing.