What percentage of calls do you make (these days) go to VoiceMail?
Is it more/less than it used to be and why do you think that is?
Clarification added January 18, 2011:
I realize I wasn't clear.
I'm asking how many times - what % of your calls - do you make out to to others that end up in someone's Voicemail?
Answers (35)
Sue C.
Sue Cohen provides: interim management; LinkedIn and networking for professionals; L&D consultancy and presentations.
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It's more to landline numbers and about the same to mobiles, although I have noticed trends in some places. Staff in small to medium service businesses seem to answer each others' phones far more and take messages. Bigger corporates and some professions far less.
Why? "too busy" "too important" "screen everything and return when ready" .... same kind of thing as ever. A few are, genuinely, trying to do too much; many are just not customer conscious.
Tom E.
Regional Manager at State of South Dakota
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~5%. Unless I'm in a meeting, or I know it is a sales call, I always answer. It would be easy to let more calls go to VM, but that just delays the inevitable. I prefer to handle things right away - get it off my plate and move on to the next issue as quickly as possible. Carrying a Blackberry and Android, between e-mails, calls, texts, etc., It feels like a real life juggling act sometimes.
Dr. Laura U.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist/Weight Liberator
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95%
Mark E.
Director of Annual Giving at Stetson University
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Probably 75% or more of the outgoing calls I make, both to prospects and colleagues, go to vmail. I make it a practice to not dodge calls myself, so I almost always answer the phone as long as I am in the office. Otherwise, I always return vmails left for me.
Doug L.
Lambert Consulting
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49.87 percent...
Usually about 50%. But don't give up, people are very busy and juggling multiple priorities.
Mark D. J.
New business development driver for marketing communications agencies
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I estimate that 80% of my outgoing calls go into voicemail. This percentage has been about the same for several years.
Cristina F.
Technical Translations - Pharmaceutical Consultant - Lawyer -Chief Science Officer- I Do It- Creative Problem Solver
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Very few. When I call I know people are on the other side; if I end in a voice mail, many times I just hang up.
Jim W.
Talent Acquisition Manager
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Well over half go to voicemail. I think the tendancy is that if someone doesn't recognize a number they won't answer right away. Here we are averaging 1500 outbound calls a week that go right to voicemail.
Robert M.
President at ICPC Investments
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10% go to voice mail when I call.
If you call me it could be 50% or more as I am not at my desk, having a face to face conversation, or out of the office.
Wallace J.
Multimedia Producer, i3D Programmer, Acrobat 3D PDF, Android App, Virtual World & iTV Design, Kindle, Nook & Sony eBooks
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33%
~50% - I aks for the best time to reach them normally and ask if texting is ok after the relationship has been established.
Jennifer W.
National Speaker, HR Consultant, Hiring Strategist, Talent Development, Career Coach, @WaySolutions
It depends on what time I make a call. I focus on trying to call 10 minutes to the hour or so. It gives people time to answer if they just got out of a meeting or before they are walking into a meeting. Normally first thing or last thing in the day is best to reach people at their desk.
David M.
Digital marketing specialist who enhances revenue...
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More calls in my personal life than professional life go to voicemail. In my professional life, I often have the luxury of arranging calls via email. Therefore, I know the other person and I will talk on the phone at a specific time.
Considering all calls that I make (personal or professional), I would say more than 50% go to voicemail.
L.J. B.
Integrated Visual Communicator
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90%.
Heidi T.
Editor at Wordsmith Pros
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Today I made 6 calls. 3 were answered and 3 went to voicemail. That's 50%.
Martin T.
Crisis Management§Interim Executive
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almost none here. none really uses voicemail. but missed calls are returned very fast. sending a missed call is the norm to elicit a call back even from a complete stranger.
70%, maybe more.
Too many, seems to be greater than 85% and trending up from our system stats, and some companies or individuals are 100% (we named as the "call screeners"). Returning calls are less than timely, making the telephone system useless. As a system implementation, we solve these conditions with tools. Add find me, follow me, to get vm. Add unified messaging to get untimely responses and create more work trying to get a department delivery to meet project deadlines. Some are online messaging to ask to get schedule time for return call for a 2 minute conversation. In project, we have to mark these people as high-risk and pull group dynamics to identify why or what costs will be added to use internaltional telephone rules. Suggest like me I take sales calls on Thursday and tell vendors-suppliers this info, schedule time, and organize these guys.
I would say 50%. Given the pace of work and its current complexity level people whom you call are either not at their desks or are screening calls as they attend to some demanding topic. Also most companies have cut back on that friendly customer service generalist who says with a smile in her voice - " Thanks for calling company X,Y,Z - how may I help you."
I suppose about 90% of the recruiting calls I make go to voicemail. This is far more than it used to be. Candidates are too selective in who they talk to these days.
More than 75% are into VoiceMails. It is true today's candidates is very selective in taking calls. Now a days we have many requirements from our Client to fill but not suitable candidates to call... :(
I hardly made 30 calls a week out of which i close 5 candidates in which i get 2 interviews and out of 10 interviews 3-4 on projects every month... :)
When you get candidate on Phone screen him from top to bottom not only for the present requirement but also future requirements too, this is the only way to save time and increase talent people pipeline, once you have rapport with good candidates, they never miss your call...
John L.
Senior Risk Management Representative at Utica National Insurance Group
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80%
And what makes it really frustrating is that I work from home and routinely call the office to discuss things with co-workers. I usually get their VM. We have an option to dial "0" to get to the help line (a special ringer located within 6 cubes of the person you are calling) and the person I am calling actually answers the phone!!! They were simply letting the call (no caller ID by the way) go to thier VM.
Frustrating.
Dan S.
Field Technical Support Rep IV − LTE at
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50%. that's not always a bad thing though.
I had 8 out of 10 calls going to Voice Mailbox, anytime during my phone sourcing schedule.
As a sourcing/ recruiting professional I used to call people during their usual 9 to 6 working hours which seems to be a bad option to get hold of them. After a bit of research (asking questions to people) on what would be the best time to get hold of them... was during their journey to work (by car) or after leaving work premises which improved my call answered ratio to 4 out of 10 (6 being answered and 4 Voice Mail) This is a great improvement for me.
Samuel M.
Sales&Marketing Consultant / Independent Training Professional / Consultor e Formador de Marketing&Vendas
I work in the Telco industry for 10 years and my opinion is that the use of voicemail is decreasing rapidly. People feel that voicemail is useless nowadays because the contact must be done in the moment and not later. If someone does not answer a call I send a sms or a message through any IM.
My experience is that only 10% of my calls endup in voicemails.
BR
Samuel Marques
Henry M.
Specialist in defining business processes/problems and delivering solutions
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About 50% and it seems to be about the same or a little more than it used to be.
Mike L.
Account Executive at Adecco Employment Services (michael.lymer@adecco.ca)
My % is definitely high, I would say around 65-75%. I think with the increasing demands being placed on the worker, answering phones has dropped down the totem significantly. I find that the only people who consistently answer phones are those who are in Customer Service or those in sales who are looking to generate revenue.
