"Your call is important to us" is the sentence callers trust least, because it is usually followed by nothing. A professional voicemail greeting does two things. It tells the caller they reached the right place and what to leave, and it tells them what happens next and when. The second half is the one most greetings skip.
Below are eight scripts, each between 30 and 45 words, which is 12 to 20 seconds read at a normal pace. They are written for a small physical therapy clinic, Lindqvist Physical Therapy, because a clinic has regular hours, urgent cases, new patients and privacy to think about. Change the nouns for a trade, a salon or an office. If you need short live-answer lines and holiday greetings, the companion page has twelve greetings under 15 words.
The two jobs of a voicemail greeting
Job one is to get a usable message: a name, a number and a reason. Ask for exactly those three things, in that order, because callers who are not told what to say often say "call me back" and hang up. Job two is the promise. "We will call you back" means nothing. "We return every message by 10 the next morning" is something a caller can plan around, and it stops the second and third calls.
Our piece on why nobody leaves a message explains how many callers hang up at the beep. A greeting with a clear time promise recovers some of them, and a missed call can also trigger a text back that keeps the conversation alive.
Scripts 1 and 2: during the day and overnight
1. Regular hours, with someone busy. The reason you can't answer is stated so the caller does not assume the business is closed.
You've reached Lindqvist Physical Therapy. We're with patients right now. Please leave your name, your number and the reason for your call, and we'll call you back before the end of the day.
2. After hours on a weeknight. It includes a safety line, which a health business should always have.
You've reached Lindqvist Physical Therapy. Our office is closed. We reopen at 8 tomorrow morning and return all messages by 10. Please leave your name, number and a good time to reach you. If this is a medical emergency, hang up and dial 911.
Scripts 3 and 4: weekends and vacations
3. The weekend. It says when messages get answered, which is the Monday-morning pile, and sends rescheduling to a faster route.
You've reached Lindqvist Physical Therapy. We're closed for the weekend and reopen Monday at 8. Messages left now are returned Monday by 11. To change an appointment, use the link in your confirmation text and you will not have to wait.
4. A vacation or a long absence. Give a dated return, a person to call, and a promise for when you are back. Dates must be exact.
You've reached Lindqvist Physical Therapy. Dr. Lindqvist is away until June 9. For scheduling, call Priya at 555-0140. Messages left here will be returned on June 10 by noon. For an emergency, hang up and dial 911.
Record the vacation version the day before you leave and put the swap-back on your calendar. A greeting that still says "away until June 9" in July tells every caller you don't check your messages.
Scripts 5 and 6: urgent problems and new patients
5. Emergency routing. Use this only when the number you give will actually be answered. It separates urgent from routine, so urgent calls don't wait in the same queue.
You've reached Lindqvist Physical Therapy. If you had surgery this week and have a problem that can't wait, call our on-call line at 555-0199. For chest pain or trouble breathing, dial 911. Otherwise, leave a message and we'll call you back today.
6. New customers or patients. A first-time caller needs a little welcome and a clear next step. Don't ask for sensitive details, such as insurance or diagnosis, on a recording.
You've reached Lindqvist Physical Therapy. If you're a new patient, welcome. Please leave your name, your number and the best time to call, and we'll phone you within one business day to book your first visit. You can also book online at lindqvistpt.example.
Scripts 7 and 8: a backlog and a text option
7. When you are behind. Honesty about a delay beats a promise you can't keep. Say it, give the longest realistic time, and offer a faster route.
You've reached Lindqvist Physical Therapy. We're behind on calls this week. Messages are returned within 24 hours, usually sooner. For the fastest booking, use lindqvistpt.example. Please leave your name and number, and we'll get back to you.
8. A text option. This works only on a number that can receive texts and that someone reads.
You've reached Lindqvist Physical Therapy. We can't take your call right now. Leave your name and number, or text this number instead. Texts are read during office hours, and we reply the same day. For an emergency, dial 911.
If you are only now thinking about what happens to the calls you can't take, what happens to missed calls lays it out, and the voicemail greeting, translated into plain English shows how callers hear the usual lines.
Keeping the promise in the greeting
The promise is the part that makes you look reliable or not. Here is the arithmetic that keeps it honest. Say Lindqvist gets 12 messages a day, and each callback takes about 3 minutes including dialing and a voicemail left in return. That is 36 minutes of calling. Two blocks of 18 minutes, at 10 and 3, deliver "by the end of the day" every single day. If the clinic promised "within an hour," it would break the promise by mid-morning.
So pick the promise from your actual schedule. Check voicemail at fixed times, ideally with transcription sent to email or text so you can scan messages before you play them. Log each message and mark it called. A promise that depends on remembering is a promise that fails on busy Thursdays. For a business that can't be reached after hours, handling after-hours calls without being on call shows how to avoid carrying the phone to bed. Related: forwarding calls on an iPhone sends the unanswered ones where you want them.
Recording tips that matter
Record in a closed room or a parked car with the windows up. Hold the phone a hand's width from your mouth. Read from a printed script, because off-the-cuff greetings run long and wander. Say phone numbers slowly, in groups: five five five, zero one four zero. Smile slightly, since it shows in the voice. Do two takes and listen to both on speaker. On an iPhone, the greeting lives under Voicemail, then Greeting, then Custom. On most business phone systems, it is in the admin portal.
Then call yourself from another phone and listen to the whole thing the way a stranger would. A greeting is not finished when you stop recording. It is finished when someone who has never heard it could repeat what to say and when to expect a call.
The strongest voicemail greeting is the one most callers never hear, because the call was answered. Rocketship finds the buyers, emails them from your own Gmail, follows up, and books the meeting on its own, and it answers the number you already have so a lead who calls gets an answer instead of a beep. Plans that get you customers start at $24.99 a month (Launch), and every monthly plan starts with a 7-day free trial, card required. Answering your existing number is included; a dedicated line is $5 a month.