Voicemail greetings · Small business

Small business voicemail greeting examples

A small business voicemail greeting is a 20–25 second recording that names the shop, promises a callback the owner can keep, and tells the caller to leave a name, number, and what they need. Skip “your call is important.” Record the greeting today and replace the carrier’s robot message.

Author page: Will Caraway. First published September 21, 2026.

Replace anything in [brackets], read the greeting out loud once, and keep it under 30 seconds.

Independent pages behind the claims

• Apple: change your iPhone voicemail greeting — Official steps to record a custom iPhone greeting instead of the carrier robot
• Verizon: how to use call forwarding — Verizon's own *71 / *73 codes for sending unanswered calls off voicemail

What should you ask callers to leave?

• Their name
• The best number to call back
• What they need, in a sentence
• When is a good time to reach them

Which small business voicemail greeting should you use?

10 recordings. Pick the one that matches the call sitting in the mailbox today.

Where I disagree with other voicemail guides

Most small-business voicemail templates on the web open with "Thank you for calling, your call is very important to us…" Skip that line. The line eats five seconds that could have been the business name and a callback promise. Shoppers use that filler as a cue to hang up.

A second common tip is to list shop hours in every greeting. Fine when the shop is closed. When the shop is open, the caller already dialed. Replace the hours with a callback window the owner can keep ("within two hours during business hours").

A 22-second greeting I actually recorded for a two-person shop

Here is a greeting I timed at 22 seconds. It names the business first. It promises a same-day callback. It asks for three things only.

"Hi, you've reached Oak Street Supply. We can't pick up. Leave your name, number, and what you need. We call every message back today before 5."

The Oak Street script is the whole greeting. No hours. No website. No "your call is important." Those extras add length and do not help a first-time caller leave a usable message.

Limits of a small-business voicemail

• It cannot answer two calls at once. The second caller hits a busy tone or the same beep.
• It cannot tell a quote request from a vendor. You sort that when you listen.
• It cannot flag an emergency. The caller has to say the word, and many will not.
• It cannot text you the address. You rewind the recording.

A small-business voicemail can live with those limits if the owner returns messages inside an hour. The same limits get expensive if new callers shop three shops in ten minutes.

What I would cut from most "professional" templates

Cut the hold music. Cut "please listen to the following options." A cell voicemail is not an IVR.

Cut the street address unless callers need it to find you. They already dialed.

Keep one promise. Same day. Or before 5. Or Monday at 7. Then keep it. A broken promise is worse than a beep.

Riley costs $149.99 a month if you want the calls answered instead. The greeting is free. It is also the thing that loses the callers who will not talk to a machine.

What makes a small business greeting work?

• Keep it under 25 seconds; long greetings lose callers.
• Promise a callback time you can keep, then keep it.
• Record in a quiet room and smile while you talk; it carries.
• Update it before holidays and vacations, so callers aren't told you're open when you're not.

How do you record a new greeting?

• iPhone: Phone app → Voicemail → Greeting → Custom → Record.
• Android: Phone app → menu → Settings → Voicemail → Greeting (wording varies by phone), or dial your voicemail and follow the prompts.
• Office or VoIP line: look for “greeting” in your phone system's settings or voicemail menu.