Why is it important that I leave you a voicemail?

  1. I typically don’t answer calls from numbers I’m not familiar with. The do not call registry has little to no affect on a business number even if it’s a cell phone and I get a lot of telemarketers who call me.New potential clients: If you didn’t leave a voicemail, I didn’t call you back because I don’t know who you are or why you’re calling. Imagine calling an office back and not knowing who to ask for, it’s awkward and typically doesn’t go anywhere.
  2. It saves time. People typically leave shorter more concise messages when leaving a message than when they talk to someone. It also lets me look anything up that is necessary before returning your call.

Other reasons I may not have answered:

  1. I was in a meeting – I generally don’t interrupt meetings to take calls.
  2. I was really engrossed in working on something – sometimes it’s hard to switch back and forth between coding and talking to people.
  3. I was driving – my car isn’t quiet and trying to talk over the noise and deal with traffic is usually fairly useless.
  4. I was asleep – occasionally I stay up late (like 4am late) working on a project and sleep in the next day if I have no meetings. Though I do try and keep normal working hours (8am-5pm EST) most of the time, this isn’t always effective for me.
  5. You called at a really odd time – as I just mentioned, I try and keep normal working hours 8am-5pm EST Monday – Friday most of the time. If you called me at 11pm on a Saturday I’m probably not going to answer unless we are working a rush project with rush fees.