In the business world, there are many more than 7 deadly sins, and one of the deadliest is not having a good contact point. It's all well and good to go out and try to network with customers, but what happens when a possible or current client wants to call you? Much of the time, they will do that by going to a telephone and calling you. Unless you hire a whole legion of receptionists, there won't always be an actual person for them to talk to. Don't damage their opinion about you and your product by giving them an awful canned message ? or worse, no message at all.

While the owners of many corporations elect to add a personal touch ? i.e., be an obvious penny-pincher ? by voicing their own outgoing messages, that can send the wrong message to potential patrons. For instance, do you know for certain that you sounded glad to hear from your caller when you recorded that message? Many people do their outgoing messages after anxiety-producing bouts with a new telephone system, and that anger comes through in their voices. Tension can make you sound as though you don't actually have time to speak with a caller.

A professional voice actor, on the other hand, knows how to sound cool and relaxed at any time. They know how to put your client at ease with merely the sound of their voice. Even though the caller can tell this is a recording, they won't be able to control their emotional reaction to the sound of a pleasant, happy voice. They will be glad they called you, and will be in a better mood when they finally reach you, than if they had heard a different voice on the line.

In addition, using a professional voice actor will give the impression that you have more staffers working for you than you do. If you are an organization of one and you have an actor's voice in your system, it will create the emotional impression that you have an employees ? even if people know better. This will lend you the air of success, in a very subtle way. Besides, don't you want to give your customers something pleasant to listen to while they're being asked to wait?

In the world of business, it is unimaginably important that we create a professional image for ourselves and our projects. Everyone knows how to wear the right clothing and say the right things because that has been drummed into our heads for a long time. But there are plenty of other ? often overlooked ? ways to create a better image and let people see that you are very capable of handling their needs. Perhaps you think that, if you do a great job for people, your image won't get in the way. Yet, that is simply not the case.

Many people would rather hire a company with a good image than a company that doesn't look quite as good but that offers a better standard of service. Something as simple as hiring a voice over for your telephone system can be just the thing to give you that professional image.