Helpful Hints with ESA Greetings

• Do yourself a BIG favor. Before recording your ESA Greetings, write them down. While this may appear to be a waste of time, it isn't. In fact, it will save you a lot of time by giving you a chance to ensure that you get your greetings just the way you want them before actually recording them, and if you later want to review your greetings for modifications, you'll be able to refer to your written greetings without having to call into your ESA system just to hear what you originally recorded. You can then simply "pencil" in the changes and then call your ESA system and replace your original greeting(s) with your new one(s). See the Basic Greetings below for usable examples.
  
• Before recording your Fax-on-Demand (FOD) Greeting, consider whether or not you should include an "FOD Index" as an FOD file in your Fax-on-Demand Center. For example, if you will maintain more than a few FOD files for callers to choose from, an FOD Index can significantly improve you callers' experience with your Fax-on-Demand Center by allowing them to have a list of all available FOD files faxed to them first. A caller can then visually review your index, note which one(s) he/she wants, then call back in and request those specific FOD files. Of course, your Fax-on-Demand Greeting should list the FOD Index first in the list of FOD files you want to be available to your callers. For example "...for a list of available fax documents, press 100...for Product A, press 101..." We're not saying that you should ALWAYS have an FOD Index. We're simply stating that if you don't include an FOD Index, and you have more than a few FOD files available, callers may find themselves "trapped" in your Fax-on-Demand Center, listening to your list of avaiable fax documents over and over again just to make sure they are selecting the right FOD file(s).
  

Basic Greetings for your ESA System:

Standard Greeting

Thank you for calling ________________. Your call is being managed by ESA, my Electronic Secretarial Administrator.

To listen to descriptions of my products and services, press 3.

To receive my products and services information by fax, press 5.

To speak to me right away, press 9 or remain on the line, and ESA will ask for your name and forward your call to me wherever I am.

If you'd prefer to leave me a message press the # key.

 Unavailable Greeting

Hi, you've reached my message center because you either pressed the # key, or because I wasn't able to take your call. Please leave me a message. ESA will page me with the phone number you're calling from and I'll get back to you shortly.

 Alternate Greeting (if you know you're not going to be available for any length of time)

Thank you for calling ________________. Your call is being managed by ESA, my Electronic Secretarial Administrator.

To listen to descriptions of my products and services, press 3.

To receive my products and services information by fax, press 5.

Normally, ESA could route your call to me wherever I am, but since I'm not available for calls right now, you can leave me a message by pressing the # key, or by remaining on the line. ESA will page me with the phone number you're calling from and I'll get back to you shortly.

 Your Name Greeting

(Simply state your name)

Voice-on-Demand Menu Greeting

Welcome to my Voice-on-Demand Center. Here, you can listen to descriptions of my company, products and services. While listening to a description, if you decide you'd like to receive more information by fax, press 5 to access my fax-on-demand center. If you'd prefer to return to my Main Greeting, press the # key.

To hear a description of my company, press 101.

To hear a description of my products, press 201.

To hear a description of my services, press 202.

If you have a specific 3-digit code, please enter it now.

(Note that the 3-digit VOD file numbers referred to in the above greeting are used only as examples.)

Fax-on-Demand Menu Greeting

Welcome to my Fax-on-Demand Center. First, you will be provided with a list of documents to choose from. After selecting the desired documents, you will be prompted to enter your fax number. Please be sure to enter "1", then your area code and fax number. The documents you select will be sent directly to your fax machine. If you'd prefer to return to my Main Greeting, press the # key.

If you already know the 3-digit code of the document you'd like to receive, please enter it now.

For a list of available fax documents, press 100.

To find more about my company, press 101.

To learn more about my products and services, press 102.

(Note that the 3-digit FOD file numbers referred to in the above greeting are used only as examples.)

Extension Greetings:

If you have optional ESA extensions attached to your ESA account, you may also want to record an Extension Menu Greeting. A basic extension menu greeting could be:

For xxxx, press 101.

For yyyy, press 102.

(Note that the "xxxx" and "yyyy" referred to in the above greeting should be substituted with appropriate terms, like names of people or department names.)

Since extensions are basically mini-ESAs themselves, they should also have their own greetings. Refer to the greetings above to create your extension greetings, but remember that extensions do not have voice- or fax-on-demand centers, nor are they capable of receiving faxes, so create your extension greetings accordingly.

 Back to ESA Online Docs