The other day when I called a client and the receptionist told me he wasn’t in, I asked her to transfer me to voice mail. She told me they didn’t have voice mail because they thought it was too impersonal. I wanted to ask her if she used an IBM Selectric instead of a computer or carbon paper instead of a copier but I kept my thoughts to myself. I think voice mail is invaluable—obviously not everyone does—but there are ways to make it more effective:

• When recording your message, let the caller know within the first few seconds if they can bypass it. Long, boring messages are annoying so let callers get right to the beep.

• Keep your outgoing message short, simple and professional. Don’t forget to include your Web site address so callers can get more information about your company and an e-mail address as another way to contact you.

• Review your message after you’ve recorded it to make sure there aren’t any unwanted background noises and that your voice sounds clear.

• Ask the caller for the best time to return his or her call (and do the same when you leave messages for others). This will help you avoid phone tag and if you don’t want to talk to that person, you can call when they’re not there.

• Don’t save all of your messages. Instead, do something with them. After writing down or entering the message and number, erase it.