I agree, also long greetings are also a pet peeve of mine.

I totally agree.  I also am amazed at how many Realtors, and I use that term loosely, use their home phone as their business number. 

James, I just hate it when the message says (in a generic voice) "you have reached XXX-XXX-XXXX.  Leave a message".  It leaves me wondering if I had the wrong number in the first place.  What if I wrote it down wrong?  Is that the agent or a wrong number?????

Well said. I always answer my phone with my name. I will take a look at my greeting though..it may be long. Thanks!

I agree as well,

Though I will settle for answer the phone please, or at least return messages left for you.  I have even had my partner who is not a realtor leave messages for realtors I need to reach and still it took days to get a return call or worse yet, a number of local realtors I have had to call their broker and say you have to put me in touch with this agent and explain the situation.  How unprofessional is that.

Long greetings are my "nails on the chalkboard".  I hear some agents, in their message, say "in the future, to bypass this message, press X"  I love that!  So you only have to hear their message once.

I run into this all the time and I would agree that it makes them seem very unprofessional.  It really amazes me when this is the contact number that they put on signs and business cards for the general public to get a hold of them and they still manage to get business!

James:

At the very least, they need to set up their voice mail with their name.  I won't leave showing instructions on just any number.  If the agent does have the name on the voice mail - I leave message and they have to call me back.  Can really delay the setting up of appointments.

Sandra

James--I have all of my vm set with the full information and other numbers to call...The message may be long but better than if you need to reach me and cannot locate my other numbers. My pet peeve is those who leave messages with their phone number said so quickly I have to listen and relisten to make certain I have their number correct...Enunciate when leaving your phone number...Then repeat pleaae!! Professionalism is essential in this business.

Chris that is exactly what I mean by saying their voice mail is not set up!

Jon it just makes someone look for another agent when they don't respond in a timely manner. 

Teri that is another one of my pet peeves. Someone leaving a message and then because they know their number so well rushing through it. People need to remember to slow down and say it twice.  If I get it the first time I can skip it but it is better than playing the whole message 3 times to get the phone number.

I answer my phone "This is Mike may I help you?".

No business name nothing else.

I know that this is unconventional but it stops everyone in their tracks.

They assume that they have a direct line to me. I act like that they have my personal number.

Never, never, never have I lost someone after they have called me. I have excellent phone skills. May I suggest that everyone practice their phone skills. In my business if I do not land you on the phone I will NEVER get the chance to speak to you again.