The great debate: voice mail

By Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 10/1/1998

You hit on many good points in your editorial "Voice mail: friend or foe" (see August, 1998), but I must take exception to your statement "... to receive 'detailed' information, you can't rely solely on voice mail."

To me, an inside sales manager, voice mail is the perfect tool for conveying detailed information if you do not have access to e-mail. Leaving detailed information with a person who is taking notes will probably lead to not getting your entire message across to the end receiver. Most people leave out some details when taking messages over the phone. (Remember the game of telephone?) Therefore, I prefer to receive detailed voice mail messages so I hear it from the "horse's mouth" so to speak. I also feel more reassured at leaving a voice mail message, knowing that the person can repeatedly play it until he gets everything correct -- something that cannot happen with a written message.

John W. Tonkin, Jr.

Customer Service Manager

Innovative Distributor Group