Record your voicemail greeting

A Zillow connection who gets a robotic default greeting hangs up and calls the next agent. Eighteen seconds fixes that.

The script

"Today" is a promise. Keep it or take it out. Smile while you record — it comes through.

The easy way, any phone

Call your own voicemail: on an iPhone or Android, press and hold 1 on the keypad, then follow the prompts to record a new greeting. If that doesn’t work, use the steps for your phone below.

iPhone

1. Open the Phone app and look at the buttons along the bottom.

   If you seeCalls, Contacts, Keypad, Search (the newer iPhone layout): tap Calls → Edit (top) → Edit Voicemail Greeting. Don’t see it? Tap Filter (top right) → Voicemails first, then Edit.
   If you seea Voicemail button (bottom right): tap it, then Greeting (top left).
   If instead you seeno greeting option anywhere: your carrier handles voicemail. Use the easy way above.

2. Tap Custom, not Default. Default is the robot voice reading your number back, which is what you are replacing. Then Record, read the script, and Stop.

3. Tap Play to listen. Not happy? Record again. Happy? Save.

Android

1. Open the Phone app → three dots (top right) → Settings → Voicemail.

2. Tap Greeting (some phones: Advanced settings → Setup → Voicemail greeting).

   You should now seea Greeting or Voicemail greeting screen with a record button.
   If instead you seethere is nothing about greetings anywhere in Settings: your carrier handles voicemail rather than the phone. Call your own number, press * or # during the greeting, and follow the prompts — this is normal on Android and is not you doing it wrong.

3. Record, listen, save.