Professional phone greeting scripts: 8 templates + an AI voice to record them

Your phone greeting answers more calls than anyone on your team, and callers decide within seconds whether they’ve reached a real business or a dead end. Yet most greetings are either a mumbled recording from 2019 or the phone system’s robotic default. Below are eight scripts you can copy and adapt - and, since nobody wants to book a studio for twenty seconds of audio, how to have a natural AI voice read them for you in about a minute.

What makes a greeting work

Four rules cover almost everything:

1. Company name first. Callers are verifying they dialled the right number - settle that in the opening seconds.
2. Keep it short. Ten to twenty seconds for a greeting or voicemail message. Every extra sentence costs hang-ups.
3. One clear next step. Leave a message, email us, or call back at these hours - pick the one you actually want, not all three.
4. Keep it current. An October greeting still announcing your August closure tells callers nobody’s home. With an AI voice, re-recording takes a minute, so there’s no excuse left.

The scripts

Replace the [brackets] with your details. Each template is written to be read aloud - short sentences, no subclauses.

1. Main greeting (business hours)

Plays before the call connects or enters a queue.

Welcome to [Company]. We’re connecting you to the next available team member. Thank you for your patience.

2. Business voicemail greeting

The classic answering-machine message for a line that’s busy or unattended.

You’ve reached [Company]. We can’t take your call right now. Please leave your name, number and a short message after the tone, and we’ll call you back within [one business day].

3. After-hours message

For calls outside opening times - tell them when to try again and give an alternative.

Thank you for calling [Company]. Our office is currently closed. You can reach us [Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm]. Leave a message, or email us at [address], and we’ll get back to you on the next business day.

4. Holiday closure

Swap this in before you leave - and set a reminder to swap it back.

Thank you for calling [Company]. We’re closed from [date] to [date]. From [date], we’ll be there for you as usual. For urgent matters, please contact [name or number].

5. IVR menu

Three or four options at most; always leave a route to a human.

Welcome to [Company]. For sales, press one. For support, press two. For billing, press three. To speak with reception, press zero or stay on the line.

6. On-hold message

For the queue. Reassure, don’t advertise for three minutes.

All our team members are currently helping other callers. Please stay on the line - you’ll be connected to the next available person. By the way, many questions are answered at [website].

7. Solo business / personal line

Warmer and first-person - fits freelancers, tradespeople and one-person shops.

Hi, you’ve reached [Name] at [Company]. I’m probably on the other line or with a customer. Leave me a message and I’ll call you back today.

8. Appointment-based business

For practices, salons, workshops - anywhere the phone mostly books slots.

Thank you for calling [Business]. To book an appointment, please call during our opening hours, [hours], or book online at [website]. For urgent matters, please contact [emergency contact].

IVR menu scripts: five more examples

The IVR menu is where callers either find their way or give up, so it gets a set of its own. Three rules first:

• Say the option before the number. “For billing, press 3” lets callers wait for the option they want. “Press 3 for billing” makes them hold on to a number before they know whether they need it.
• Most requested option first, four options at most. Everything else can live in a second menu or on your website.
• Always a way out. A zero for a person, and a nine to hear the options again.

Small office, three options

Thank you for calling [Company]. For sales, press 1. For support, press 2. For invoices and payments, press 3. To speak with someone at reception, press 0. To hear these options again, press 9.

Medical practice

The emergency instruction goes first, before any menu option.

You’ve reached [Practice name]. If this is a medical emergency, please hang up and call [emergency number]. To book, change or cancel an appointment, press 1. For test results, press 2. For prescriptions, press 3. For anything else, please stay on the line.

Online shop

Welcome to [Shop] customer service. To check the status of an order, press 1. For returns and refunds, press 2. For questions about a product, press 3. Please have your order number ready. You’ll find it in your confirmation email.

Two-language greeting

Each option in its own language, so every caller understands at least the one meant for them.

Welcome to [Company]. For English, press 1. Para español, marque 2.

After-hours menu

Thank you for calling [Company]. Our office is closed right now. Our opening hours are [hours]. To leave a message, press 1. For urgent technical problems, press 2 to reach our on-call service. For everything else, please visit [website].

Recording it with an AI voice (about a minute)

The wording is half the job; the recording is the other half. A phone-quality voice used to mean a studio, a voice actor and a per-word invoice - for a file you’ll replace at the next schedule change. Now:

1. Open the phone greeting generator and paste your script.
2. Pick a voice and preview it free - compare two or three before deciding.
3. Generate and download the MP3.
4. Upload it to your phone system, and call yourself once to hear it as your customers will.

You pay per generation - a twenty-second greeting costs cents, and the calculator shows the exact figure before you spend anything. No subscription for something you re-record twice a year. And because the voices speak 50+ languages, a business with locations in three countries can use the same voice, and the same tone, in all of them. For German, Spanish, French, Italian or Japanese callers there are native-speaker voices too - see the German, Spanish and French voice pages.

Will my phone system accept it?

Modern VoIP and cloud systems - the RingCentral and Google Voice category - take MP3 directly. Older on-premise PBX hardware sometimes insists on WAV or µ-law; any free audio converter handles that in seconds. Two practical tips: skip background music (phone lines compress it into mush, and licensing is a headache), and always test the final file through an actual phone call, not your studio headphones.

Five mistakes that undo a good greeting

1. The 45-second welcome. Callers want a human or a beep, not an essay.
2. Six menu options. Past three or four, everyone just presses zero.
3. Reading faster to fit more in. Cut words instead - the script templates above are short on purpose.
4. Music with unclear rights. Hold music from a random playlist can cost you licensing fees; a clean voice-only announcement is safer and clearer.
5. Promising what you won’t deliver. Don’t say “we’ll call back within the hour” unless someone actually will.

Pick the script closest to your situation, adjust the brackets, and have a voice read it - you can preview for free and walk away with the MP3 before your coffee cools.