Okay, maybe a quick rant.

Are you one of those people that has a generic voicemail message?

You know, the one that has the robot lady say,

“You. Have. Reached. 310-555-1212. Leave. A. Message. At. The. Beeeeeeeeeep.”

Do you have on of those? If you do, slap yourself across the face real quick.

Okay, now that you’ve got some sense in you, leave a real voicemail message.

It can be simple, something like, “Hey it’s David. Glad you called. Looking forward to speaking with you. I’m out right now. I’ll get back to you real soon.”

It’s warmer, nicer, and it’s connecting.

A lot of people don’t even leave messages nowadays and then they’ll send you an e-mail saying, “I called you four times yesterday. Why didn’t you call back?”

Let’s see, I had 13 missed calls.

I wasn’t sure which one was yours.

Here’s the deal, folks: have a good voicemail message that conveys your personality a bit.

Make it a little more personal in this world.

So that’s your quick tip for today.

. . .

How many of you actually do have that generic voicemail message and why?

So you’ve got her phone number. Now closing and sealing the deal, getting them to go out with you—that’s only part of the picture.

How good are you at building up sexual tension after the first date? Do you even understand what sexual tension is all about?

I have something really special for you guys on today’s podcast. It’s a phone call that you can listen in. My head coach Shogo—and he’s my head coach for a reason—he decided that he’d call a woman up who he just started dating and allow ALL of you guys to listen in, so you can understand exactly what it’s like to build real sexual tension. To get her absolutely excited to see him the next time and to really show you guys how to amplify sexual tension when you’re on the phone with a woman.

Check it out and listen to the ex-lawyer do his thing.

Click Here To Download Today’s Podcast!

Can you imagine if they actually pass that law? Then, for your entire flight, you’d have to sit next to a broadcaster.

I’m not talking about John Madden and Al Michaels here, and I’m not talking about Vin Scully. I’m talking about that obnoxious person sitting next to you at an outdoor café who is speaking so loudly that you can hear everything they say. And they want you to hear everything that they say.

The other day Rey and I were sitting outside Whole Foods and we basically spent the entire time listening to this woman’s conversation about buying a house. “I DON’T KNOW IF I SHOULD BUY THE HOUSE, I’M NOT QUITE SURE. I’M NOT SURE IF I SHOULD APPROVE THE DEAL…”

Everything she said was basically yelled into the phone and into our ears. She wanted the world to hear what she had to say.

That’s the worst thing in the world. Cell phones are annoying to begin with, but it’s even worst when you have to listen to one end of a crazy conversation that isn’t even remotely interesting. There was nothing interesting about this woman and her conversation whatsoever.

So what do you do to get rid of a broadcaster? You out-broadcast them!

So get on your cell phone. Even if you aren’t talking to anybody, just pick up your phone for the hell of it. Lift it up to your ear and just start out-broadcasting her!

Literally mimic her: “YOU KNOW, IT’S FUNNY, I DON’T KNOW IF I SHOULD DO THAT DEAL…” Just start talking as loud as you can and out-broadcast her.

At the same time, look at her and smile. She will think you’re smiling because of something the person on the other end of your phone said, but you’re just fucking with her!

Some more fun with cell phones: do you ever get cut off in traffic, or someone on the road just pisses you off? Get on your cell phone and move into eye contact distance with the person who pissed you off. While you’re holding your phone to your ear, make direct eye contact with the person, smile, and mouth, “FUCK YOU.”

They will think you’re talking to someone on the phone but in reality you just basically flipped them off in a very cool and calm way.

What does this all have to do with dating? Absolutely nothing! Not every blog I write has to be relevant to dating! Maybe once in a while I just want to write about something different. Today is different.

What do you guys do when you overhear a broadcaster?

It’s amazing how many people I call, and the first thing I learn about them is their phone number recited by a computerized woman’s voice. Do you realize that your first “meeting” with and introduction to someone might be via your voicemail message?

You may thereafter hand somebody a business card with the intention of introducing yourself to them for business purposes, but their first impression of you will remain hearing “You have reached 310-555-1212 . . . ” Do you know what type of first impression that makes? None.

The other terrible thing about this ever-so-sexy computerized voice reciting a phone number as your voicemail message, is that as the caller you sometimes think you may have dialed the wrong number because there is no way to know whose voicemail you’ve reached (since today we don’t usually memorize everyone’s phone number). So you don’t leave a message. Thus, even though we know we dialed 312-555-1212, we might have hit the wrong button and we didn’t memorize it.

I don’t care whether it’s your business or your personal voicemail, you need to leave a warm personally recorded message so people who hear it can get an idea of your personality. For example, I’ve been using basically the same voicemail message for years. In mine, I say:

“Hey, it’s David. Great to hear from you. Looking forward to speaking with you, but I can’t get to the phone right now. I’ll call you back as soon as I get into the office. Take care, and make it a great day!”

Your voicemail message should at a minimum be something that’s strong. I have excitement in my voice in my message.

I want people to be excited to talk to me. I want people to be interested in talking to me. I want them to know that I’m a warm person.

It’s amazing how lazy most people have become. This is a problem that is equally prevalent in men as it is in women.

There is no reason you should have a computerized voicemail message at work. It’s unprofessional in every way. Let people know about who you are.

If you’re dating, then having a computerized voicemail message is simply ridiculous. If I call a woman and get the “You’ve reached 310-555-1212 …” voicemail, then I wonder if I was handed a wrong phone number and very often I will not want to leave a message.

Why should I leave a message in that situation? I don’t know whose phone I’ve reached. I don’t know if I’ve reached Amy, Lisa … or some weird 90-year old guy in prison somewhere who just likes to listen to voicemail messages.

So when you record your voicemail message, make it warm and friendly – but don’t make it stupid. I can’t tell you how many times I have called someone and, after hearing their dog barking in the background, their message in their cutest tone of voice says “Fred says ‘leave a message!’ Ha Ha Ha …” That is really annoying.

Also, what about when you call up a family home and after the voicemail begins “You’ve reached the Wilsons ….” you hear each child in turn yell their own name like “Timmy! Amy! Joe!” followed by the dog barking after being introduced. How cute … if you’re a part of that family.

How about the people who put an excerpt of a tv show or song as part of their voicemail message? Like that makes sense. Why in order to leave someone a message am I being forced to endure 30 seconds of a tv show that I don’t watch?

It’s time we all grew up. It’s time we all stopped being lazy. It’s time we all recorded a personal voicemail message.

So for all of you who have the “You’ve reached 310-555-1212 …” message on your voicemail, it’s time you decided to say “hi.” As for me, I’ll end this blog by saying “This is David . . . and welcome to my voicemail!”

Going further into voice. Do you know how to create powerful emotions with the tone of your voice.
Todays video explores that and more!