In an era of constant connection, it’s more important now than ever before to maintain a healthy work-life balance. This is especially true if you run a small business where work hours can often overlap with free time.
Giving both yourself and your employees the gift of personal time comes with plenty clear advantages, from increased productivity to cultivating a happier, less stressful working environment for your team.
However, despite the long-term positive impacts taking this practice can have, many small business owners find it difficult to step away from work at the end of the day, particularly if it means leaving client requests unmet while they’re away.
While keeping yourself available to clients 24/7 is great for business, it can eventually lead to burnout — after all, you’re only human! But that begs the question: what can you do to keep customer needs met while taking care of your own? One of the. most effective methods is to create a compelling, professional out-of-office message…
Out-of-office greetings: How to take breaks as a small business
Creating a series of professional out-of-office messages that you can use to reply to automatically reply to clients while you’re away will help you take a much-earned break. The right out-of-office greeting will ensure that customers feel respected, meaning you can feel guilt-free as you go about your time off.
And don’t worry if you’ve never had to create an out-of-office message before, we’ve created 5 out-of-office message examples that you can use for a variety of scenarios, ensuring you’re always in touch with your customers.
1: Out-of-office message for after hours calls
“Thank you for contacting [business or individual’s name]! Our operating hours are [hours & time zone]. Please leave us your name and your request, and a member of our team will get back to you soon.
Have a great day!”
2: Out-of-office message for holidays
Everyone needs a vacation, even small business owners. But if you run a particularly small business, then you might not have staff to cover your absence. These two out-of-office messages are perfect for such a scenario:
“Thank you for calling [business or individual’s name]! Our team is out of the office today in observance of [holiday]; but will resume our regular business hours tomorrow. Please leave your name and request in this message, and we will get back to you as soon as we return.
Happy [holiday name]!”
Or, alternatively,
“Thanks for reaching out! Our office is currently unavailable from [start of vacation] to [return date] and we won’t be able to take calls during this time. If you do have any inquiries, please leave your name and the details of your request and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible upon our return.
Thanks again, and have a wonderful day!”
3: Out-of-office message for meetings
A vital part of running any business, certain longer meetings can often leave small business owners unable to answer important client calls. Here is a professional out-of-office message that you can set up for such occasions.
“Thanks for reaching out! I am at an offsite meeting today and will be out of the office from [time] to [time, timezone]. Please contact my team member [name] at [phone number or email address] for more immediate assistance or leave me your name and request and I will get back to you once I return.
Have a great day!”
4: Out of Office message for weekends
Finally, if you’re a small business that only works weekdays, it can be useful to have an out-of-office message in place for those customers who reach out on non-weekdays. Why not make use of this example if you find this regularly occurs:
“Thank you for contacting [business or individual’s name]! Our staff are out of the office for the weekend but will return Monday morning at [start time, timezone]. Please leave us your name and request and one of our team members will get back to you with an answer on Monday.
Have a wonderful weekend!”
5: Alternatives to leaving an out-of-office message
As useful as out-of-office messages can be, sometimes they might not be the right fit for your business. If this is the case, then you might want to try our virtual receptionist services instead.
Our receptionists are professionally trained to engage with your clients in the time and manner that works for your specific business needs. From Los Angeles to Boca Raton, our nationwide service is ready to meet you where your work lives.
Get in touch to find out more about our answering service pricing plans.