For Roofing Sales Representatives ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll have a professional, natural-sounding voicemail greeting recorded using AI voice technology — so when homeowners call and you don't answer, they hear something that builds trust instead of an awkward recorded message from the parking lot.
What you'll need
Before you open ElevenLabs, write out exactly what you want your voicemail to say. Keep it under 30 seconds (about 75 words). Here's a solid template:
"You've reached [YOUR NAME] with [COMPANY NAME], your local roofing specialist. I'm out inspecting roofs right now — please leave your name, address, and the best time to reach you, and I'll call you back within [X] hours. If this is an emergency leak, text me directly at [NUMBER]. Thanks for calling [COMPANY NAME] — where [TAGLINE IF YOU HAVE ONE]."
Draft this in a notes app and read it aloud to time it. Adjust until it sounds natural and lands under 30 seconds.
What you should see: A clean, conversational script ready to paste into ElevenLabs.
Go to elevenlabs.io and click "Sign Up Free." Use your email or Google account. The free tier is more than enough for voicemail greetings.
What you should see: A dashboard showing a "Text to Speech" option and a list of AI voices to choose from.
Click "Text to Speech" in the left sidebar. In the "Voice" dropdown at the top, browse the available voices. For a professional business voicemail:
What you should see: A list of voices with play buttons and labels like "Rachel — Conversational" or "Adam — Professional."
Paste your voicemail script into the large text box. Click "Generate". ElevenLabs will produce an audio file in a few seconds.
What you should see: An audio player appears below the text box. Press play to hear your AI voicemail.
Troubleshooting: If the pacing sounds rushed, add commas or ellipses (...) to create natural pauses. If a word sounds mispronounced (rare but possible with industry terms), rephrase it or use phonetic spelling.
Click the download button (looks like a downward arrow) next to the audio player. Save it as an MP3 or WAV file to your computer or phone.
What you should see: An MP3 file downloaded to your device labeled something like "ElevenLabs_[voice]_[timestamp].mp3."
This step depends on your phone/carrier:
iPhone (carrier voicemail): Open the Phone app → Voicemail tab → "Greeting" → "Custom" → Record your greeting by playing the audio file out loud near your phone's microphone (quick method), OR upload directly if your carrier's voicemail app supports file uploads.
Android: Similar process — Phone app → Voicemail → Custom greeting → Record.
Google Voice (if you use a Google Voice number for business): Go to voice.google.com → Settings → Voicemail greeting → Upload an audio file directly — the cleanest method.
What to look for: Your carrier's voicemail system may require recording via the phone's microphone. If so, play the ElevenLabs audio on a second device (laptop or tablet) at good volume while recording your voicemail greeting by holding your phone near the speaker. It won't be perfect but it will be noticeably better than most reps' greetings.