It's easy to rationalize why voice mail is ideal for your business. Perhaps you are the head of a small business just starting out. You may only have a few employees or may work alone a majority of the time. You have your cell phone, you have an office phone and you can buy a digital telephone answering machine for probably less than $20. The problem is that when you use telephone call answering systems you run the risk of alienating your customers. As soon as someone picks up the phone they immediately sense: