Do we need Tivo for voicemail?

Is is really necessary to advertise what your company does before letting someone contact you?

I've been spending a lot of time on the phone lately. A lot of voicemail. I read some voicemail advice linked from Lifehacker a couple of months back that more people need to follow. Specifically,

• When you have to leave a voicemail, give your name, number, and reason at the beginning of the message, to avoid making the user fast forward or listen to the whole message again if they need to just get your number.
• Mention also at the beginning what the voicemail is briefly pertaining to.
  

I would now have to add one other point of voicemail etiquette

The main number for you company should not make the caller listen to a mission statement, advertising or any other description of what your company does before they can enter a menu tree or extension number.

In other words, don't do this:

Thank you for calling WidgetRUs. We are the leader in Widget technology and provide scalable solutions to customers worldwide. It is our mission to synergistically simplify principle-centered deliverables in order to proactively provide access to inexpensive information. If you know your party's extension, you may enter it at any time.

On my work voicemail, my name is the first thing announced, and then immediately following is "press 1 to bypass this message and leave your own."

also props to dilbert's mission statement generator.