the present invention provides an apparatus for efficient communication of messages such as voice messages in a telephone answering system . the apparatus includes an input to receive an incoming call , a recorder for recording outgoing messages , a memory to store incoming and outgoing messages , a comparator for comparing caller information to a client list , a player for playing a particular outgoing message to a calling party if the caller information matches a specific client in the client list , and a menu for identifying members of the client list and to identify locations in the memory for each of the members . the particular outgoing message includes a question previously posed by the specific client and a response to the question .