diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ec504a575c2..98f6e562c69 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2290,17 +2290,19 @@ ifeq ($(INSTALL_OK),true)
 	@echo "Your system looks ready to go."
 	@echo
 else
-	@echo "We couldn't find protoc 3.0.0+ installed on your system. While this"
-	@echo "won't prevent grpc from working, you won't be able to compile"
-	@echo "and run any meaningful code with it."
+	@echo "Warning: it looks like protoc 3.0.0+ isn't installed on your system,"
+	@echo "which means that you won't be able to compile .proto files for use"
+	@echo "with gRPC."
 	@echo
+	@echo "If you are just using pre-compiled protocol buffers, or you otherwise"
+	@echo "have no need to compile .proto files, you can ignore this."
 	@echo
-	@echo "Please download and install protobuf 3.0.0+ from:"
+	@echo "If you do need protobuf for some reason, you can download and install"
+	@echo "it from:"
 	@echo
 	@echo "   https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases"
 	@echo
-	@echo "Once you've done so, or if you think this message is in error,"
-	@echo "you can re-run this check by doing:"
+	@echo "Once you've done so, you can re-run this check by doing:"
 	@echo
 	@echo "   make verify-install"
 endif
diff --git a/templates/Makefile.template b/templates/Makefile.template
index f84b5f6bf2e..079fef65ae8 100644
--- a/templates/Makefile.template
+++ b/templates/Makefile.template
@@ -1431,17 +1431,19 @@
   	@echo "Your system looks ready to go."
   	@echo
   else
-  	@echo "We couldn't find protoc 3.0.0+ installed on your system. While this"
-  	@echo "won't prevent grpc from working, you won't be able to compile"
-  	@echo "and run any meaningful code with it."
+  	@echo "Warning: it looks like protoc 3.0.0+ isn't installed on your system,"
+  	@echo "which means that you won't be able to compile .proto files for use"
+  	@echo "with gRPC."
   	@echo
+  	@echo "If you are just using pre-compiled protocol buffers, or you otherwise"
+  	@echo "have no need to compile .proto files, you can ignore this."
   	@echo
-  	@echo "Please download and install protobuf 3.0.0+ from:"
+  	@echo "If you do need protobuf for some reason, you can download and install"
+  	@echo "it from:"
   	@echo
   	@echo "   https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases"
   	@echo
-  	@echo "Once you've done so, or if you think this message is in error,"
-  	@echo "you can re-run this check by doing:"
+  	@echo "Once you've done so, you can re-run this check by doing:"
   	@echo
   	@echo "   make verify-install"
   endif