How to Improve Telephone Manners
Most people take speaking on the telephone for granted, it’s almost never taught as a skill and most are expected to just get on with it. To make matters harder those who can provide you with really good feedback i.e. the person at the other end of the phone, never get the chance to do so. Here are our tips for successful telephone conversations
- Be polite and friendly – open the conversation with a greeting and close it with a thank you. Always check if it is convenient for the conversation to happen now.
- Be prepared – have notes on the person/company being called, especially products and services.
- Minimize the use of ‘On Hold’ – sometimes it cannot be avoided but keep it to a minimum.
- If you don’t know – don’t be afraid to take down the customer query, and be prepared to find out and call them back.
- Re-enforce your company name – always use your company name when answering the telephone.
- Speak clearly and concisely – speaking clearly will often calm and reassure a caller if they are not confident making the call. Don’t be afraid to speak more slowly to get your message across.
- Accuracy – always read messages back to callers so that mistakes are minimized – forgetting to double-check contact details will be your undoing! And finally ...
- Listen and Smile – do not talk over your caller or try to second guess what they are about to say. Smiling during a conversation helps to vocalize how cheerful and confident you are.
