Phone Skills
By Sandra J. Day

In a business environment the first contact you ever have with a customer is often over the phone. He or she will be forming an opinion of you from this first contact. It is very easy to give a poor impression by being disorganised and unprofessional in the way you use the phone. Conversely by using it effectively you can appear very sharp and competent.

This article discusses the skills that allow you to present yourself in the most professional way possible.

How to be effective on the phone

Remembering these points will help you to be sharp and professional in the way that you talk on the phone:

• Have a goal - When making an outgoing call, always know what you want to discuss. Always ensure that you have all the documentation you need to achieve your aim. This saves both your time and the time of the person you are talking to.
  
• Tailor your style to that of the person you are talking to -
  Busy people often prefer a clean cut, direct approach with a bare minimum of social chat. Others may prefer a more sociable approach. Tailor your approach to their style (unless they are miserable or rude!)
  
• Limit social conversation - Social chat may be pleasant, but taken to extremes it wastes time. It can be intensely frustrating if you have a lot of work to do.
  
• Give concise answers to questions - Long rambling answers are unprofessional, dull and confusing.
  
• If you don't know an answer, say so - If someone relies on you when you are guessing, and you guess wrong, then they will never trust you again. If you do not know something, say you will get back to them with a firm answer.
  
• At the end of a call, summarise the points made - This ensures that both people agree on what has been said, and know what action will be taken.
  
• Don't talk to anyone else when on the phone - This makes your organisation look small. Put the other person on hold, then talk.

Making phone calls

Bear in mind the following when a call has to be made:

• Take the initiative in making calls:
  Where a call has to be made, make it. Leaving it waiting just builds stress if it is unpleasant or difficult.
  
• Don't make a call very early or very late:
  Give the person you are talking to a chance to get a coffee and settle in before you ring them. Don't take up peoples time when they want to leave the office.
  
• If calls are administrative, delegate them:
  It may be possible to delegate calls arranging times for meetings, finding out addresses, etc. to assistants. You should, however, be careful not to give the impression that you are playing power games.
  
• If you get an answering machine, ring off and ring back:
  If you are not prepared for an answering machine, you can sound stilted and off-balance talking into one. It is much better to hang up, prepare a message, and then deliver it smoothly.
  
• Don't harass people:
  If someone is doing a job for you, don't ring them every few hours to find out how it is going. This is irritating and stressful, and slows achievement of the job.

Taking incoming calls

These points are important in the way your organisation handles incoming calls:

• The phone should not ring more than 3 times before being answered:
  This is the norm for efficient business organisations. You will appear seriously slack and unprofessional if your phone rings many more times than this. If you do not have the personnel to answer all incoming lines, take the unanswerable phones off the hook. If you pick up a phone that has rung many times, then apologise to the other person.
  
• Everyone should have responsibility for answering phones:
  You will seriously annoy anyone who has to hang on waiting for service: not only are you wasting their time, you are also keeping them in a stressed condition where they are ready to talk at a moment's notice. Everyone within an organisation should have responsibility for answering phones: if nothing else this will keep front-line people on their toes if they know their managers are having to do their jobs!
  
• Don't answer the phone while eating:
  This either sounds indistinct or sounds like having your ear nibbled!
  
• Always ring back:
  There is nothing more frustrating than waiting for an important call that is not returned for many hours. By not returning a call you are slowing the other person's achievement of their goals.

Many of these points are simple courtesies. Always bear in mind that the time of the person you are talking to is limited, and that they are forming an opinion of you and your organisations efficiency while you are on the phone.