Answering the telephone

After

During

Before

Making a call

Telephone etiquette

Telephone etiquette

When speaking on the telephone, proper etiquette is just as important as when you meet someone in person.

A. How you conduct yourself on the telephone tells others as much about you as face-to-face interactions.

B. Always try to return your calls on the same day.

C. Keep business conversations to the point.

D. Do not keep someone on hold more than 30 seconds.

E. Always leave your phone number if you ask for someone to call you back.

F. Listening is essential whether in person or on the phone.

G. Make sure your voice mail is working properly.

1 Make notes of what you want to achieve, the main points you must include and any dates or facts you may need to refer to.

2 Have ready any files, correspondence and so on which you may need in the course of the conversation; don’t keep your receiver waiting while you ferret around for the relevant papers or turn your computer on and find the right screen.

3 Have ready a plain piece of paper for your own notes.

4 Know the name of the person to whom you need to speak.

5 Dial the number carefully; wrong numbers are the most common cause of frustration and time-wasting, but are usually the fault of the caller.

1. Give a greeting (‘Good morning’, etc.); state your name (and organization) and the name of the person to whom you want to speak.

2. Wait patiently to be put through; you may be put through to a secretary or the department telephone, in which case you will have to go through Step 1 again.

3. If you are cut off, replace the telephone receiver, wait a few seconds and ring again.

4. Keep it short: most calls can achieve their purpose in 20 seconds.

5. State you subject/query clearly.

6. Refer periodically to your notes.

7. Pause occasionally to get feedback that your message is understood.

8. Spell names and addresses; repeat any numbers.

9. Take notes, especially the name and number of the person to whom you are speaking.

10. Summarise main points of a long conversation at the end and always conclude by confirming any action required or date to be met.

11. Be polite: thank the receiver for their help, even if you haven’t got the information you wanted – fostering goodwill is not just part of being courteous, but will help future relations.

12.

13. Telephone etiquette officially requires that if you are the caller you decide when the call ends.

Immediately, before you forget:

1 Fill in your notes so that they will be comprehensible at a later date.

2 Date the note and file it.

3 Write any letters or e-mails now, if possible, while the matter is clear in your mind.

4 Pass on the results of your call to anyone concerned with the matter.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-20