Business telephone etiquette is an art that needs professional tips. Every one of us can talk over the telephone, but how many of us can do it appropriately? Are we sure we can bring a win-win outcome through having a phone call? People should think of much about business phone etiquette.
With all of the various communication options available to customers nowadays, such as email, chat, and online forms, when someone decides to pick up the phone and contact your business, they want a quick answer.
If providing a consistent call experience is a priority for you, you must be prepared to answer your calls by having an educated staff and keeping track of the average number of rings it takes for someone to talk with someone in your company.
If you want to have a business phone line, you must be willing to answer it when it rings. Most industrys’ norm is for 80 percent of calls to be answered in three rings or fewer.
Other industries advocate for four or fewer rings, and there are even justifications for six or fewer rings. To put this debate into context for you, a 4- to 5-ring time frame will typically last 24 seconds, depending on your phone system. This might seem like an eternity to any caller.
Consider working with a 24/7 telephone answering service if you or your receptionist are unable to answer calls in a timely way.
When your firm is overburdened with calls, particularly during after-hours and holidays, a 24/7 phone answering service can help. They can professionally answer your calls while you conduct your company in-house!
When we hire phone agents, we look for people who understand how difficult it can be to serve the public but still enjoy doing so. Why? Since these people have a natural ability to provide a consistent experience to clients regardless of the call’s setting. We strongly advise you to hire the same sort of people to monitor your phones as well.
When you act out with poor body language during a call, it can impair the way you project your voice, in addition to decreasing your professionalism. And, it turns out, even when they can’t see you, most people are fairly good at interpreting your emotions.
While taking a good massage is an important part of call handling, a message is intended to help internal processes. No matter how fantastic your message is, it will not make your caller feel better.
This is why, at the end of each contact, our callers are given two pieces of information: the identity of the agent who handled their call and the destination of their message after it leaves our hands.
Never let a call go to voicemail without ensuring the caller that you are actively working to remedy their problem. This is terrible business telephone etiquette that will result in a negative caller experience.
Even if you can’t see them, every person who comes into your business should be handled properly.
In this article, I am going to talk about business telephone etiquette tips.
Business phone etiquette
What might be considerable and can set up benchmarks for a successful telephone conversation? What are modern telephone etiquette tips for professionals? This article intends to provide a complete guide to office phone etiquette as business, office, and personal skills. We will see what business telephone etiquette tips are.
This business phone etiquette described here is applicable to mobile, telephone, or any other audio conversation through any other medium.
What is telephone etiquette?
Telephone etiquette is a way of proper communication to achieve a specific objective of business, office, customer service, call center, and personal life, in the shortest possible time.
Telephone etiquette means unwritten mutual consent between two parties to intentionally talk together in a clear-cut way of communication. Business telephone etiquette derives an invisible visual impression between the communicators through an amicable audio response.
Basics tips of telephone etiquette cover showing due honor to the person you are communicating with. Proper telephone etiquette is a decent way to represent your voice as your level of personality that should impress the other person.
Telephone etiquette includes demonstrating attention to the other person’s probable limitations, as well as the democratic right to deliberately speak out.
Importance of office phone etiquette
The importance of office phone etiquette is so magnanimous that the success of many businesses, professions, and offices directly or indirectly depends on it. Proper telephone etiquette is a vital facet of communication since you represent not only yourself, your goal, business, or department lay behind you.
Appropriate office phone etiquette training is the ground of practice and attention. In a telephonic conversation, each other can’t see the gesture, body language, or facial expressions of the opposite. Therefore our words, tome, and time should be so selective that the other party doesn’t feel miscommunication and inferiority in any way.
Related: Business telephone systems to improve communication
We should be caring about any unintentional rudeness and indifference that might cause plenty of losses, which include, fail deal, misinterpretation of information, and permanent breach of relationship, among others. This demands proper attention to the importance of telephone etiquette.
Perspectives of telephone etiquette
At the outset, we have to understand the perspective of telephone (or mobile phone) communication. Office phone etiquette is not that much easy an issue to just pick up the handset and say “Hello”.
Different situations deserve different telephone etiquette for their success.
Related: Enhance your Emotional Intelligence in the workplace
Business telephone etiquette tips
1. Plan and preparation
There’s nothing quite like talking on the phone with someone who appears to be absent from the conversation. We don’t like it when people call us on the phone—have you ever had to question if they’re talking to you or their dog? We don’t like it on business calls, either.
This implies that if you want to be fully present during a conversation, you must disconnect from all other activities and concentrate just on your caller.
This emphasizes the critical significance of proper telephone etiquette! As we advise our agents, handle every call as if it were your most important one, because they are in business.
Think through exactly what you plan to say and discuss BEFORE you place a call.
Know whom are you talking to, to make sure to talk to the right person.
Rehearse what you are going to talk about.
2. Introduce yourself
The right introduction is one of the basic parts of office phone etiquette. Introduce myself and the organization always at the beginning of all calls.
Almost all English phone calls begin the same way: by introducing yourself. To introduce yourself, say “Hello, this is (name).” If the caller does not identify himself when you answer the phone, you might say, “May I ask who’s calling, please?”
3. Ask permission to talk
The first step is to state your complete name and designation. After you’ve made your personal introduction, inquire about the caller’s name and job title.
Ask permission if the recipient has time to talk, ‘May I talk..’
Clarify the purpose of the call at the beginning of the connection.
Ask permission if the phone call needs a recording.
Ask before putting the caller on hold.
Politely put off receiver asking ‘I will call you later’ in case any collision might be taken place.
4. Talk clearly, politely
As we discussed earlier, your voice is your representation in a phone call for successful business phone call etiquette. Speak out in the right tone, clear voice, and moderate pace. Pay attention to your accent and approach. Your message should clearly be transmitted to the recipient.
Being courteous entails more than simply saying “please, excuse me, and thank you.” It’s all about treating your caller with the same care and concern that you would expect from someone while conducting business over the phone.
Many people believe that answering the phone is a simple task that anybody can perform. While anybody can pick up the phone and answer it, not everyone has the personality or customer service skills to deal with irate consumers while being professional on the phone.
5, Have patience
Patience necessitates calmness, even temper, and the avoidance of provocation.
When we believe that anything is preventing us from achieving a goal, we are said to get impatient. Disconnecting mentally from all other work is one approach to overcome impatience when answering your phone lines.
When the phone rings, teach your brain to focus on satisfying the person on the other end of the line. This might aid your concentration on the subject at hand. Focusing on the caller will assist you to make a professional phone call to your consumers.
6. Greet
Greet properly, humbly, respectfully, and politely. Because the recipient will definitely love it. The greeting is an identity of humans, and obviously an important office telephone etiquette.
Be submissive, because the recipient will love positive-minded people. We will not be dominating whatsoever. It belongs to modern telephone etiquette tips for professionals.
7. Smile
Keep a ‘smile in your voice’. It means your voice and tone should be so impressive that the other person welcomes you from her heart. Rejoice yourself, to rejoice the other person. Showing a smiling voice is a part of successful business phone call etiquette.
8. Use the right language
Your wording and language are important to win your purpose. All words, language, and accents are not suitable in every place.
Do groundwork before you call. Know the pros and cons of the person as much as possible.
When you have called a customer who just has lost her mother, ‘how are you, I hope everything is well‘ is not the right language.
9. Listen
The other person may also have something to say. Listen and take notes. The more you will listen, the better you have chances to win her heart. It is taught in telephone manner skills.
10. Be approachable
There is no denying that there is a disconnect when doing business over the phone. As a result, being friendly over the phone necessitates maximizing your communication abilities.
It’s critical to remember that every voice you hear is that of a real person. And, if you fail to connect with them on any level throughout your chat, each person might have a major influence on your organization.
Using the caller’s name, paying attention to your voice inflections, and vocally checking back with a “um hmm, fine,” or immediate replies to queries are just a few methods to build a better, more personal connection with your caller.
11. Converse short
Say only necessary talks, when you talk much, the recipient might lose the core message. Less is more, so show your office telephone etiquette properly for a successful ending.
Keep the talk short, the telephone is not a way to gossip
12. Answer a call soon
It is a good practice if you pick up the phone soon while it is ringing, preferably within 3 rings. You should not keep the other party waiting for long, it’s not proper office telephone etiquette.
The person who has called you has the most attention and respect up to that time.
13. Professionalism is essential.
Over the phone, your communication skills are crucial to your professionalism. The tone of your voice, the pitch of your voice, the velocity at which you talk, and your articulation, pronunciation, and diction are all important.
Before answering the phone and when conversing with callers, we advise our agents to smile. This may seem funny, but it really increases callers’ perceptions of your lucidity owing to physiological reasons—which is why we will also propose it to you.
Furthermore, imagining that a person has just stepped in front of you as your phone starts to ring might influence the way you deal with callers. Would you make faces or flail your arms in irritation in front of a client?
You wouldn’t do that if you want to keep your customers pleased or your business alive—which we hope you do! You should use the same body language and movements on your calls as you would with a real person.
14. Break the ice
Develop a relationship with the recipient through some ice-breaking sentences. Telephone manner skills will make a comfortable conversation ahead.
Your caring approach will break the uncomfortable wall.
15. You make a respectable impression
When leaving a voicemail, first impressions are crucial. Your tone of voice makes a difference in your phone conversations, just like your attire does in your personal look.
Here are a few pointers to increase your chances of obtaining a callback:
- Make sure to use proper grammar. Powerful individuals conduct themselves in a thoughtful and courteous manner.
- Make sure your words are clear. They must comprehend what you are saying.
- Speak with assurance. They will have greater faith in you if you speak in a confident tone.
- Be succinct. Get to the point swiftly and succinctly. A callback is 2 percent less likely for every second longer than 30 seconds.
16. Pick the right time
Not all the time of a day is the same to call a person. Consider time as a part of proper office telephone etiquette.
You can’t call a damn busy businessperson during the pick time, or a virgin client at the deep of night.
17. Use the right tone and voice
Make sure the voice must create a pleasant visual impression over the telephone, as its a crucial business phone call etiquette
Be sensitive to the tone of your voice. Because the listener won’t see your face.
Speak into the telephone receiver with an even and low tone of voice.
Speak clearly and slowly, especially when leaving messages.
The phone is not a medium to speak at high volume, or at low volume. Maintaining the perfect volume is a part of business phone call etiquette.
19. Don’t Ask, rather Give
People who are too busy to hand out don’t have the time. Instead of asking for their time, offer to give it to them.
You may accomplish this by giving them something that will benefit them. You must provide them with something unique that does not demand their time or money.
20. Improvise
You might have to improvise in some cases, when all the pre-plan may not work as per expectation.
The best way to make a habit of improvisation is to consider yourself in the other person’s place.
Think before you call, about what might be the options.
Related: 13 effective negotiations strategies in the workplace
21. Show courtesy
Not to allow interruptions to occur during conversations. Do not carry on side conversations with other people around you.
Build the habit of always turning off your cell phone ringer when entering a meeting, restaurant, theater, training class, or another relevant place.
Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by other activities while speaking on the telephone because you cannot pay full attention.
22. Be proactive in your approach
One thing that all callers have in common is that they despise feeling unsettled after a business conversation has finished. For example, while we make it a point to learn as much as we can about our client’s businesses, we can’t possibly know all there is to know about each of them.
As a result, we recognize that we will not be able to handle every call, and we have set standards for capturing quality messages with relevant information, as well as additional actions to proactively ensure the caller that their call will be sent down the queue.
23. Make an effort to connect
Strangers are rarely called. Make some kind of connection with the person in order to approach them in the proper way.
A referral is the finest kind of relationship. This is my preferred manner of communicating with others:
“It’s possible that your pal David told you that I’d call you. He said that you would be the ideal person to talk to about it.”
You should be upfront if you don’t have a genuine reference.
“We haven’t met yet, but your TED address last month was inspiring.”
24. Don’t Ask, rather Explain
A voicemail message is a request for a follow-up call. You should not utilize voicemail to ask a question or to clarify a difficult situation.
There are two reasons for this. First and foremost, the longer a voicemail is, the more likely it will be disregarded. Second, if you give too much information, the individual will be able to determine whether or not to call you back.
25. Up to a point, be persistent
Stopping trying is one method to ensure you’ll never get a callback. Keep trying if you want to reach out to someone significant. It could even be beneficial to include this information in your message:
“I understand we haven’t talked as often as I’d like, but I’ll keep calling until we do.”
Hopefully, the individual you’re attempting to contact is in good health. Give them the benefit of the doubt because you don’t know the reasons surrounding their failure to answer your call. Always be nice and never be disrespectful.
While perseverance is vital, banging your head against the wall for years is not. Provide a clear endpoint for the effort in this scenario.
We do not recommend rustling papers, chewing and eating, working on the computer, or speaking with someone else during your talk.
Answer the telephone as quickly as possible while it’s ringing.
It belongs to modern telephone etiquette tips for professionals.
26. Show honesty
Be honest when you really don’t know what to answer. Speaking truth is the best way of a business phone call etiquette. Telephone manner skills tell you to have to be diplomatic answering a phone call.
Related: 5 reasons why people do not perform at their best
27. Recap core message
Before concluding, it is a good idea to recap your core message to the other person. A decent summary of the phone call will spur the other person with a call to action.
28. Conclude decently
Make time for a proper ending. It is proper business phone etiquette.
Don’t drop the phone suddenly, because it will cause a negative impression.
Summarize, paraphrase, and close.
29. Practice
Keep practicing the whole process regularly. It will give you the confidence to transform much better a performer every time.
Write down the script.
Talk in front of the mirror.
Make mock calls as tests among your colleagues and friends.
30. Ask permission for calling back
In case the receiver doesn’t allow you to talk right now, ask for a time later on. It is a common business phone call etiquette.
The takeout of telephone etiquette tips
You are significant. You have something valuable on your hands. You have earned the right to have your phone call returned.
Keep these tips in mind and use these scripts to increase your chances of getting a callback.
It is critical that you do all possible to prevent interference with communication.
Always remember that good business phone etiquette necessitates being prepared, present, polite, patient, personable, professional, and proactive.
Failure to adhere to any of the seven p’s can significantly affect your caller experience, which can lead to a bad impact on your company’s reputation and, eventually, a negative impact on your bottom line.
These are some basic rules for telephone manner skills and business phone etiquette. Everyone can talk, but smart people can create an impression. The smarter you are, and the more purposeful is your business telephone etiquette. These are some business telephone etiquette tips for professionals in the present time. It should be one of the very useful ingredients to convert failure into success in life.
Other Recommended Articles
- 14 Ways on How to Let Go When Someone won’t Forgive You
- 15 Steps On How to Tell Someone You Forgive Them
- 13 Hacks on How to Forgive Someone You Hate
- 18 Tips on How to Increase Tolerance in Work and Life
- 25 Hacks on How to Listen Effectively Everyday Everywhere
- 24 Practical Tips on How to Practice Patience Everyday
- 10 Recoveries When It’s About How Hard You Can Get Hit
- 9 Hacks on How to Move Forward in A Relationship
- 13 Career Growth Opportunities for Aspirant Professionals
- 10 Hacks on How to Let Go of the Past and Move Forward
- 14 Tips on How to Motivate Others As A Leader
- MBO Management by Objectives – Features | Benefits | Limitations
- Best Time to Send Business Email – Get Opened and Read
- Planning Organizing Leading Controlling | P-O-L-C Framework
- 5 Steps of Training – Advantages | Principles | Policy | Needs
- 21 Tips on Great Marketing Content Creation for Business
- 7 Features to Define Creditworthiness in Business
- 10 Important Questions to Ask A Business Owner
- 11 Signs of the Best Company Websites in 21st Century
- 20 Roles of Human Resource Management
- 9 Hacks to Craft A One Month Workout Challenge