Taming the Time Consuming Telephone and Reducing Your Stress

Most of us would prefer to have a real person answering the telephone, but we shouldn’t expect to see that come back anytime soon.  Here are some suggestions for reducing your telephone time and frustration.

Eliminate or reduce as many of the menu options as possible.  All those choices tend to annoy the caller, rather than being seen as helpful.  Many times what or who isn’t even listed in the menu, so try dialing 0, or wait for a “representative.”  How many times has your call been answered with instructions to “listen to all our options, as our menu has changed?”  As a caller, do you believe that or even care if the menu has been changed?  If the menu is short enough and doesn’t direct the caller to a second or even a third menu after making the first selection, we can usually listen through it to get to the person we want without much annoyance.

Listen to the personal greeting on your own phone recorder or voicemail.  Identify yourself by name to verify that the caller has indeed reached the person they want.  This is particularly true on your home telephone to reduce the risk of a wrong number leaving a message.  Or worse yet, the caller makes two calls because they aren’t sure if they dialed the right number the first time.  If you are concerned about security at home and don’t want to give your name, you can record the phone number as part of your message to assure your caller that they indeed have gotten the correct number.   This doesn’t verify that the caller has gotten the right person, just that they reached the number that they dialed. If you need more security, a single woman might ask a male friend to record the message.

Make your telephone/voicemail message short, courteous and friendly (remember, you are glad that they called.).  It isn’t “cute” to be mysterious and the factory default message on the phone definitely isn’t friendly.  Don’t include something the caller already knows, like “I’m not in the office”, assuming that if you were in the office, you would have answered the phone.  Your message may be longer if you give information about an extended absence, like vacation or sick leave, but don’t be specific about the reason.  Include the name and number of the person who can help during those special situations.

While you may think your personal message is cute, humorous, politically correct or a personal witness, the caller may not see it the same way, especially if it is a long message. Having children record the message is a security risk, and they are often difficult to understand. Children’s voices never sound as cute to the caller as they do to family members.

Consider how quickly you return calls, as part of your professional business etiquette.  Calls need to be returned within one or two hours and definitely no more than twenty-four.  The caller’s interest is at its peak at the time when they call.  If you don’t get back to them in a relatively short period of time, they may go to the competitor.  Longer than twenty-four hour waits to return calls is not good customer service.

Don’t be reluctant to give out your cell phone number, and use the remote access feature when you are away from your telephone.  That way you can offer your customers a much quicker response time.

Here are a few things you can do when you leave a voicemail message to get it returned quickly and efficiently.  Be prepared before you call to leave a message in case the person doesn’t answer their phone.  Be clear in your own mind about what you want from the call.  You will leave a coherent message and you won’t ramble.  It allows the recipient to prepare before they call back, so they have the information or help that you desire.  Be short.  Remember to speak slowly and with enough volume to make it easy for the recipient to hear and understand you. 

When leaving a message use these elements: 

• Identify whom the message is for.
• Give your name and include your telephone number at the beginning of the message.
• State the reason for your call…what do you want from this individual, what is the call in reference to, why are you calling?
• Give specific dates and times when it will be best to receive their returned call. (This way the caller won’t have to waste time calling you when they’ll have to leave their own message and continue the “game” of phone tag.)
• Repeat your name and the telephone number at the end of the message.

Written with Guest Author Dennis S. Newman, ABLE Director at Vanguard-Sentinel Career Centers

Update Your Cell Phone Etiquette

• Keep private matters private.  Not everything is appropriate to share in public.  Please allow other people the option of not listening to your conversations.
• Turn your cell phone off, to vibrate, or silence it when a ringing phone would be annoying, distracting or rude, like at the cinema, plays, religious services, meetings, libraries, the park or other recreational areas.
• When driving, advise the caller that you are on a cell phone.  Tell them you will pullover when it’s safe and return the call.  It could eliminate poor reception, a dropped call or an accident.
• If you must receive a call while with others, let them know that you are expecting it.  Before answering that call, ask again for permission.

Public classes and workshops offered through The Kern Center at Terra Community College, Fremont, Ohio

Conversational Spanish
Customer Service
Conflict Management
Avoiding Sexual Harassment and Hostile Work Environments

Contact us at CASS@woh.rr.com
1-800-332-2773   419-332-9603

Take a Look at Your Telephone Skills

Nearly everyone has a cell phone and we use many of them for business, as well as our office telephones.  The way you sound makes a difference in the way that people “see” you and your business.  Start by hearing yourself as your callers do.  The way you think you sound may not be the way that others hear you over the telephone.

Try tape recording your side of telephone conversations, and then listen to the recordings to analyze your telephone skills. Note your strengths and look for where you could improve in future calls. Some areas to analyze include:

Your greeting.  What do you say when you pick up the telephone?  If you identify yourself by name and company, consider your pronunciation of those VERY familiar words. They may sound like they run together.  It makes them much less understandable, even unclear to the caller.  Many of us with a Midwestern speech speed may sound rushed or impatient to someone from another part of the country or a non-native English speaker. 

Most people can speak at a normal volume on a call, unless they have a booming voice.  If the caller has to hold the telephone at a distance from his/her ear to reduce the volume, consider holding the mouthpiece of the telephone a few inches below your mouth, rather than right next to it.  Let that booming voice “float” into the mouthpiece.  If you have a quieter voice, you make it difficult for the listener to hear you.  You may come across as timid or unsure of yourself.  Consider speaking up and speak directly into the mouthpiece to increase the expression of your confidence and professionalism.

Consider giving both your first and last names as part of your greeting.  A first name alone may be too informal.  A last name, like Mrs. Smith, may sound too formal, distant or even short if you don’t use any title.  You may be treated with more respect if you use your full name.

As you consider your greeting, think about the message on your voicemail, too.  Do you come across as confident or stressed?  Are you glad this person called, or does it appear that you view telephone messages as interruptions or irritations.  One voicemailbox I called identifies the person with a questioning inflection in his own voice.  It appears that he is questioning who he is.  Analyze both the “live” version of your greeting and the greeting on your voicemail recording to see what kind of impression you are making.

Your fillers.  Most of us use meaning-less sounds and/or phrases that just fill conversational space.  Your recorder will help you to identify your most obvious ones.  Think about why you might be using them.  Sometimes it is just a habit.  Are you stalling so you can find the right words?  Consider using silence more often, as you prepare your answer.

Your emotions.  Just like your greeting, your voice tone can reflect your emotions.  You know when someone is having a bad day or is in the middle of something when they answer your call by the way their emotions come through.  A favorite way to give the most positive impression is: “Smile before you dial.”  Let the telephone ring a couple times, if you need to get to a stopping point before answering.  And, smile as you pick up the receiver before you give your greeting.  Even though you don’t feel any different, a smile will make you sound more positive.  You can use the same technique when talking with a difficult or upset individual on the telephone.

Phrases to avoid.  Replace negative phrases with positive ones.  Think ahead of various ways to give the same message in a positive way.  Replace  “She’s not available right now.” with “She is on the telephone/with a client/customer at the moment.”  Do not begin any sentence with the word “no.”

You will have to…  You need to…  You must.  None of us likes to hear those words, so look for other ways to tell people what they have to/need to/must do.   One alternative is:  “When you…, then we can….” When you bring in your photo ID, then we can process your request.  Include the word “when” to give  control to the caller, provide quality customer service and reduce conflict.

Hang on a second/minute, I’ll be right back.  You are promising something that you cannot deliver.  What seems like a short time to you ends up feeling like eternity to the individual on hold.  Ask if you can put them on hold or give them the choice of a call back when you have the information.  Ask if they are able to hold for a realistic estimate of the number of minutes it will take you to get the information they desire.  Once you have put them on hold, check back within a couple minutes (set a timer) and let them know that you are still working on their request.  You can even ask if they want to continue to hold or opt for a call back.
Find opportunities to improve and get started on a new “look” for your telephone personality.

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7 WAYS TO END A TELEPHONE CONVERSATION

1. “I don’t want to take any more of your time.”
2. “I know that you are busy.  I will call you back (date and time) with (the information).
3. “I will let you get back to…”
4. “Before we end this conversation,..”
5. “I have got to go right now, but we can talk about this when I see you (date and time).
6. “I have a meeting, an appointment (even if it is with yourself) or a customer coming into the office in five minutes (be specific because a few minutes could turn into thirty with this caller).”
7. “Just one more thing before we hang up…”
8. Give the caller a preview that this conversation is about to end

We offer public classes and workshops through
The Kern Center at Terra Community College:

Conversational Spanish
Customer Service
Conflict Management
Avoiding Sexual Harassment and Hostile Work Environments

Christine Schneider Smith
cass@woh.rr.com