Calendar Books by Allen James - Daily Reading - "The Journey: A Calendar Book"

Calendar Books by Allen James reading for October 22nd, from The Journey: A Calendar Book,

"Be polite on the phone".

I get a real thrill when I'm talking on the phone to a customer service representative who clearly is having a bad day. I often will ask straight out, "Are you having a bad day?". This usually really changes the way they respond to me...in a much more positive way.

Although we live in a hectic world today, we have no excuse for being rude to others on the phone. Anymore, talking on the phone is reserved for business matters; texting and emails have replaced casual telephone conversations, and when we allow our “abbreviate chat-speak” to spill over into your business phone conversations, you can lose credibility. Taking the time to be polite and show a little common courtesy, using professional phone etiquette, can catapult your reputation and journey to personal success.

Good manners aren’t just for Sunday dinners. Always being polite will help you communicate to others you take your business associates, as well as the general public, seriously. Which is always good for business. Phone Etiquette is about more than just saying Please and Thank You.

Manners and courtesy on the phone, phone etiquette, can be expressed by showing genuine interest in the person with whom you’re speaking, and can be as simple as making an effort to remember and use their name, or as involved as repeating their request back to them, so both parties are perfectly clear about what is being communicated. People will form impressions about the person they’re on the phone with, by virtue of how well they feel they are understood. Better understanding means better impressions.

Being courteous on the phone means speaking clearly as well. Accents are delightful, and can add a pleasant lilt to any phone conversation, and they sound best when all the words spoken are enunciated and easy to understand. Some people, in casual conversations, can have a tendency to mash words together, or completely drop their G’s, T’s or R’s. “Ya mom’s gotta know wha’ I’m sayin’.” (Your mom has got to know what I’m saying.) While this might be perfectly acceptable off the clock, it must be avoided during working hours. Particularly when you’re on the phone.

If you slow your speech tempo down a little, enunciate each word and avoid slang, you can actually make your phone conversations go more quickly, because you avoid having to repeat yourself.
We lose visual cues like body language and facial expressions when using the phone, but people can still hear them.

A good, courteous, polite, professional phone conversation isn’t only in the words. Your tone and the pace of your speech will also communicate volumes. Whether you are frowning or smiling, the person on the other side of the conversation is going to know. Sometimes consciously, but very often, totally subconsciously. So, it is very important during your business phone conversations, you’re sitting up straight and smiling.

Whether you’re a one-man-office or a busy, thriving mid-size conglomerate, answering your phones with professional phone etiquette and a polished, polite response, is our primary function. Making sure your potential and current clients are all greeted like the important people they are, is one of the key “secrets” to our ongoing success.

Be polite on the phone...not only will the one on the other end of the line appreciate it and their day be lifted...yours will as well.

Keep looking up. AJ