It’s easy to tell confident business people when you meet them: Good posture, firm handshakes, direct eye contact and a powerful aura. While confidence is just as important to portray over the phone for business success, it’s done differently and can be more difficult to attain for many people.
Furthermore, the widespread use of e-mail has caused many individuals to forget the importance of good telephone skills and many companies to abandon skills training. They are more apt to think it’s not essential for the few times they may have to “sell” on the phone. How wrong they are! One missed or botched sale is far too many!
Others fall into the same syndrome I find when teaching business writing: I know how to use a pencil; therefore, I can write, i.e. I know how to talk; hence, I know how to communicate verbally on the phone.
Read on … if you want to enhance your telephone effectiveness.
· Since your vocal components convey more than 80 percent of your message over the phone, you need to be particularly aware of your tone, rate, volume, pitch and inflection. Your words account for less than 20 percent.
· Since women typically have a naturally higher-pitched voice than men, you benefit from saying “low, low” before you pick up and say “hello.” It helps eliminate that high-pitched “Hi.”
· Stand up when you want to project more authority. Height is power, and the difference is noticeable even on the phone.
· Keep your lips ½ to 1 inch from the mouthpiece and speak directly into it. You lose 70 percent of your volume when you allow the phone to slip below your chin.
· Don’t balance the phone between your ear and shoulder for a protracted period. You strain your vocal cords and speak out of the side of your mouth. This becomes apparent to the other person in a longer conversation. A headset is preferable if you need to take lengthy notes.
· Vary your tone. Guard against the boredom that creeps in because you can’t see the person or because they are droning on (or so it appears to you). Pretend you can see each other to keep you on your toes.
· Keep your rate in check. Don’t speak so quickly that the person on the other end thinks you have to rush off to something more important … or s/he simply can’t keep up with your thoughts. Conversely, don’t move so slowly that the other person resorts to playing computer solitaire to stay entertained.
· Put a smile in your voice before you pick up the phone and keep a mirror near by to keep the smile there. Your attitude “shows” in your voice.
· Sit or stand up straight like the John Hancock Building. Your voice was meant to project in this manner, not like it is emanating from a pretzel.
· Also project your voice by breathing from your diaphragm, not through your lungs. When you breathe through your lungs only, you run out of breath and sound as if you are out of energy and, certainly, enthusiasm.
· Avoid negative emotional carryover from a previous call. If you are making another call, clear your head by taking a walk or getting a drink of water. If the call is coming in to you, either let voice mail pick up the message or take a deep breath and use the power of positive thinking to clear your mind quickly.
· When you initiate the call
o Ask if this is a good time to talk.
o Be prepared. Clearly state your purpose and have all backup materials handy. Take notes as needed.
o Make sure your equipment is operational and professional. Don’t call on a cell phone if you are in danger of losing the signal. This indicates lack of preparedness on your part.
· Close the conversation with a summary, follow up plans (if appropriate), and a “thank you” for time spent.
© 2008. Duoforce Enterprises, Inc. Lisle IL
Phone Skills Still Important for Business Success - Part I - To learn more about this author, visit Lillian D. Bjorseth's Website.
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Are your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales success or one of the many who have failed to change? So what are you doing to change those results? Let’s be honest, with companies moving globally and at lightening speeds, the traditional business solutions are outdated and dead. My approach moves your business out of its comfort zone and secures your competitive advantage now. If you are seeking to increase sales, build customer loyalty, create a culture of great attitudes or just achieve some sleep filled nights, then we should talk because my clients have experienced exactly those types of results. Learn more about customer loyalty at http://www.processspecialist.com/customer-loyalty.htm Give me a call at 219.759.5601 for a free strategy session. P.S. If you are seeking a motivational speaker, sales trainer or small business expert that will leave your audience smiling and remembering, please feel free to contact me at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland Smith's Website |
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Lillian D. Bjorseth
(Visit Lillian's Website)
Lillian Bjorseth helps you build a new
kind of wealth - social capital - by
improving your networking and
communication skills. She's a speaker,
trainer, coach and author who has
benefitted tens of thousands of people
nationwide through her customized people
skills programs. Lillian believes that
networking and good communication are the
21st century tools to build relationships
that help increase sales and enhance
careers. She urges large companies to
embrace the concepts that small business
has long used successfully. Her zest to
have colleges and universities teach these
skills has led her to develop one of the
first online in-depth
relationship-building series. She's author
of "Breakthrough Networking: Building
Relationships That Last", "52 Ways to
Break the Ice & Target Your Market",
andthe "Nothing Happens Until We
Communicate" CD/workbook series. She's a
contributing author to "Masters of
Networking"
and co-presenter of the "Marketing Boot
Camp" DVD/workbook.
Lillian was among the first in the world
to become a certified DISC trainer. She
was named a Great Woman of the 21st
Century.
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