Ways To Improve Your Phone Skills
Good phone skills are a crucial tool in most business scenarios. Even in an age dominated by email and texting, solid telephone etiquette remains integral to finding clients, communicating with partners and making sales.
For some, these skills come naturally and require little polishing. For the rest of us, though, taking steps to develop and hone our phone skills is a great way to advance our careers, increase our confidence and impress our colleagues.
Here are a few of the most effective ways to improve our ability to communicate over the telephone.
Identify yourself
If you are speaking to someone new, it is important to tell them who you are. Not just your name, but your position, your employer and the reason you are calling. We are all used to getting calls from people we have no reason to speak to, so it is crucial that you demonstrate who you are and why you're calling before the person on the other end begins to wonder what the call is about.
This introduction doesn't need to sound like a rote recitation or a mere formality- make it sound as warm and welcoming as you can. Introducing yourself and the purpose of your call helps get the conversation off on the right foot.
Listen
Although most of improving your phone skills involves what you say and how you say it, there is nothing more important than listening. Hearing what your interlocutor says and responding to it directly and specifically shows that you value his or her thoughts and that you are not simply calling them to talk at them. Laugh, ask follow up questions and add to their insights with thoughts of your own. A good phonecall feels like a comfortable face-to-face conversation: relaxes, collaborative and invigorating.
