Business Phone Call Etiquette: 7 Tips To A Great Call

Great phone call etiquette can really help benefit your business in a number of ways. Creating rapport over the phone can be tough, however these tips are here to help you.

1. Have an Objective before making the Call

Always have an objective in mind before making the call. It could be to pass information, sign a new client, or even a monthly report review. Writing your objectives down can help you focus and ensure you don’t forget anything important during the call. Experts recommend spending at least 5 minutes to prepare/evaluate what you will say. Having your notes close-by can come in handy especially if inquiring about something.

2. Create a Group feeling

Using inclusive language helps the person on the other end feel part of the team. You should therefore consider using pronouns such as “our” and “we” in the conversation to make it lively and inclusive. This is especially important if consulting or providing a service to a client.

3. Limit Localisms and Buzzwords

Having your audience in mind is essential for every business call. Most business buzzwords, abbreviations, and acronyms may be confusing to the audience, hence should be used sparingly. While some buzzwords may be easy for you, your audience may have a hard time understanding them, which is the reason you need to use an easy-to-understand language. Using a language that even a 5-year-old can understand makes it easy to create a conversation and understand each other better.

It would also be best to use Local-isms sparingly in all business calls. You need to know when to use certain phrases, and whether your audience understands them. Just because people around you understand most local phrases don’t mean the person on the other end understands them at all. If possible, refrain from using any home-spun phrasings and buzzwords to avoid confusion and also make the call more ‘official.’

4. Make Realistic Promises

It’s easy to get carried away in a call and make empty promises or more than you can deliver. To avoid this, only promise what you can deliver, or give more that you promised during the call. It’s by evaluating and managing your client’s expectations that you can make every call count. Whether talking about contracts, campaign performance, or deliverables, only make promises based on the likeliest scenario.

If the call entails discussing a deadline, be sure to consider all possibilities before promising on a deadline. The time limit needs to be realistic to both the client, and the team working on the task. Taking some time to consider how much time your team will need to complete a task can help you make the right promise on the deadline.

5. Call Quality

The quality of a call matters a lot and the better the sound and the phone line, the better impression you will be making. Most phone carriers nowadays allow for Wi-Fi calls, which provide better quality sound. If you wish to use a loudspeaker, then a quality Bluetooth speaker is important and can also help a lot.

6. Sympathize

If you want your audience to be on your time, you then need to give them a chance to be heard. Simple deeds such as lending your audience a listening ear, and letting them air their views can lead to a fruitful phone call. Listening to what the other person has to say, allowing them to ask questions, and reaching a harmonious decision are key to good phone etiquette. Sounding too official on the phone could break a conversation. Letting your guard a bit and loosening up helps the other person speak with ease, and also wins their confidence and trust.

7. Get back to the objective

Once you have given your audience time to talk about their woes and dwindling marketing budgets, you can then bring the original idea (purpose) back to the conversation. This makes it easy to put out your message without any objections or interruption. As long as you are on the same page, you can then go straight to the point and let the audience what you feel or need to be done. This should get the conversation going again.