Do you do much of your work or the daily operations of your home business on the telephone? Chances are, in this modern world of technology–you are interacting with clients, customers or vendors on the phone throughout the day. How long has it been since you gave yourself a little evaluation and looked over your phone communication skills? Do you know how well you are coming across with people over the telephone?
The key to having a good telephone personality is to come across as friendly and professional. Of course, it will depend on the type of work you are doing and the image of your business you’d like to project–but you’d be surprised how much emotion can come through and just what you may be giving away over the telephone. If your voice sounds harried or stressed, or overly sweet and patronizing–these will all be real turnoffs to your customers or colleagues.
It helps if you have a trusted friend or mentor who can give you some feedback on how you are doing on the telephone, but you can do some self-evaluation as well. If you really hate talking to people on the telephone, is that coming through when you make and take calls? Do you have an organized work station where you are taking calls so you can be efficient and helpful (or are you taking calls on a portable phone or cell phone while you change diapers and clean up spilt juice?) It is important to be able to give your business phone calls as much of your attention as possible–it’s better to have voice mail or an answering machine pick up the message when you are busy or distracted than to try to take the call anyway. People can tell when you are distracted and not giving them full attention.
As a final note, think of how you do and don’t like to be dealt with over the telephone and work to emulate some of the great customer service you have been on the receiving end of. This is a good way to keep your focus on having an accessible and efficient phone personality as you go about your daily business operations.
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