Several times a week, I answer the phone and hear a faint, soft, stumbling voice on the other end. Sometimes it is due to a poor cell phone connection (that is a whole different blog article!) but often it is just poor phone skills. It reminds me that as business owners, we need to have confident, clear, and concise telephone voices. Getting ourselves organized prior to making a call and making sure that we talk neither too quickly nor too slowly can also help.
I always feel like a bossy brute asking people to “please speak up.” Often, I will try the “I am having a really difficult time hearing you” approach so as to take the blame upon myself and let them know that I cannot hear them well if there is anything they can do to remedy the situation. While I have compassion and understanding, and I know that I cannot “fix the world”—I still thought it might be something that home business owners should be aware of so that we can check our own phone skills to make sure we are not one of those “soft talkers.”
For some of us, since we work from home we might have a hard time thinking about being professional when we answer the phone. After all, many of us use the same phone for family as for work. We might be making or taking a call during a child’s nap time and trying to keep our voices down. I am of the opinion that it is better to step outside for the phone call or to wait to make and take calls when a person can speak loudly enough and clearly, than to whisper or take a call when one has to speak softly. It is just too difficult to understand and can make the other party frustrated—not to mention send a rather unprofessional message over the phone lines.
Also: How’s Your Phone Personality?
Using the Telephone on the Job