How Do Professionals Answer Cell Phones?

 

Telephone Etiquette

A significant facet of communication is proper telephone etiquette because you represent not only yourself but also your department and the company. Whether answering or making calls, remembering to use proper telephone etiquette leaves your respondents with a favorable opinion of you, your department. For making your phone conversations more productive, the following suggestions are helpful.

• It is important to use sentences such as "thank you" and "please" to show a professional atmosphere.
• Listen actively and listen to others without interrupting.
• Don't make people dread having to answer their phone or call your department.

Answering Calls

• Within three rings, try answering the machine. It can catch the caller off guard by replying to a phone too quickly and taking too long can make the caller angry.
• Answer with a friendly greeting. 
• Smile - it shows, even though the phone lines; speak in a pleasant tone of voice - the caller will appreciate it.
• Ask for their name from the caller, even though their name is not needed for the call. This indicates that you have taken an interest in them.
• Be courteous if the caller has reached an incorrect number. Take the time if possible to find out where they should be calling / who they should be talking to.
• When leaving a line, use the hold button so that the caller does not inadvertently overhear conversations being held close by.
• For more than a few minutes, when you are out of the office or away from your desk, forward your phone to voicemail.

Making Calls

• When you call someone and they answer the phone, do not say "Who am I speaking with?" without first identifying yourself. 
• Always know and state the purpose of the communication.
• Don't argue with the person who answered the call or hold them on the line when you hit an incorrect number.
• If you said you were going to call a person at a certain time, call them as you promised. Call to postpone it if you need to pause the talk, but do not make the other person wait for your call.
• If you don't leave a number/message for someone to call you back, don't become angry if they are not available when you call again.

Handling Rude or Impatient Callers

• Stay calm. Try to remain diplomatic and polite. Getting angry will only make them angrier.
• Always show a willingness to resolve the problem or conflict.
• Try to think like the caller. Remember, their problems and concerns are important.
• If you are in a non-supervisory position: Offer to speak to the caller with your supervisor or call him/her back if the caller continues.
• If you're a boss, be prepared to handle angry callers. Speak softly and steadily. With your responses, be firm, yet understanding. Often, even though you are unable to support them, the irate caller only needs someone in a supervisory capacity to listen to their story.

Placing Calls on Hold

• Consult Campus Cisco Phones and pick your type of phone under Hold Instructions for Telephone Feature Guides
• Often seek permission when putting a caller on hold. 
• You can have other lines ringing often, too. Remember to write down the names of the holding callers so that you stop asking more than once who is holding the caller.

Transferring Calls

• Consult Campus Cisco Phones and pick your form of phone from the Telephone Feature Guides for guidance on how to switch
• Move the caller directly to the extension of the requested person rather than the operator if the caller wishes to speak to another person or agency. This avoids the caller having to clarify his / her demands another time, and the number of times the caller has to be transferred will be decreased.
• Tell them who you are transferring them to when transferring a caller, and report the caller to the person to whom you are transferring them.
• If the called party does not wish to take the call, return to the caller (Example – “He/she is out of the office, may I take a message or would you like his/her voicemail?")

 

By Jeffreymendel Jeffrey Nash - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50308966

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