What Should I Say When Answering The Phone?
How to Answer the Phone Tips
- Respond before the third ring to all incoming phone calls.
- Be warm, enthusiastic, and professional when you answer the call. Your voice on the phone is often the only impression a caller can get of your business.
- Welcome callers courteously when answering the phone and quickly identify yourself and your organization. Say, for example, "Good morning. Reliable Receptionist. Jane speaking. How may I help you?" Don't just say "Hello". No one should ever have to ask if they've reached such and such a business.
- Enunciate clearly, keep your voice volume moderate, and when answering the phone, talk slowly and clearly so that your caller can easily understand you.
- When answering the phone, regulate your tone. Don't use buzzwords or slang. Instead of saying, "Okay", or "No problem", for instance, say "Certainly", "Very well", or "All right". If you're a person who uses fillers when you speak, such as "uh huh", "umh", or phrases such as "like", "you know" or “actually”, train yourself carefully not to use these when you speak on the phone. (Learn more about the speech problem of using fillers and how to solve the problem.)
- Even on a "rough" day, train your voice and vocabulary to be optimistic while answering the call. One based on supporting the consumer is a constructive vocabulary. For instance, rather than saying, "I don't know", say, "Let me find out about that for you."
- When you answer the phone, take phone messages completely and accurately. If there's something you don't understand or can't spell, such as a person's last name, ask the caller to say it slowly or spell it for you. Then make sure to get their message and forward it to the intended person.
- Respond to all your phone calls within one business day if people had to leave you messages. Few things bother callers who attempt to contact your organization more than unreturned calls.
- Always ask the caller if it's all right to put her on hold when answering the phone, and don't leave people on hold for a long time. Provide progress updates every 30 to 45 seconds to callers on hold. Offer them choices if possible, such as "That line is still busy. Will you continue to hold or should I have ________ call you back?"
- Unless absolutely required, don't use a speakerphone. Speaker phones give the caller the feeling that his call is not completely concentrated, and make him think his call is not private. The only reason you need to use a speakerphone is when you need more than one person at the end of your conversation. Before you do it, ask the caller if you should put them on the speakerphone.
- If you use voice mail or an answering machine to answer calls when you can't, make sure you have a recorded professional message that does the same as tip # 3 and provides callers with all other relevant information before their messages are recorded. As appropriate, update your voicemail message. If your company is going to be closed for a holiday, for example, update your voice mail message to say so and to say when your company will reopen.
- If you're running a home-based company, train anyone else who can answer the phone to act the same way, including other family members. Check if the phone of your organization is replied to by calling in and seeing how the phone is professionally answered. If they do not pass the exam, go with them through this "how to answer the phone" list to make sure everyone in your company knows how to correctly answer phone calls.
By Jeffreymendel Jeffrey Nash - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50308966
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