Phone Etiquette

Today, one of my colleague posed me an interesting question : "It is common for you guys not to tell your name when you call someone?" My answer was may be yes, may be no depends case by case. Ha ha, funny answer, right!. Cool, anyway I observed that phone etiquette is very important when working in multi-cultural environment. So I reviewed myself and took a deep look at this soft skill which can win things for you. Just to share with you all here I put them together :

1. Try to answer the phone by second ring.

2. Say your name loud and clear.

3. Greet them in simple and friendly.

4. Speak slowly and clear.

5. Ask for their name(if they say) and contacts if needed.

6. Be clear of what you are saying.

7. Lower your voice if you normally speak loud. ( Keep mouth piece at least 2 inches away from your mouth)

8. Seek permission if you want to put the caller on hold.

9. If you want to transfer the call, inform the caller about whom you are going to transfer and transfer to him directly.

10. If caller wants to leave a message please take : Callers name and details ( Company name), timestamp, subject of the call, need a return call, contact details.

11. End the call with "Nice speaking to you" or "Have a nice day".



Things to remember :

1. Instead of 'I don't know' say 'That's a good question, let me find out for you'

2.Instead of 'I/we can do that' say 'Here's what we can do.'

3. Instead of 'Just a second', tell them how long will it take to complete whatever your are doing and tell them what it is about.

4. Avoid 'No', people hate to hears NOs.

5. When someone is blasting or emotional, you keep your nerve, don't over react to their trigger words.

6. If it is SUPPORT call, listen keen to the caller and with all senses. Take a note of details like Job name that failed, person who raised the ticket, person who is waiting for our update, etc.

7. Stop blaming the callers, its always counter productive to blame others.

8. Improve your tolerance levels.



With the above guidelines, one can improve quality of work as well as time taken to solve tickets(On-Call support cases) and will good relation with customers (callers). Atleast half of them, I do practise but need to improve. Thanks for the one who questioned me and gave me an oppurtunity to review this important soft skill. Hope it is/will be helpful to you too.