“I don’t mind speaking to people, I’d rather email them, really, but I just hate using the phone.”
Does this sound familiar? Many of our work colleagues are increasingly unused to having a good telephone conversation. As texts and emails are favoured for their ‘audit trail’ advantages, everyday speech skills at work can suffer through lack of use.
Some years ago, I worked for a government department and asked my line manager where a colleague could be found in the building. “Oh, I have her email address, just send her a message,” smiled my manager.
“Oh, that’s OK, I’ll go and see her – where’s her desk?”
This visibly shook my manager – he was almost speechless. “Do you mean speak to her face to face?”
“Well, yes,” I said. “I always prefer to speak to people. You get to know them that way and they get to know you too.”
This seemed to be a revelation for my manager. He waved me away with an ‘on your head be it’ expression on his face, not understanding the benefits of conversation.
It’s one thing to speak face to face, but quite another to use the phone to speak to someone you have never met before. How do you begin? What about if they are busy? What on earth should you say? Worst of all, what might they think of you?!
These questions could be enough to put you off calling the phone number in the first place. All the negative possibilities can add up and you could easily convince yourself not to pick up the phone and speak to someone.
Let’s pause for a moment and focus on ten positive outcomes of having a telephone conversation.
Ten Positive Outcomes of Having a Telephone Conversation
- You can bring a welcome voice to the other person’s day
- You can bring interesting or useful information
- Questions that arise can be immediately answered or discussed
- You can use the pitch and tone of your voice to give context to your words
- There is a high likelihood of your message being understood
- Non-verbal language (pauses, hesitation sounds – ‘hmm, errr, yes/no’ – speed of speech, tone of voice, etc.) can be interpreted and responded to, instantly
- Misunderstandings are much less likely
- Much more information can be covered in a conversation than in an email or text
- Other useful information could come to light as a result of your chat
- Trust and a positive relationship can be established.
As a footnote to this:
Follow up behaviour after your telephone call is important – ensure you write up the key points discussed and agreed, include dates, times, deadlines as appropriate and then send this as an email to act as your audit trail.
Now we have established ten important benefits of having a telephone conversation at work, let’s think about how to make it a success.
Before you make your phone call, think about the other person. Who are they; what do they want? This is key. Identify how you can give them something that will make their work life easier. Focusing on their objectives will help you shape the content of your phone call. Over and above everything else, think: what’s in it for them?
Here are Five top tips on “How to use your voice on the telephone”.
Five Top Tips to Using your Voice on the Telephone
- Breathe before you speak
- Speak more slowly than you do in a face to face situation
- Use more intonation than usual
- Listen to the other person
- What they say
- What they’re not saying
- How they are saying it
- Respond to them, being interesting and be useful.
Making effective telephone calls at work is a skill and a skill well worth developing. It is tempting to ‘get the call out of the way’, or to ‘get the other person off the line’ as soon as possible, but re-establishing your mind set to think about the other person’s needs is vital to the success of the phone call.
Whether you make occasional calls to colleagues, suppliers or clients, or have a target for making cold calls, always think about the person on the other end of the phone. Your voice and how you use it, is key to establishing a good rapport and a good telephone conversation can lead to a much more positive and productive workplace.
For more information about Telephone Skills training and how to use your voice effectively, please get in touch.