To a customer who deals with your company via the telephone, your business is only as good as the employee on the other end of the phone. Proper phone etiquette is a priority for attracting and keeping customers. Bad attitudes and improper wording work against the company, not for it. The first step in impressing customers with the quality of your business is to become familiar with some key terms.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Telephone skills

Mastering telephone skills is vital to presenting good telephone etiquette. Some of these skills are detailed below; others include the handling of scheduling, transferring, conflict resolution and message-taking.

I recommend: To learn about telephone skills and setting priorities, visit Streetdirectory.com.

Greeting

The call's greeting should establish the tone of the phone call and identify the receiver of the phone call. Often, the greeting consists of a pleasantry and the person or company's name.

I recommend: Learn the importance of a proper telephone greeting and what an appropriate greeting is at Essortment.

Voice tone

The voice tone and the attitude of the employee answering the phone establish the flow of the phone call.

I recommend: Phone Pro elaborates on voice tone and its importance during a business call.

Impression

We all hear the expression that it's important to make a good first impression. This is especially important in business. An impression is the idea someone forms of a person or situation. When business success is on the line, employees should strive to make good, not bad, impressions when dealing with customers.

I recommend: Why is presenting a favorable first impression so important? First Impression Management helps create a better understanding of first impressions.

On hold

Placing callers on hold involves taking up their time by having them wait for a response of some kind. As a common practice with business phone calls, holding is expected but should still be handled in a timely way and with the utmost courtesy.

I recommend: Explore the most appropriate way to handle the situation at Salary.com.

End a call

Ending the phone conversation appropriately is as important as any other aspect of the call. A pleasant ending by an employee can leave customers looking forward to their future dealings with the company.

I recommend: End a call tactfully after consulting The Sideroad for suggestions.

Using proper phone etiquette can make the all the difference in how you and your employees are viewed as professionals by clients, business associates and customers alike. Often the only thing anyone has to go by is how you sound on the phone, so learning about correct telephone etiquette is an important part of creating a professional business environment for you, your staff and anyone you have dealings with.

In order for you and your employees to learn about telephone etiquette in a business setting, you need to consider the following steps:

1. Go to a business etiquette workshop or seminar where telephone etiquette is one of the subjects covered.

2. Hire a telephone etiquette consultant to come on site and train you and your employees and answer any questions that come up.

3. Have telephone etiquette information available to all employees that they can access when questions arise.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Take a workshop or a seminar to receive phone etiquette training

Since many of us don't even know what proper telephone etiquette is, it might be beneficial for you and your employees to find a trained professional who can help you learn. You can get phone etiquette advice, tips and training either by having some come to your place of business and teach you, by going to seminars or by taking online courses.

I recommend: Take the one-day workshop from Softskills Courseware to get phone etiquette information and training for you and staff. Go to Phone Pro to schedule a customized course that’s done at your place of business.

Get phone etiquette training from a phone etiquette consultant

There are etiquette coaches and consultants who are available to answer your questions, give phone etiquette advice and also train you and your staff. Some of these consultants specialize in not just phone etiquette but also in teaching you and your staff about professional business attire and manners.

I recommend: Go to Professional Image Management to take a business etiquette seminar, where telephone etiquette is one of the many subjects covered to help you and your staff learn proper social skills for a business environment. Visit The AML Group to hire an etiquette consultant to instruct you and your staff and give you telephone etiquette advice.

Have phone etiquette advice and guides available as a quick reference

Sometimes it's a good idea to have a handy reference around in case you or one of your employees needs quick help with phone etiquette. You can either bookmark websites that have phone etiquette information on them or print copies to post on bulletin boards so that all of members of your staff have the information available to them.

I recommend: At both Salary.com and Azusa Pacific University, you can find easy-to-understand lists and other phone etiquette information to share with all of your office staff.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  To make sure that every member of your staff is aware of what you expect of them, have a list of telephone etiquette advice and tips used as part of new hire handbooks or employee folders.

Phone etiquette can make or break a business relationship, since what you say and the way you say it make a lasting impression on the person at the other end of the call. Proper phone manners, whether on a wireless phone or landline, are a vital part of call center training. These employees must interact daily with hundreds of customers who call in, and who are often disgruntled.

Phone etiquette education and training can maximize your business bottom line, helping your employees to retain customers who may have been calling to end their business relationship with your company, and helping them to smoothly explore additional opportunities when in a phone sale situation. Consider the following avenue to obtain phone etiquette education and training:

1. Hire a phone etiquette trainer to teach your employees proper business phone etiquette.

2. Save money by buying a telephone etiquette training program that can be reviewed in-house and shared with others.

3. Take advantage of Internet articles that cover phone etiquette education and training and train phone users at no cost to your business.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Hire a phone etiquette trainer to provide customer service training to your employees

Hiring a phone etiquette trainer is perhaps the most expensive option when it comes to teaching the right and wrong way to handle telephone conversations in the world of business. It is, however, your best chance to learn face-to-face from subject matter experts, and get the opportunity to ask questions and even customize the etiquette training to suit your specific business.

I recommend: The Phone Coach offers phone skills training via phone or in person. Phone Pro offers courses covering communication skills, customer service and phone etiquette training online and on site.

Purchase a phone etiquette education and training program to share with your employees

Software training programs cost less than hiring a professional trainer and allow you to share the courses with other employees at their own pace. With a CD-Rom or online interactive training course, your employees can learn from their laptops without losing productivity.

I recommend: Velsoft's "Customer Service: Critical Elements of Customer Service" training program thoroughly covers telephone techniques and phone communications. Hallogram Publishing sells a CD-Rom entitled "Telephone Etiquette Training Course."

Find online articles to provide phone etiquette training tips

Online articles are a great source of phone etiquette education and training when you are not looking to include money in the budget for formal training. The Internet is full of articles that discuss the topic of telephone manners in the workplace.

I recommend: CalState Fullerton Information Technology provides tips for handling all sorts of business conversations, whether your job is to close a sale or needs to transfer the call. Buzzle's article provides great phone etiquette tips for call center employees.