In today’s world, most of us are used to speaking on the telephone – mobiles have seen to that. However, making calls to your friends and making them for business are two very different things. And, it’s important that you get it right, as you are not face-to-face with the person you are speaking to, so the only impression they can get of you is from how you conduct yourself in the conversation.
Do you know the appropriate level of formality to use on a business call? Do you know what phrases to expect in telephone conversations? If not, don’t worry, this blog is all about making business calls.
Be Prepared
Imagine you’ve seen a position you’d like to apply for and you have to call to get further information and an application form. The first thing you need to do is prepare for the call. This could be writing down the information that the person on the other end might require from you, such as your email or physical address and your telephone number, so when you are asked for it you have it there ready. This may seem silly, but often when people are anxious about a call, they’ll forget the simplest of things, like their post code – it happens to us all! So, noting down important details helps avoid this.
You could also make a list of things you might need to know, such as the closing date for applications, the address the application needs to be returned to and so on. This way you’ll not forget anything important.
Be Polite
It’s important to be polite. We have many calls to the college where people ask us to do things for them, but forget to be polite. Please and thank you cost nothing and give a good impression. It’s also useful to remember what’s appropriate and what’s not for a business phone call. If you treat the call in the same way you would a face-to-face meeting, you’ll not go far wrong. This means you shouldn’t be too familiar or causal, speak slowly and clearly, don’t swear, don’t make jokes or try to be witty – you don’t really know the other persons sense of humour and your attempt to be funny may come across in the wrong way.
Some Phrases you Might Hear
If you’re not used to making business calls, it’s useful to know what phrases you might hear. Here are a few to get you going:
Who’s calling please?
Just a second.
What is it regarding please?
Hang on one moment.
How can I help?
I won’t keep you a moment.
What is this in connection with please?
I’ll just transfer you.
Please hold.
I’ll see if he/she is available.
Hold the line please.
I’ll pop you on hold while I find out.
Just putting you though.
There are many variations of these phrases, but you get the general idea.
Now let’s have a look at the phrases you might need:
Can I speak to ………. please?
Is ………….. available please?
I’d like to leave a message please.
Could you ask them to call me back please?
Okay, that’ll do for this week. Next week we’ll go over a typical conversation. If you have any tips you could offer, let me know.
