Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. The first commercial switchboard serving 21 telephones on 8 lines began operating in 1878. Until the early 1920s, telephones lacked dials, and callers had to connect with an operator, who placed the call. Operator assistance was required for long-distance calls until the early 1950s. By the 1960s, most businesses and homes in the industrialized world had telephones, and currently the telephone is the most often used technology for business communication. Today, the telephone is the most readily available and fastest channel for person-to-person communication.
The extensive worldwide telephone network—including both wire and wireless forms of connectivity—make direct communication between any two people almost anywhere in the world relatively quick and easy. Most people in most organizations place or receive at least one telephone call every working day. In fact, a typical person working in a typical business spends approximately two hours a day on the telephone, so effective telephone use can make a big difference in individual productivity.
As is true for other communication channels, the effective use of the telephone requires an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of telephone use and the telephone services available through your service provider. Also, you need to be familiar with the techniques for placing and receiving calls, for using voice mail effectively, and for using cell phones and pagers.
The materials here focus on general telephone use and etiquette. For specific telephone services available in your area, you will need to check with your service provider.
The telephone also has a number of limitations or disadvantages. First, because it is oral communication, agreements reached by telephone usually require a written follow-up to provide a record of the agreement. Also, because most of us now working have grown up with telephones and learned to use them in much the same way we learned other forms of oral communication, we are often more casual with its use than we should be. Courses in telephone etiquette were common in the 1960s and ’70s, but have faded from sight as telephone usage became increasingly universal. As a result, although more people are using the telephone, fewer people are using it well.
Another difficulty, although it is certainly not exactly the fault of telephone technology, is that different time zones across many countries and around the world complicate long-distance conversations. Today, very few organizations are strictly local. Suppliers, customers or clients, and business partners can be virtually anywhere on the planet these days, so those placing calls need to be familiar with differences in time between the place where the call originates and the location of its destination.
Another disadvantage of the telephone is that, unless the individuals have previously made arrangements to converse at a specific time, the receiver may find the timing of the call awkward. Telephone calls are often inconvenient for the receivers, who were probably already busy doing something when their phones ring.
An additional problem is that receivers may not always be easy to reach, which can result in what has become known as telephone tag. In telephone tag, Person A calls Person B, who is not in or otherwise not able to take the call. Person A leaves a message (with a secretary, on an answering machine, or by voice mail). Person B eventually returns the call, but Person A is not available. Person B leaves a message. Person A calls back, but Person B is no longer available. Telephone tag can be inconvenient, time consuming, and expensive. Recently, a variety of technologies, including voice mail and pagers have been developed to help improve telephone-based communication.
Voice mail has not eliminated the problem of telephone tag, however. While it permits leaving longer messages than are possible with typical home answering machines, most voice mail messages still require additional communication, so individuals may end up exchanging a series of recorded messages which could have been handled more quickly and with less effort by email.
Even when you know the person you are calling, a business call is not a casual conversation. If you forget to say something in a casual phone conversation, you simply call back. A business call may not afford you that opportunity, and, even if it does, you will seem unprofessional if you need to place a second call to say or ask something that should have been covered in the original call. A telephone call may be an individual’s only contact with you or your organization, so make it count.
Successful business use of the phone requires a good understanding of the telephone as a communication channel. Because telephone communication lacks the visual element present in face-to-face communication, the auditory element becomes the principal conveyor of meaning. Speaker phones are notorious for poor fidelity, so use them judiciously. Further, even the best quality phones have less than perfect fidelity, deleting or distorting some sounds (especially high and low frequencies). For this reason, effective telephone use requires greater attention to speaking clearly and listening attentively than conversing face to face.
Nevertheless, because they can’t be seen, people often eat, chew gum, smoke, or surf the Internet while talking on the phone. Even if the person at the other end can’t see that you are chewing gum or eating, however, he or she will probably be able to hear you, and will consider your behavior rude. Also, your ability to speak clearly and distinctly will suffer, detracting from the effectiveness of your communication. Unless you specifically need to use your computer to obtain or review information relevant to your phone conversation, avoid doing that as well. You will be distracted and fail to hear or say something of importance, and the other person will be able to tell that your mind is elsewhere.
Whether you are placing a call or receiving one, use your voice to enhance rapport between you and the other person. Do your best to match the other person’s tone of voice and rate of speech. Listen for sense-based predicates (see the summary of Sense-based Vocabulary) and words that suggest special importance for the other person by the way he or she emphasizes them or repeats them. Match his or her use of sense-based vocabulary and words suggesting criteria or special importance.
Telephone calls should also end pleasantly, focusing on agreements and on who will assume responsibility for taking appropriate action. If the other person has been helpful, be sure to thank him or her specifically. When the other person is having a problem terminating the call, ask specifically whether there is anything else you can do for him or her. A negative response leads naturally to your ending the call by saying something like Thank you for your help. I will find the information you’ve requested and call you tomorrow at 10:00.
A business phone call deserves your full attention. Plan your outgoing calls, and be appropriately prepared for receiving calls. Avoid placing or receiving calls when you are distracted or have visitors, and work to minimize distractions you are unable to avoid. Use the “hold” button if you need to leave the phone. If you simply put the phone down on your desk, the other individual will be able to hear most of what goes on in your office while he or she is waiting. Also, be familiar with the telephone technology in your organization so that you know how to put people on hold and transfer calls appropriately and without losing them.
To be effective, telephone calls require the same four basic steps as other forms of communication. See the summary of telephone communication strategies for a basic understanding of how to use the phone to pace, lead, blend outcomes, and motivate a listener.
Before you call, write the name and title of the individual you are calling and the name of his or her organization on a piece of paper. Also, write the purpose of the call and your most important questions or points of information. Leave an appropriate amount of space for answers to your questions and responses to any information you provide, and take notes. Your notes of the telephone conversation may be the only record of what you discussed and any agreements you reached until you have exchanged written documents confirming the conversation.
Virtually every business phone call (and most personal calls as well) should begin with an acknowledgment that the phone call may be inconvenient for the recipient. Ask whether it is a good time for the recipient to discuss the topic you are calling about. If not, ask when a good time would be, and call back at that time. If you know that the subject of the phone call will be a priority for the recipient, begin by stating the topic clearly: Hi, John. This is Mary. I’m sorry to interrupt, but we’ve had a serious accident in Building 47, and we’ll need a prepared statement to give the media within an hour.
Be prepared to leave a message on an answering machine or voice mail system. Most organizations now have voice mail systems, and many homes have either answering machines or voice mail. Because you have a good chance of reaching a machine instead of a person, you need to plan the message you intend to leave. Before the advent of voice mail, the person who answered the phone had usually been trained to help the caller leave an intelligent message for the intended receiver.
In the days before voice mail, if the individual you intended to call were not available, the person who answered the phone would ask for the critical information, such as your name, your phone number, the subject you wished to discuss, and the best times for the intended receiver to return the call. He or she would assume responsibility for making sure that the spelling of your name and your phone number were correct. Voice mail systems cannot (at least not yet) do that. They simply rely on you to provide the critical information in a way that allows the intended receiver to understand it.
Whenever you place a call, be prepared to leave a message in which you
If you are not available when he or she returns your call, that message will probably be something like “This is Mary returning your call.” Unless the message is so confidential that you are unable to mention the topic, at least provide the purpose of the call so that the receiver can prepare for returning the call. Whenever possible, tell the reader exactly why you are calling so that he or she can have the information for you when returning the call or when you call back.
Make your greeting appropriate for your office and organization. In most cases, that means stating your name, department, and organization. If others initially answer your telephone so that all calls reaching your phone will have already been answered by at least one person, then stating your name will be sufficient. Either Hello or Yes is an insufficient greeting in a business environment. Use your voice to establish rapport with the caller by matching his or her tone of voice and rate of speech. Listen for sense-based vocabulary and important criteria and value words.
Being prepared for a phone call means being prepared to take notes. One of the problems with oral communication in general is that messages may be quickly forgotten. Be prepared to record the essentials of important telephone calls:
For critical information—such as telephone numbers, policy and Social Security numbers, monetary amounts, spellings of names, and specific courses of action—repeat or rephrase what the caller has said, making sure to incorporate any corrections in your notes.
In spite of their usefulness, cell phones and pagers can be intrusive, ringing (or vibrating) at awkward times, interrupting whatever the receiver may be doing at the time. Cell phones in particular can be problematic. Pagers may deliver a message, but they typically require an individual to find and use a telephone to return calls, so they do not interrupt to the same degree as cell phones. Cell phones in particular do not work well in all areas, and because of their portability and convenience, they seem to encourage inappropriate use. The following uses have caused the worst problems:
Because a telephone conversation and driving both require a person’s full attention, your ability to concentrate on either driving or the conversation will suffer. If the call is important, drivers too often fail to attend to their driving. At freeway speeds or in city traffic, a moment’s inattention is all that’s required for an accident to occur.
In addition to the hazards of driving and having a phone conversation at the same time, mobile phones in general and cell phones in particular are subject to increased interference from traffic noise and spotty transmission, so the caller and receiver are less likely to understand each other than they are when both parties are calling from standard office phones.
Except in the case of a real emergency, using a cell phone in a public place—in a theater, grocery store, or mall or even on a sidewalk—is almost always rude. Other people should not have to listen to your phone conversations. Placing or receiving phone calls in such circumstances is also a discourtesy for the person with whom you are conversing as you cannot give the phone call your full attention, and the ambient noise in such locations interferes with effective communication.
Because using a cell phone in any public place is at least a little intrusive, use your voice mail to collect messages so that you can return them when you have the privacy to give your full attention to the phone call, or consider forwarding your calls to an assistant or colleague who can answer many of the questions you might be asked. Unless you are a physician or emergency worker on call, turn your pager or cell phone off before entering meetings, theaters, concert halls, or similar public places.
Reaction to voice mail is decidedly mixed. Most of the negative feelings about voice mail originate from badly designed organizational systems that require the caller to wade through a series of menu options: "If you want X, press 1; If you want Y, press 2; if you want Z, press 3." If you press the wrong number, you’re in trouble—you will have to hang up and try again. Such systems are especially annoying when the call is long distance. Help your clients, customers, suppliers, and others who call regularly by providing them with your direct number so that they can bypass the main system and reach you directly.
Although you may not be able to influence how your organization implements its voice mail system, you can use the system more effectively by understanding its advantages and disadvantages. First, recognize that voice mail may not be an appropriate means of communicating certain information. Like email, messages stored on voice mail systems may not be private. They are not only subject to review by others in the organization, but also may be forwarded to others without your knowledge and consent. Leave nothing in a voice mail message that you would find embarrassing if it were broadcast throughout your organization.
The following guidelines will help make your use of voice mail systems more effective:
If you are going to be out of town or otherwise unable to return calls for an extended period, use the "Extended Absence" option to tell callers how long you will be gone and how to contact you during your absence or how to contact an assistant or associate who can answer questions and make decisions on your behalf.