10 Tips for Telephone Success

by Jo Ann Kirby

The telephone is an often under-appreciated and much maligned piece of office equipment. Have you stopped to consider how much business you conduct over the telephone? These 10 tips will help you improve your telephone presence and presentations.

1. You are the “Manager of First Impressions” for your business. Whenever you pick up the telephone, put a smile on your face first. It will enhance your vocal quality and you will sound pleasant and relaxed.
2. Listen attentively to the person you are speaking with. Recall why your dog is such a good listener: listen actively and in the moment. Multi-tasking is the enemy of effective listening.
3. Let other people talk! Make sure your caller has completely finished speaking before responding. Remember: sometimes they aren’t done talking; they are just coming up for air.
4. Use open-ended questions to get people to speak more freely. You should always talk less than the person you have called. It makes others feel more comfortable, particularly if you are asking them to make a decision. The more they talk, the easier it is for them to “buy into” what you are proposing.
5. To create affinity with your callers, speed up or slow down your speaking voice to better match theirs. They won’t realize why they feel comfortable, they just will.
6. Use your words for best results. Keep in mind you can phrase anything positively, negatively or neutrally. Phrasing your words positively will help you get better results more easily.
7. Voice mail can be your friend. Avoid leaving voice mail messages but if you must, think of it as a 30 second commercial on a highly rated radio program. You have the opportunity to get your message into the “ears” of your most desired audience. Your message should reflect this.
8. Plan your telephone presentations in advance. Think out all the various scenarios you might be faced with and write it out. This is called pre-call planning.
9. Tape yourself for self-improvement. Listen to yourself carefully and decide what areas you want to improve.
10. Make an action plan. Focus on only one area at a time. When you feel comfortable, move to your next area and repeat.

We use the telephone as our primary form of personal communication. People who are good with this medium increase their opportunities for success. Jo Ann Kirby is president of KRG Communications Group. She has 20 years experience in sales, telephone sales and sales management and an extensive background in training and development. Her background also includes extensive b2b telesales management experience. Jo Ann has been published in The Toastmaster, NAPPS Network and Commerce magazines. More can be found at KRG Communications

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The Single Most Important Thing to Know About Verbal Agreements

by Nina L. Kaufman, Esq. How many times have we run afoul of film producer Samuel Goldwyn’s famous maxim: "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on"? (I’ve certainly done it). And yet, isn’t life nicer, simpler when you don’t have to worry about creating a paper trail? Why not just trust the people you’re doing business with? Isn’t my word my bond? "Jared" had had the same attitude. Jared is an easy-going computer geek, more interested in creative problem-solving for his tech support clients than printing out every possible piece of paper to cross "t"s and dot "i"s. That said, Jared had a written lease for his office space, under which he was responsible for paying his share of real estate taxes. Last year, the taxes skyrocketed. So when he received the bill, he called the landlord (a college classmate) to work out a payment plan, instead of paying the taxes in a lump sum. Because they were friends, Jared didn’t confirm his agreement in writing, thinking the landlord agreed to the arrangement. Yet months later, the landlord imposed late fees for the delayed payments, and Jared faced fines totaling several thousand dollars. Ouch! Agreements do not always have to be in writing to be binding and enforceable. But the most important thing to remember about verbal agreements is this: For verbal agreements to work, they require the complete, accurate, and fair memory of both sides. Which, in reality, rarely happens. Memories are selective. And fallible. And faulty. Have you ever had a client who ignored your advice, made a mistake, and then blamed you for not telling her about the potential pitfalls? Welcome to selective memory. A vendor who provided you with thirty (30) items instead of the thirty-eight (38) you needed? Hello, fallibility. People remember what they want to remember, which usually is not in your favor. Ever had trouble remembering the name of someone you met repeatedly at networking events? You can thank your faulty brain cells. There are a number of significant deal points that Jared and his clients might recall differently, because of selective, fallible, or faulty memory, such as:

1. The number of hours of computer tech services that Jared would provide.
2. How much time Jared would have to respond to a technology "emergency."
3. How much Jared would be paid and within what time frame.
4. Whether an agreement would automatically renew unless cancelled within a particular time frame.
5. Whether there would be penalties for non-payment.
6. Whether, as with the landlord, they decided to make any changes to their previously agreed-upon relationship.
7. If there were any special arrangements that were not standard in the industry, such as the whether and how much interest Jared wanted to charge on outstanding balances.
8. How you would handle disputes, if any arose.

Any one of these areas can create a contentious "he said, she said" situation if your respective memories don’t agree. And these are the "honest mistakes." Verbal agreements give you little defense against those who would actively seek to "burn" you, if that’s the scheming way they choose to conduct their business. Finally, don’t ignore the costs to your personal relationships if you are doing business with family or friends, as Jared did. People tend to take for granted that their friends and relatives are "on their wavelength" when it comes to doing business. Especially with closer relationships, do not assume anything. Be extra careful to treat the deal like you were working with a stranger. What you risk is not only the deterioration of the business relationship, but the personal one as well. That’s a high price to pay, when it could have been solved easily and wisely by putting pen to paper. © 2005 Wise Counsel Press LLC. Nina L. Kaufman, Esq., is a small business attorney and the founder of Wise Counsel Press LLC, which offers easy-to-understand legal strategies that protect small businesses and save them money... wisely. To learn more, and to sign up for their FREE how-to articles and FREE audio "brief", visit http://www.WiseCounselPress.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nina_Kaufman