Making and Out going call

Before making an outgoing call make sure you always have:-

• Clarified in your mind the reason or objectives for the call.
• The correct documents to hand.
• A message pad and pen/pencil near the telephone.
• The phone number/extension.
• The name of the person you are calling/a second contact, i.e. Secretary’s name.
• A note of the points you wish to raise.

Your first sentence is vital and can affect the entire call so decide what your first words will be - write them down if necessary.

Remember that the way in which you express yourself is as important as what you say.

As the call progresses make notes - it is often very difficult to remember afterwards exactly what has been said. Tick off your own main points as they are covered.

Afterwards, evaluate the call. Check to see if all the aims and objectives were met. What sort of image of the Company did you create? Was there anything that you feel you could improve upon in future calls? 

Overcoming Reduced Feedback

Perhaps the most significant difference about being on the telephone is that you are cut off from your normal sources of feedback. In a face-to-face situation, you can rely on a number of visual cues to gauge the other person’s reaction to your message, but these aren’t available to you over the phone.

When you are doing business over the telephone, all you have to go on are those cues provided by the other person’s voice; for example:

• tone of voice
• speech rate
• the actual words