Phone Etiquette: Personal branding through our Voice and Word Choice

In terms of effective communications, a close second to in-person interactions is phone correspondence.

When it comes to interacting with others positively over the phone, few things have changed over the years.

Our communication with others still hinges heavily on phone communications, especially when it comes to telemarketing.

The shift from landlines to mobile and video communications did not change how we communicate with one another.

Only the communication media have changed, not human nature.

In phone correspondence, the first contact point is our voice.

What we choose to do with it - the words we use, how we speak, and tactful communication techniques influence communication effectiveness.

How we say something is much more important than what we say.

The same applies to sales, where phone communications are even more essential in addressing queries and post-sales services.

Whether existing first-time customers become repeat customers often depends to a large extent on phone correspondences, since it's not always possible to meet the customers in person all the time.

Video conferencing works as well, alongside phone correspondences, and the techniques to do well are often similar, other than the fact that we need to take care of our visuals, which is beyond the scope of this article.

However, email correspondences are impersonal and somewhat slow to leave an impactful impression in customers' minds.

In the job search process, poor phone etiquette will adversely affect job candidates' ability to positively impress job recruiters.

We can learn much from poor customer service over the phone.

How many of us have experienced the following mediocre service and lackluster attitude from customer service staff over the phone?

• We are told to find out our queries ourselves, often through their organizational websites.
• Their tone over the phone is harsh and questioning.
• They abruptly cut our line when we are speaking.
• Before we ask our questions, they suddenly interject with "What's it regarding?"
• They inform us that they will get back to us after getting our contact numbers, but we don't hear from them again.
• When we ask to speak with someone over the phone, they inform us that the person is busy, with no effort to get our contact number or have the person call us back. Instead, they ask us to call them back.

The abovementioned scenarios are examples of bad phone etiquette and horrendous customer service.

These are undesirable practices that get organization low ratings and negative word-of-mouth reviews.

Of course, there could be reasons for this attitude.

The customer service staff could be busy, stressed, tired, underpaid or not in the right job. The department could be understaffed, or the corporate culture could be poor.

Nevertheless, in the same way that teachers are expected to be professional and dedicated to their teaching once they step into the classroom regardless of any personal or professional issues they are facing, it's expected of customer staff to serve to the best of their abilities in their professional capacity.

Great customer service staff are important or even crucial to any organizations, for they are often the first contact point with (potential) customers. They often determine if first-time customers become repeat customers.

Thus, their phone etiquette can make or break a business.

Along the same vein, job candidates should be mindful when communicating with HR and job recruiters over the phone, by emulating the practices of exemplary customer service staff.

Here are some examples of excellent phone etiquette and how job candidates can tap on these practices to impress job recruiters:

Always ask for the callers' name

I think this is the most important, so I am putting this at the top of this list.

It is human nature to want to be respected.

One of the easiest ways to respect someone is to ask for their names.

And the most important part?

End the call by calling their name, such as "It's been nice talking to you, John/Jane. Have a great day."

Sometimes, others can so impressed by our initiative that they call us by name in return, such as "Same to you. By the way, you are [your name], right"?

When we remember others' names, they will often reciprocate by remembering ours.

This is what we do at networking events, right? We try to repeat others' names in our conversations with them so as to familiarize ourselves with them.

It is equally impactful when we do it over the phone, if not more so - considering that we do not get to see their faces.

Refrain from saying "What's your name?" as it sounds curt, commanding and authoritative.

Try using "May I know how may I address you?" in polite situations, or "May I know your name?" in more casual occasions.

We will realise that others will inform us their name when we are friendly and respectful almost all of the time.

Asking for the person's name also has the added advantage of facilitating our search for the same person again should we have further queries after we have ended the call.

I won't be surprised if the other person remembers us, especially when we call back soon after the initial call.

They might even call out our names.

Why do they remember our names out of so many callers?

Because we ask for their names and address them by their names first.

When people know that we value them, that creates a deeper and more positive mental imprint.

Ask if it's a good time to call

On most occasions, we should ask the listener if this is a good time to talk when they pick up the phone.

Refrain from hurriedly jumping into what we want to say immediately unless it's urgent. Even then, it's best that we explain the situation succinctly before delving into the details.

Remember those thriller movies we watch when the protagonists hid inside the wardrobe to avoid direct confrontations with the intruders before making a call to the police?

When they start to ramble, the police office would almost always calm them down and ask that they speak slowly.

There's a rationale for that.

Without providing specific details such as the victims' residential address, the police are often unable to assist.

Such scenes can be seen in films such as "The Guilty" starring Jake Gyllenhaal and in series such as "The Night Agent", starring Gabriel Basso.

While we might like to get our queries cleared on our side soonest, we should be considerate enough to ask the other party on the line if they are able to do so as well.

During busy period, as most job recruiters tend to be, they might not be able to avail themselves to answering our queries there and then.

Hence, if the other party is busy, we should be understanding enough to arrange for another time to call back.

Let the other party decide on the proper date and time to do so.

If it's urgent, let the other party know and they might be able to expedite things based on mutual understanding and respect. If they are unable to do so, let's be understanding.

However, we need to use our discretion on this.

If we are just calling them again after we had a conversation with them a few minutes earlier as we forgot to inform them about something, it's often fine to just put forward our queries since it's unlikely that they would be busy.

In the event that they are, they would often inform us, and we should accommodate in the best way possible by rescheduling the call.

Do our best to avoid putting calls on "Silent" mode

When we are in the midst of our job application process and having sent out resumes to potential employers, it's best that we keep our mobile phones by our side.

We should refrain from turning on "Silent" mode to avoid missing calls from potential employers.

If we really need to, it's best to switch on the "vibrating" mode so that we are able to at least hear incoming calls.

Answering job recruiters' phone calls promptly is important as it facilitates their effort to contact shortlisted job candidates to schedule their job interviews.

Not answering calls promptly might result in job candidates not securing their job interviews since job recruiters might feel that they have minimal interest in the applied job or that they had secured employment.

Moreover, missed calls inconvenience job recruiters since they would have to call the job candidates again, something they are not obligated to do. This is especially so if the organizations have more than enough pool of qualified and suitable job candidates to consider.

This advice applies to any situations, and not simply for job interview calls.

However, no matter how hard we try to answer all incoming calls promptly, there would always be time when we will miss come calls. It might be because we are in the movie theatres, engaged in a meeting or attending to some personal matters.

Fret not.

All we need to do is to return any missed calls soonest possible and provide a valid reason for missing the call. Most job recruiters are understanding.

Doing so might also reflect our professionalism. In fact, job recruiters might be impressed since it's not often that job candidates call back so soon after missing a call. It reflects their strong interest for the applied jobs.

Having said this, in the face of surging phone scams in recent years, some individuals may actually choose to deliberately miss the calls to run checks on the numbers online before deciding if they wish to call back.

Hence, to all the job recruiters and HR, please take note of such practices.

Your kind understanding of missed calls would be greatly appreciated.

Always answer all incoming calls during our job search process

Much as we would like to avoid scam calls, it would be best to answer all incoming calls whenever possible during the period of our job search.

Of course, some calls that are likely to be scams should be avoided.

If the country codes reflected in the incoming calls are different from one's country, it is unlikely to be from HR and job recruiters, especially if we are applying to a local company.

If it's a mobile number, it's also unlikely to be from job recruiters who often use corporate office numbers. If a potential employer uses a mobile number, they would probably by text to introduce and communicate rather than call job candidates, so as to avoid any miscommunications.

Running online checks of the numbers from incoming calls (by enclosing the numbers within double quotes) is another way that job candidates assess if the callers' numbers belong to an organization that they had previously applied a job.

Recently, there are also emails and text messages that inform job candidates of some applied jobs or (suitable) open job openings.

If job candidates have not applied to these jobs, they should ask themselves why they would be contacted for these job positions.

Always try our best to attend to HR and job recruiters' requests appropriately and soonest

During the job search process, HR or job recruiters might request for certain documents or make certain queries at times.

Job candidates should address their concerns and enquiries soonest possible to facilitate their work processes, but within the limits of a need-to-know basis. Not all personal details are required to process job candidates' job applications.

Providing prompt responses and updates often gives job recruiters a good impression, since it reflects our strong interest in our applied jobs and our professionalism.

HR and Job recruiters often remember this, thereby enabling us to give them a positive impression way before any upcoming job interview sessions.

Maintain a Cordial tone for All Professional Calls

To do this well, we need to be consistent in our tone for all calls, whether we are on the job search journey or not.

We need to develop a way of talking to people that is pleasant, friendly and relatable.

Some of us are better at doing this than others. However, we can all improve in this aspect as it is contingent on a mindset that we can develop, and a skill that we can master.

Those who are direct and blunt may have a commanding, authoritative and demanding tone that may give recipients an impression that they are trying to pull rank, which can be rather off-putting.

A friendly tone often requires the accompaniment of a tactful and diplomatic approach in terms of the words and expressions that we use, alongside humility and being understanding and respectful towards others.

When making a request, it's best to ask rather than instruct, order or demand. This is even so if we have the authority or rank to pull it off.

Most of us adhere to requests much better than commands and instructions, the latter of which should be used only as a last resort.

This is a requirement of customer service staff, and a skill for us to develop if we wish to build strong rapport with others, as well as getting what we want from them.

Nobody is obliged, obligated or glad to accede to a request from someone who is curt and rude, not to mention condescending, in their tone.

Saying things nicely really paves the road to a great relationship with others.

Always let others end the call first before ending ours

This is often in the rule book of telemarketers and customer service staff that remains useful to this day.

This practice should apply to all calls, and not just during the job search process too.

Why do we do this?

There are two reasons.

Firstly, not letting the other party end the call first is impolite.

The second reason is to leave open the possibility that the other party might speak or ask questions at the last minute, when we can then address them.

Hence, making time to let the other party end the call first is both a polite and strategic move.

If we are rejecting the applied job or upcoming job interview, always inform soonest, and with a reason

In the same way that we would often turn down someone's request with a reason, we should do the same when turning down job interviews - be it because we have found a job, or that we have second thoughts about the applied job position.

Providing a reason prevents miscommunications and misunderstanding from occurring.

At the same time, we come across as someone who is professional and accountable to our commitments.

This is very positive personal branding.

At the same time, we should do this soonest as this would facilitate things for others and avoid inconveniencing them.

Consider the task of job interview preparation.

It's not an easy task preparing for job interviews.

HR and Job recruiters would need to consolidate, prepare and print out/ forward (via email) shortlisted job candidates' cover letters, resume and all other relevant academic qualifications and professional certifications to the job interviewers for their review in advance.

Informing job recruiters late would mean jeopardizing HR and job recruiters' work processes.

It would also waste the job interviewers' time to review the details of job candidates' who had turned down the job interview, time which they could have put to more productive use.

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Kindness begets kindness.

We influence how others treat us in various ways - through our words, our tone, and the non-verbal language we use.

For phone correspondence, two primary cues we use to influence how others respond or react to us is our tone and words that we use over the phone. And these are also two things that we are able to and should control.

If we do this well, we will most probably be able to create a great first impression over the phone.

Let us strive to master the art of phone etiquette, as it facilitates communications between others and ourselves.

Reading about phone etiquette is not enough.

Like most learnings in life, we need to practice consistently until we have internalized these techniques and practices.

So, let us improve in this aspect from today.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick Tay? is an educator, career coach and people developer who has more than 15 years of professional teaching and mentoring experiences in institutes of higher learning. Previously, he had worked in publishing, corporate communications, education sales and business development.

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