Five Top-Notch Telephone Tips Hello!

This is Peggy Kimmey, with Kimmey Training and Consulting, bringing you my Five TopNotch Telephone Tips to help you be a more effective communicator when using the telephone. Do you do audio presentations!" #nless you$ve been interviewed on the radio, made a audio recording li%e this one, or hosted a teleseminar, & bet the answer is nope, not me!" 'ut & suggest that any time you ma%e a phone call, even (ust to say )hy don$t we meet for lunch*" or leave you a message that you e+pect to be returned, you are ma%ing a presentation." ,y Five Top-Notch Telephone Tips will center on business uses of the phone - but & hope that everyone can see that there may be a tip or two for them, no matter what the situation. .o, what %inds of audio presentations do we ma%e in business! /n initial sales call hoping to get an appointment0 a customer courtesy call ensuring that they received acceptable service0 a conference call with team members0 a webinar used for sales or educational purposes. There are many others but this list should get us started. First, if you have a phone in your wor% space, you should have a mirror. 1ou need to be aware of your facial e+pressions - before you even pic% up the phone, as well as during a conversation. People can hear you smile - or hear the furrow between your eyebrows and the frown on your mouth. 1ou never %now who$s calling you - or what %ind of day has happened for the person you are calling. Do everything you can to ma%e this connection a positive one. .mile! Second, breathe! /s you are loo%ing at yourself, ad(usting to your happy face, ta%e a deep breath then let out all the tension you$ve been carrying around in your shoulders. .it up straight. The combination of your smile and sitting straight, and ta%ing a rela+ing breath send your physical body the signal that you are not nervous - you are open to positive energy. )hen you act it, you really will begin to feel it. Third, %now what you$re going to say. &f you$re answering, you may have a standard way of identifying your company, then yourself. Could you add the 2uestion how may & help you!" to the end! &f you are placing the call, %now who you want to spea% to and as% for them by name or position. 'e prepared to be connected to them - or to their assistant - or to their voice mail. 3oice mail seems to throw people the most. They$re ready to interact, to tailor their message according to the response of the other person. 'ut when they get dropped into voice mail, they do one of two things4 ramble on and on, giving their presentation on the recording, or stating their name and hanging5up. Plan for all these events - having a few notes is a good idea. 1ou$ll sound professional and competent no matter what. Fourth, let$s tal% about accents. & %now you don$t have one. 'ut the people you are calling, are on a conference call with, or giving a webinar demonstration to - they may have one. 6or their sa%e, help them understand your lac% of accent. .pea% a little more slowly at the beginning of your tal%. &f you are spea%ing in short pieces mi+ed with other people, give your listeners at least 7 chances to hear you spea% slowly before you pic%5up the pace. /nd if there are 7 or more of you spea%ing, it$s 8K to identify yourself, Peggy here. & thin% we should further investigate*" & guess if &

was the only woman on the call, & wouldn$t need to do that, but you get my point. 9isten to yourself. .ee if you can record some of the calls you ma%e - we$ve all heard those messages this call may be recorded for training purposes." That training can be (ust for you. &f not, use your voice mail recording or download a smart phone app to have give you something to wor% with. Test a few different recordings, even practice what you want to say on your ne+t presentation, and listen a few times, editing and re5 recording until you are comfortable with what you - and your audience - will hear. 9isten for4 spea%ing patterns. /udible pauses li%e um" or ah" tell the listener that you are not sure what you are going to say ne+t. 1ou may not even %now you ma%e those sounds until you listen to yourself. That$s the first step to %ic%ing the habit. 9isten to the ends of phrases and sentences. /re you listening harder because you can$t hear :even though you %now what you said;! Practice maintaining the pitch and tone at the ends of your sentences. ,aybe you need to breathe more often. Practice and find what helps you the most. 9isten for the other e+treme of that issue4 does your voice go up at the end of the sentence, even when you are not as%ing a 2uestion! This style gives listeners the impression that you either don$t %now your material or you don$t feel 2ualified to be telling them about it, so you are re2uesting validation from them. That is not the confident, empowered way you want to sound. 9isten for4 word endings. Clear consonants are important for the clarity of the words as they fit into the sentence. )hen the listener can differentiate between words that sound a lot ali%e, it can ma%e or brea% their understanding. 9isten for4 enunciation. & hope & (ust e+ampled it in my use of the word differentiate". &f you must use long or technical words, be sure your audience will understand them and be sure they can easily understand you. .ay them slowly and articulate the syllables. 1our audience may stop listening if they become confused. They will try to figure out what you (ust said and will miss your ne+t important point.

Finally, plan your pauses. #m" and ah" are sound fillers while you figure out what to say ne+t, but it buys you and your listeners some time. )hen you %now your information and are comfortable sharing it, you may begin to spea% more 2uic%ly. 'ut people often spea% more 2uic%ly than listeners can understand. .o give your listeners a brea%! )hen you are prepared, you %now what you want to say and how you want to say it, don$t rush through. Put brea%s between your thoughts. 9et your confidence shine and allow your listeners the pleasure of hearing everything you have to say. /s you begin to implement these simple tips, you will be on your way to being an effective, en(oyable audio presenter."