Telephone: Friend or Foe

With living expenses continuing to soar, the telephone is again enjoying soaring popularity. Used properly it can be an effective money maker. I spend a great deal of time on the telephone and have learned first hand some important do’s and dont’s, I am happy to share.

Let’s begin with leaving a message. I receive many styles of messages. Here are some of the most common.

Quite frequently I get messages from women wanting to appear happy, energetic and bubbly; I refer to these women as “birds”. Their sing song message with constant voice fluctuation, make it impossible to understand what they are saying.

Worse than a “bird”, is a “mumbler”. Usually, men, with low voices and no enunciation skills. Men, please keep in mind the only truly sexy mumbler was James Dean and we really weren’t all that interested in what he had to say. It was a purely visual thing. Although a largely male dominated category, teens speak this language. When my daughter calls me, half of our conversation is me asking her to repeat herself, slowly and clearly. She doesn’t stand up straight either but that is another story.

The rambling “speed speaker” is one of my least favorite messages. The caller drones on and on leaving extended messages and at the very end recites the first 6 digits of his number clearly but is suddenly exhausted from the length of his own messages rushes through the last 4 digits so that they are impossible to decipher or they drop their voice so it is no longer audible. Either way you cannot call them back. When you do reconnect, you will be blamed for not returning the call. By the way these callers almost always have restricted numbers.

Any of these examples remind you of anyone?

The correct way to leave a message is to greet the listener with Hello “their name” This is Caroline Strittmatter with Executive Real Estate. The “Hello ________ assures that the recording device has had time to fully connect and record the truly important information you leave. People love to hear the sound of their own name. It is an attention grabber. Remember the line “you had me at hello”? It is the same kind of thing.

It is true most people have a 10 second attention span, so when you leave a detailed message, get to the point. Grab a noun and a verb and go for it. “ I am calling to further explain the $35,000 down payment assistance program for Snohomish County home buyers” That is clear, concise and to the point. To finish your call, say; “ I can be reached at 425-359-7604” most anytime. And then hang up. Make sure you hang up. Ohhh the things I have heard on a phone that was only thought to be disconnected.

Ring tones are not new but many people have not heard them. I recently received a call from Joe Hage who asked “what was that?” My ring back is “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond. That works because people hear the “Sweet Caroline” and I answer the phone by saying, “this is Caroline”. That is funny and people start their conversation relaxed and with a small laugh.

When choosing a ring back tone it is important to choose carefully. In this day and age, it is easy to find songs describing what a “gangsta” wants to do with your grandmother and her dog with an obnoxious base beating through the phone into the callers head. This is not the persona I know you want to portray to possible clients. Choose wisely grasshopper.

Should you miss a call or choose to screen your calls, your out going message is very important. Make it short and sweet. We all know you will call back when you can. Something along the lines of “Hi This is Caroline, thank you for calling me, please leave a message at the tone” works just fine. One of my favorites is a lender I used to use. He says “You Have Reached the Approval Hotline, Hi this is Jeff Anderson, please leave your name and number at the tone. Thank you”. I love the Approval Hotline, he is a lender, and I will not only get approved for a loan, I am on the Hotline. I love the hotline, Caroline- hotline I love that. The message is clear, concise and to the point. Jeff’s voice is strong and confident. I have noticed many female messages that sound breathy, and “Marilyn Monroeish”, that is like using a glamour shot for your head shot. We are not looking for a sexual liaison, we just want new curtains, a loan, paint or whatever we are looking for. Save the sex for the bedroom and bar.

You are judged on your telephone etiquette. How your customer feels when you hang up should be extremely important to you. When you are on the phone with a client, do not multi task unless it is directly related to client on the other end of the phone. There is nothing more rude than to not give the caller your full attention. The absolute worse thing you can do is take another call when you are on the phone with your caller. My husband Buddy calls this the “upgrade.” We watch my daughter DanniRose on her cell phone. She will be on the phone with one person, and another call comes in, if the new caller is lower on the food chain than the original caller she doesn't take the call. If higher, she cuts the orginal caller short to take the new call. This can happen up to 10 times in 10 minutes, upgrading, changing, or ignoring until the “stud de jour” finally calls, then all bets are off.

Recently I was on the phone with someone I want to do business with. I was put on hold more than once. This let me know my business was not important , or at least not as important as the new caller. We see this in stores, have you ever been at a cash register when the clerk takes a call and you are left hanging while the caller who does not have money in hand, did not make the trip to the store gets YOUR customer service? Rag that I am, I always tell them to put the phone down , wait on me and when I leave feel free to take the call.

Sometimes interruptions are necessary. I have a son on the USS Lincoln. The bombing has been constant in the Persian Gulf and when he does get to call his mommy, the customer is correct, I am upgrading to Paul and I will call the customer back. I do explain this to my customer. If DanniRose calls while I am on a call I ask her if she is in jail or bleeding, if the answer is no, I tell her I will call her back. It is important my customers feel the love and respect from me.

In your heart of hearts, you know the truth about your phone etiquette, do you know the value of excellent phone etiquette? The phone is your friend, use it wisely and it will make money for you.