Phone Tips To Get Things Done: Professional Phone

Phone Tips To Get Things Done: Professional Phone Skills

by: John Robertson

It happens all the time, you hear someone over the telephone and you make a generalization about the person you are speaking with. It may not be fair and it is akin to judging a book by its cover, but itกs true nevertheless.
Within 60 seconds, people will make assumptions about oneกs education, background, ability and personality based on their voice alone.
What type of impression is your กphoneก voice making? Indeed there are two areas you should be aware of when speaking. One is กwhatก you say, the other the กhowก you say it. Studies show that as much as 87% of the listenerกs opinion of you is based on your voice alone. That leaves only 13% allocated to what we are saying to make a positive impression. With numbers like these it is easy to see why your voice is so important in your career and personal life.
Today we live in a กvoice mailก environment. We are playing กphone tagก, leaving messages and listening to voice mails left by others. It may take as many as 34 tries before actual contact is made and you have a conversation. By the time you do connect, you can be assured that other party already has formed an impression about you.
The following are some tips that will help you improve your phone voice and technique.
1. THIRD RING RULE: Answer the phone by the third ring or make sure you voice mail is set to pick up by the third ring. Today people are not inclined to wait much longer and will assume you are not available and hang up. Remember, as much as we think we don’t like voice mail, we like the option of leaving a message.
2. PROFESSIONAL GREETING: Remember the 87% rule above and make a good impression. Be aware of what you are going to say in the greeting. Then practice and rehearse BEFORE you leave the greeting on your answering machine. Be short and to the point. Don’t drag out the greeting. It is obvious you are กOut of the office or away from your deskก otherwise you would answer your phone. Consider leaving such statements out of your greeting unless you are actually away from the office, then say so and leave a date for your return. I recommend that you leave clear instructions as to what information you need from the caller. Reminder the caller to leave their phone number, best time to return the call and a brief subject.
3. PREPARE THEN ANSWER: Have a note pad and pen by your phone at all times. Write down the callerกs name and use it during the conversation.
4. BE AN ACTIVE LISTENER: Take notes, ask for correct spelling, etc. 5. PROMPTLY RETURN CALLS: Make it your personal goal that you will be one that returns phone calls. This may very well be the most professional characteristic of all you can develop. Set a goal to return phone calls within 4 hours, it will make a positive statement about you and your image.
6. CHECK YOU MESSAGES: Check your messages several times a day. Learn how to dial in from a remote phone to get your voice mails. Many times the caller is facing a deadline and your information may be crucial for them to complete their assignment.
ITกS A TWO WAY STREET. When You Leave Messages For Others Remember These Tips:
1. SLOW DOWN: Don’t speak too fast. Slow down when you are leaving a message, especially if you have an accent. If you make your message hard to understand or if the listener has to replay it several times to get your message your reputation is slipping in their mind.
2. CLEARLY SAY YOUR NAME: Make absolutely sure the caller will understand your name. Consider spelling your name if hard to pronounce or is not a common name.
3. SLOW DOWN: When leaving your phone number go slow. Most likely the listener is writing down your number, make it easy for them to do so. Repeat the number. Consider saying your number at the beginning and end of your voice mail. People will appreciate this.
4. LEAVE YOUR NAME, COMPANY NAME AND REASON: Leave the listener with all the information they will need to know about you. Don’t make them guess. Always leave the reason you are calling. It is very unprofessional to just leave a message simply saying กgive me a callก
5. MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM TO RETURN YOUR CALL: Tell them a good time to return your call. Give them a date, time and phone number.
6. BE PROFESSIONAL: People do judge you by the tone of your voice. Increase your image by sounding professional in everything you do over the phone
Remember that you won’t be able to avoid phone tag, but you can definitely put things in your favor by doing several small things that will make a BIG difference in your image.
For more details on Business Communications, including effective email and voice mail use contact www.TrainingConnections.ORG.
(c) 2004 TrainingConnections.ORG

All rights reserved

About The Author

John Robertson is a Professional Trainer with over 20 years experience in Mid to Sr. Level Management in several Fortune 500 companies. His real world experience will bring credibility to your company. TrainingConnections.Org focuses on three major categories of Employee Performance Improvement; Leadership, Management and Sales Training. Contact us today for more information or check our web site.

http://trainingconnections.org/

mailto:[email protected]

This article was posted on July 10, 2004

by John Robertson

5 Signs It Is Time To Leave Your Day Job

5 Signs It Is Time To Leave Your Day Job

by: Stephen Mistretta

Have you ever woken up in the middle of Sunday night in a cold sweat dreading you have to go to work Monday?

I have. And I am sure a lot of you have also.

What causes this and what is the solution? You internally dislike your job and finding a new job is the solution. Perhaps working from home where you are in control.

Throughout my work career I’ve had the opportunity to work at jobs I really enjoyed such as the US Army, a large financial planning firm as well as one of the larger ขBig Boxข retail chains.

I have also had the experience of working for a few companies where lying was the norm and Nepotism (hiring family members against company policy) was accepted.

Through these experiences I have come up with 5 key signs and or reasons it is time for a person to move on.

Your boss lies to the clients on a daily basis. I used to work in the digital printing industry where deadlines are tight and machinery does break down. I used to hear the owner lie to the customers about when a project would be completed. Of course I was the one left at the shop to explain to the customer why the job wasn’t done. The first time you hear the boss lie to a client I suggest you do two things. The first confront the boss professionally and tactfully and ask them why they lied. Usually they will try to sugar coat it, state right then and there it is something you do not agree with. Look for a solution for future potential problems. The second thing you should do is start looking for another job.

Your company or boss promises you a raise, bonus or time off and doesn’t follow through. A good friend of mine told me a story of how she worked for a company and her boss promised her three days off if they made there goal for the quarter. Well my friend worked her butt off and made the sales necessary to ขmakeข the quarter. Her boss then told her they had to double the quarter’s revenue in order to qualify for the three paid days off. She protested and the boss came back with ขthat’s what we agreed onข which of course was not the case. When you are working with a boss who is so pathetic it is better to move on. Keep your cool and start looking for a job, or better yet start your own business.

Your boss asks you to supervise one of there relatives. Remember the ขBlood is thicker then waterข from experience I can tell you it is true. Another good friend relayed a story to me about working for one of the larger ขone stopข digital presentation companies. He was hired as an assistant Branch manager or in this case the hired gun to clear out the deadwood. During his numerous interviews the Branch manager assured him that the fact many of their friends and also her Brother worked there he would have the authority and support to bring things back up to corporate standards. Well after the Brother showed up late three times my friend wrote the brother up for being late. Well guess what the sister/Branch Manager didn’t write him up the next time he was late (my friend was off that day). That sent a signal to the Brother that it was ok to ignore my friend as the Branch manger wasn’t writing him up. Moral of the story do not join companies where you will be a direct supervisor of a relative of your supervisor. It is nice to think it will work but it in a large majority of cases will not.Get out while you can.

Your boss asks you to lie for them. Once you start lying your boss will feel they got you right where they want you. Don’t do it. First thing to do is check with your labor board see if this is illegal and do you have any protection, second start looking for another job and third tactfully and professionally confront your boss, being prepared to be fired. If you are fired just wish them the best of luck, (this will most likely later drive them nuts thinking about it). Think about it why would you trust this person at all anymore, especially now that they are trying to drag you into there lies. Final point if you do something illegal or immoral for the boss and someone finds out about it who do you think the boss is going to point there finger at? You!!

You keep getting phone calls from creditors of your work place while at work. I went through this and the owner asked me to tell the creditors he was not there. OK maybe one time but after that pack your bags. Think logically if they aren’t paying the creditors what makes you think they will pay you.

When you decide it is time to leave above all for your next job do something you love. This will help soften life’s negative blows allot. Life is to short to be miserable and also to short to be working with pathetic small minded people. Always try to leave on good terms with a job waiting but realize sometimes for your own mental health sake you might have to just leave. Happiness IS NOT dependent on money, happiness is dependent on mental well being

About The Author

Stephen Mistretta is partner in www.HomeBusinessSuccess.biz a Home Business Guide and Portal. Steve can be reached at [email protected].

This article was posted on February 07

by Stephen Mistretta

Increase Your Profit Through Effective Entry and E

Increase Your Profit Through Effective Entry and Exit Strategies

by: David Bell

It is amazing that so much time goes into building great looking websites, promoting them, yet most webmasters pay little attention to how their visitors will actually use them. You could be throwing profits away, if you don’t pay attention to entry and exit strategies that is, looking at how your visitors enter, walk through and leave your site, and how you can steer their course to increase your profits.

Letกs look at entry strategies first. Where can visitors enter your site? Check your wesbite statistics for more information (you are doing this anyway, aren’t you?). Often, many visitors enter through a กside doorก unintentionally left open. By this we mean they enter at a page, which was not designed to be an entry page, and they are left floundering around lost, not knowing where to go next, a bit like wandering into an office building through an open fire escape door!

This often happens because of search engine indexing, where a keyword rich page gets an unintended good ranking. Remember, any page can become an entry page (unless you use the Meta robots tag to avoid indexing), so ensure visitors who appear in the wrong place are efficiently & easily lead to the กfront receptionก.

Once in, what do you want your customers to do? Read content and gain exposure to advertising? Read sales copy and make a purchase? Sign up for a newsletter/ezine? Often, itกs a combination, so make sure itกs not all screaming for their attention at once. A visitor who becomes overwhelmed, will soon dash out the door!

Lead them through, one thing at a time. I particularly cannot understand websites, which, as soon as you enter, request your email address, via a pop up box, and I suspect many others feel the same . I like to get a feel for a site first, experience their subject matter and see if their expertise fits with what Iกm after, before I sign up for a newsletter, or other communication. So, lead them through, reassuring them that you can be of great assistance, becoming their friend, stating the advantages of keeping in touch , before gently requesting their details.

Now to exit strategies I see many puzzled faces here! Like it or not, every visitor is destined to leave your site. They can do one of two things :

1) Stop surfing and go and do something else

2) Continue surfing and visit another website.

You can influence them in both instances. By channelling them to a partner site, via a banner or an affiliate link, you can profit. You must do it at a logical point identify the points where customers are likely to leave, and provide an กemergency exitก for them. Analyse your own กsurfingก habits, and those of your friends and colleagues.

For instance, if Iกm visiting a website which I find is not for me, I always subconsciously scroll down to the bottom of the page before I leave. I don’t know why perhaps itกs because I don’t want to feel Iกm missing out on something they could be giving away $20 bills at the bottom you never know! One or two attention arousing links to affiliated sites could be placed tastefully there, tempting a กlostก customer to visit and perhaps earn you some commission through an affiliate scheme.

What about purchasers? Where do they leave? Most usually through an order confirmation page, where thereกs only a link กback to homeก. Well, let me point out that people usually purchase after theyกve gleaned all the information they can from your site to make their decision. Theyกve decided what they want and purchased it .Why would they go back immediately? Give them a place to go links to affiliate sites of related interest. Make the links provocative; arouse their curiosity to click through. Text links are usually more effective than banners, particularly when they are in the form of an endorsement or personal recommendations.

In short, analyse where your visitors go and are likely to go. Ensure visitors entering through กside doorsก, get speedily directed to the reception foyer. Position strategically placed กemergency exitsก which lead to partner sites. Join some affiliate schemes, do some joint venture deals, and get profiting from those กlostก customers that leave your site.

I hope this helps in your future marketing decisions.

About The Author

David Bell

http://www.wspromotion.com/

Advertising research and development center.

This article was posted on April 19

by David Bell

You Bored Me at Hello! Three Strategies for Netw

You Bored Me at Hello! Three Strategies for Networking Your Brand

by: Kevin Kearns

กYou had me at hello,ก those famous words from the movie Jerry McGuire let Tom Cruise know that Rene Zellwegerกs character was hooked from that point and the rest of his talking was unnecessary. When in networking situations, many small business owners leave people with a slightly different feeling. If questioned for the truth, what would likely be said is, กyou bored me at hello!ก That is definitely not a great way to grow your business into a powerful name brand. Networking works, but not if you leave your prospects bored.

Networking opportunities are everywhere. You can find them at Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau events, not to mention when you are in line at the grocery store. There are even groups of people who regularly meet solely for the purpose of networking. Unfortunately, all of the networking opportunities in the world will not help grow your business unless people remember you and your company after you are gone.

Here are three strategies to avoid boring people during your next networking opportunity:

1) Gone in ThirtySeconds Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Any longer than thirty seconds for your กelevator speechก and you will be tuned out. People cannot sit through a thirtysecond commercial without changing the channel on the television. Your business will be treated the same way. They will start thinking about what they need to pick up on the way home or other random thoughts. Many times, they are simply waiting for you to stop talking so they can try to sell you on their business. Your brand message must be short, simple and to the point. If you ramble too much, the person will start feeling like Charlie Brown in school กwahwah, wah wah wah,ก กyes maกam.ก

2) Red or Black Pick a color. Roulette gives you the option of betting on red or black. If you bet red, you win when it hits on any red number. Winning is good. If it hits on any black number, you lose. Losing is not so good. However, when you กhedgeก and bet on red and black together you are guaranteed to not win. In a networking situation, limit what you talk about. Sure, you are risking leaving out something the prospect would like to hear. However, unless you get lucky and mention it first, the odds are that you will lose their attention by then anyway. Limit the scope of your brand, or say everything and be remembered for nothing.

3) Listen Thatกs right, you are remembered more when you listen. Most of us go through our day fighting to be heard. It feels really good to be acknowledged and understood. So good that we automatically think highly of the person listening to us. Listening demonstrates that you value the person talking. Sincerely listen to what the other person has to say and they will leave with high regard for you and your business.

There ya have it, networking success as simple as 1, 2, 3! Follow all three strategies and you are sure to notice a sharp improvement in your networking. Before you know it, you will leave your future clients saying กyou sold me at hello!ก Now, those types of responses build a powerful brand!

About The Author

Kevin Kearns is a small business branding coach. He holds a Master of Science degree in Organization Development and is a member of the Coachville Graduate School of Coaching. With a mixture of handson experience, research, and FUN, Kevin helps small businesses become the only choice for their customers. As one of the founding partners of the Worldกs First Snowboarder Hotel, THE BLOCK, Kevin has profited from the level of success only true branding can bring. Visit www.KevinKearns.com to join The Branding Bunch newsletter for free brandbuilding tips.

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 28

by Kevin Kearns

กDon’t Leave Home Without It?ก I Say, กDon’t Leave

กDon’t Leave Home Without It?ก I Say, กDon’t Leave Home With it?ก

by: David Moore

There’s a popular credit card commercial that ends with the line, ขdon’t leave home without it.ข Well, I say ขdon’t leave home with it.ข What I mean by that is this. Why pay for a product by spreading your payments over many months through credit card payments when you can get what you want by paying cash. And over the lifetime of those payments you will have actually paid 510 times more than the sticker price because of the interest that is added to the cost of the item. Why not save the interest and get more of what you want, or donate to a worthy cause, or help someone you love with that money?

Furthermore, why leave home to earn the money you need in order to pay your credit card bill when you can work from home and earn enough money to keep from having to get credit cards in the first place? Make sense?

Well, it is possible to earn a comfortable living working from home at your computer. It’s even possible to earn a substantial income if you are motivated and if you are a selfstarter. If on the other hand, someone has to get you out of bed every morning, start your car for you, and head you in the right direction with one of your hands on the steering wheel and a cup of coffee in the other, don’t try a workathome business. While you may be able to sleep in every morning, you will have to spend some quality time working your business. The question is this. How much is it worth to you?

Jeremy Rifkin said, far too often we ขcontinue to address the problems at hand with solutions that create even greater problems than the ones they were intended to solve.ข He’s right. We keep trying to solve our financial problems by getting credit cards that in the end create even greater problems than the ones they were intended to solve. And when it’s time to think about retirement all we have to look forward to is keeping up the minimum payments on those credit cards we now wish we never had. We’ can’t visit are kids and grandkids like we wish we could. We can’t take that ocean liner cruse we’ve always dreamed about. We can’t make a meaningful contribution to an organization dedicated to helping those, who through no fault of their own, cannot help themselves.

Look, I’m 55 years of age and I’m definitely not the product of the internet generation. But I have a burning desire for my wife and I to be able to visit our children at our leisure, to watch our grandkids hit home runs in Little League or do ballet, to pay off our debts, to take that ocean liner cruise we’ve always dreamed about, and to contribute to worthy humanitarian causes. That’s why I decided to become an athome business entrepreneur. And it’s beginning to pay off. This time next year I fully expect to be earning at least $8000 a month from my online business while working 23 hours a day maybe even earning a lot more than that, but I don‘t want to overstate the possibilities.

Speaking of possibilities, our youngest son is a third year premed student who wants to study and treat infectious diseases. What a joy it will be to contribute to his medical education (without having to borrow the money) so he can immediately put his practice to use rather than having to first earn money to pay off his medical bill.

Do you have similar dreams? Then start your online business now. Let me give you one final thought. The other day I was mowing our grass. I enjoy doing this chore. I could hire someone to do it for me, but it’s relaxing to me. So I cranked up the engine and started pushing the mower. Because part of our yard is on a slope the pushing became a little more strenuous. But wait, I bought a selfpropelled mower to eliminate this stress. It finally dawned on my that I had not pushed the lever down to activate the selfpropulsion of the mower. Why did I tell you this story?

Because that’s how it is with an online workathome business. You don’t just start the engine and suddenly it goes on auto pilot while you rake in the monthly commissions. First you have to activate the lever. In other words, it takes some effort on your part to get the business up and running a few months then it in fact does go on auto pilot and all you have to do is steer it in the right direction. And just like the sense of pride and accomplishment I feel when I look at the beauty of a freshly cut lawn, your business becomes a sense of pride and accomplishment as you enjoy the benefits of what it has brought to you.

About The Author

David Moore is a member of the Wealth Online Website system. He is a home based online business entrepreneur, but his first love is his wife Cheri and their three grown children (and one awesome grandson). Dave teaches in the Social Science Department at a University (parttime) and has served on the administrtative staff of a faithbased humanitarian aid organization. He has completed post graduate programs in both Cross Cultural Communications and Higher Education Administration. He believes strongly that the application of all selfgenerated wealth must include a provision for giving back to the commmunity, the church, and other worthy causes. If you would like more information on his online business, please visit his website at: DavidMoore.ws.

This article is not copyrighted.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 20

by David Moore

Marketing Tourism Online, Part One: The Basics

Marketing Tourism Online, Part One: The Basics

by: Bryan Wilson

This is part one of an article series which will introduce some basic strategies, considerations, elements, and techniques for marketing tourism products online. We plan to update and refine these articles as situations change and when we have new knowledge to present. If you have comments or questions, or you are interested in Leave Homeกs travel marketing consulting services, please visit www.LeaveHome.com or contact the author directly. You can also request to be notified when a new article in the series is available.
OPPORTUNITIES AND ROOM TO IMPROVE
While most tourism organizations are by now familiar with the Internet, far fewer have really gained an understanding of the technologies, new resources, new communication opportunities, and the requirements that they represent. These tips and explanations should prove a useful introduction.
While new technologies provide new opportunities, they don’t change the basics of marketing: people, product, price, promotion, and distribution. Know your target markets, understand their purchase decision processes, and offer them the right product, at the right time, for the right priceand correct your course continually.
SHAPING THE PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS AND THE TOURISM EXPERIENCE
Your online communication with customers can be used to shape outcomes in the following circumstances and stages, in relation to a potential touristกs purchase decision and tourism experience. Good communication can:

Build awareness of a product or destination, and reshape existing perceptions;
Generate interest;
Provide information to turn interest into desire;
Transact the actual purchase or series of purchases;
Provide reassurance of a good purchase and offer preparatory information for the actual tourism experience;
Continue to provide information, shape perception, and improve the experience during the touristกs journey;
Aid and deepen memories after the tourism experience;
Build upon your relationship to your customer, to add value for both you and the tourist; and
Encourage referrals and generate repeat business.

There are different goals to achieve and appropriate methods of communication for each of these circumstances. Adding further complexity is the fact that different people (family members, friends, coworkers, etc.) may be involved and have varying importance at different stages of one purchase decision!
IN CONCLUSION
Despite these complexities, there are some basic guidelines which will help you communicate and market effectively online. The next in this series of articles presents advice for attracting visitors to your website.
(Seattle, USA; August 2004)

About The Author

Bryan Wilson is a travel marketing consultant and partner in Leave Home Productions. Leave Home Productions provides marketing services and tools to tourismrelated businesses and organizations. Our clients benefit from strategies, tools, and creative concepts developed to clarify their needs, make use of their resources, and help them achieve their goals. We specialize in promotions, online communication, distribution and the creation of multimedia and Internet tools. Leave Home also supports marketing with traditional media formats and personal communication. We work to develop solutions that support healthy growth for our clientsก business and sustainable tourism for the host communities and environments.
(Leave Home, tourism marketing consultants)
http://www.leavehome.com
[email protected]

This article was posted on November 22, 2004

by Bryan Wilson

Breaking The Voice Mail Barrier

Breaking The Voice Mail Barrier

by: C.J. Hayden

Even if you never place a cold call, you still have to reach people by phone. That customer who was so interested last month never called you back, and now you must call her. You call once, twice, three times, but you can’t get her in person. How can you manage to close a sale if all you ever get is voice mail?

Doing business in the age of voice mail can be extremely frustrating. While it is true that some people leave their voice mail on all the time, you can sometimes get through by calling off hours. Try calling before 8:30 or after 5:30. You may also find people at their desks during the lunch hour.

So should you keep calling or leave a message? Actually, you should do both. Assume that most people won’t call you back, so just keep right on calling them.

Josiane Feigon, principal of the telesales training and coaching company, Telesmart Communications (www.telesmart.com), suggests that you try pressing ก0ก or ก0ก# to transfer to the receptionist. That way you can verify that the person you are trying to reach is still in the same job position, and find out

when they are expected to be in.

Whether you reach your prospects or not, never make them wrong for not returning your calls. Rather than saying, กI haven’t heard from you,ก let them know you are eager to speak with them, and wanted to try again while you were in your office. Feigon recommends, กAs a rule, try not to leave any more than three voice mail messages over a 10day period of time and then lay off for a month.ก

Speaker and trainer Melinda Henning of Doing Business by Phone (www.unforgettablelearning.com) says that the way to deal with voice mail is to use it as an advertising medium. In other words, leave a voice mail commercial. Especially if you are cold calling, Melinda suggests that you compose a series of different commercials, each one revealing some new and interesting fact about your business, and another reason for someone to speak with you.

Whenever you leave a message, include some incentive for the person you are calling to have a live conversation. กI would like to introduce myselfก is not a reason for prospects to talk to you. Why should they care? Tell them what it is you think you can do for them in their own unique situation. And do it in 30 seconds no one likes long voice mails from strangers, and the delete key is at their fingertips.

Look for some connection between you and the person you are calling that you could put in your message. A mutual acquaintance, membership in the same association, or having attended the same event are all worth mentioning. If you have seen them speak, or read about them in the news, compliment them on it. Be warm, friendly and upbeat, so your message is a pleasure to listen to.

If you have called, left messages, and still can’t get through to the person you want, send an email. Many people will quickly respond to email because it is easy. If you can interest them in what you have to offer (without revealing all the details), they may be willing to set up a phone appointment with you to find out more. When you don’t have the personกs email address, try finding it on the companyกs web site or asking the receptionist.

Should you ever stop calling? That depends on the value of the potential sale. A $1000 sale might only be worth two or three calls to you, but a $10,000 sale would certainly pay for many more. Every salesperson has a story about a customer who finally said yes after the 17th phone call, so if it seems worth it, don’t quit!

About The Author

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Since 1992, C.J. has been teaching business owners and salespeople to make more money with less effort. She is a Master Certified Coach and leads workshops internationally. Read more of her articles at www.getclientsnow.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 21, 2003

by C.J. Hayden