Most of the people find it difficult to make business phone calls in a foreign language. Therefore, in order to make an effective phone call, you must prepare ahead. This will save you time and frustration. Remember that your voice at the end of the line will be the first impression of you. Thus, you need to conduct yourself in a professional manner when making business phone calls.
Preparing for the business call:
ü Gather all the information and suppliers you might need for the call:
· The number and the full name of the person you need to speak to
· Have a calendar, pen and paper at hand
· Have your personal information at hand: phone number and address to reach you at, etc.
ü Make sure you are in a quiet and comfortable environment.
This means to turn off the TV, music devices and any other distractions; children and babies should be out of the room when you are making a business call.
ü Think about what you need to accomplish with this call.
Use notes (‘talking points’) to guide you through the facts and details you want to mention. This may be your only chance to get your point across.
Making the business call:
A business call has three main stages: introduction, middle bulk and an ending summary of the call.
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· Introduce yourself or/and remind the person you are calling of your identity at the beginning of the call.
· Express gratitude.
Always thank the potential client for allowing you a few moments in his/her busy day. (“I want to thank you for taking my call. This will only involve a moment of your time so you can get back to your busy schedule”).
· Make sure that the person you are calling is fully available to talk.
If not, try to schedule an appointment for you to call back again.
· State the purpose of your call.
Be clear and to the point. Do not allow the conversation to go into meaningless chatter.
· It is important to ask the other person to repeat what you are saying.
In this way you will make sure that he/she fully understands what the conversation is about.
· Summarise the important points of the conversation and stress on each other’s responsibilities.
· End the call in a pleasant manner. Thank once again the other person for his/her time. Set an appointment for another call if it is needed, and wish him/her a good day.
Things you must keep in mind when making a business call in English:
- It is important to use the right level of formality.
If you are too formal, then the person might find it difficult to feel comfortable when she/he talks to you. Then again, if you are too informal, the person could think that you are rude.
- It is important to show politeness. Always use please and thank you or thanks very much
whenever you ask for, or receive, help or information. Use words like would, could, may, please, etc. toshow politeness. It is alright to use more informal English, such as okay, bye, no problem, as long as theoverall tone of the conversation is polite.
- If you call native speakers in English, you might find it difficult to understand them. The business people tend to speakvery quickly on the phone so you will probably need to slow them down:
o Immediately ask the person to speak slowly.
o Repeat each piece of information, such name or telephone number or any important data, as the person speaks. Then you automatically slow the speaker down.
o Do not say you have understood the person if you have not. Ask him/her to repeat until you haveunderstood. Also you can ask the speaker to rephrase it or you can simply say: “I am sorry, do youmean….(what you have understood)”
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