Telephone Etiquette – Answering a Business Phone

A customer will make a judgement about your company within the first seven seconds of initial contact. You want to make this first impression good.

The person answering the phone should sound professional, speak clearly, be courteous, and be attentive to the customer’s needs.

When answering the phone, it’s important to greet the caller, identify the business they contacted, introduce yourself, and ask how you may help them.

If you call the Etiquette School of Ohio you will hear, “Good morning, Etiquette School of Ohio. This is Sandy. How may I help you?”

An appropriate response from you might be, “Good morning Sandy. This is John Smith from the XYZ Company. I’m interested in getting more information about your etiquettte seminars.”

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One Response to Telephone Etiquette – Answering a Business Phone

  1. David Esrati says:

    Sandy- I couldn’t agree more. I’ve had a really hard time getting people to say “may” instead of “can”- and then the follow up- “May I tell him who’s calling”- which is a polite way to get the name of the caller- even if I happen to be out- so they can at least write it down…
    Thanks for the tips- keep them coming!

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