Michigan State University Extension
Home-Based Business - 09159409
10/01/98
The way you answer the telephone can make or break your credibility. Tips to check your telephone answering technique and maintain your invisible image as a credible businessperson:
- try placing a tape recorder next to your phone or, using the recording position of your answering machine, record your side of a few conversations, then analyze your style.
- To avoid getting an annoying FAX squeal instead of an answer when you have called long distance, maintain an extra line dedicated to your fax.
- Outgoing messages on answering machines that won't disconnect when you pick up the receiver, and call- waiting clicks, identify you as having as having a residential rather than a business service.
- Install a "message center" service on your home line which offers your callers voice-mail if your line is busy.
Your business stationery, order blanks, invoice, business card, and brochures are all part of your visible image.
When selecting a telephone that will meet your needs, analyze the following items considered essential:
- hold button - mute button - speaker button - 32 or so pre-programmed memory buttons - auto redial - two lines -- one for home, one for business - conference call button
Source: Victoria Turner, "Selecting a telephone" and Sylvia Ann Blishak, "Your Two Professional Images", National Home Business Report, Vol. XII, No. 4.