When was the last time you got your team together to talk about how to present your small business on the phone? From the time the telephone appeared on the scene, proper phone etiquette has been a topic of discussion \u2013 sometimes heated.<\/p>\n
One of the most famous debates<\/a> <\/strong>in the history of the phone was between Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison over the phone call salutation. Bell was insistent that \u201cahoy\u201d should be the correct way to answer the phone, indicating that the recipient wanted to speak. Edison argued for \u201chello,”\u00a0 which as we well know won out.<\/p>\n But hello was just the beginning of the issue over appropriate phone behavior, with the phone company eventually getting involved.\u00a0 According to an ARS tehnica<\/em> article \u201cKeep Mustache out of the opening:\u201d a history of phone etiquette,\u201d<\/a><\/strong> AT&T sent out a card titled \u201cThe Telephone Pledge,\u201d which required users to declare \u201cI believe in the Golden rule and will try to be as Courteous and Considerate over the phone as Face to Face.\u201d<\/p>\n From AT&T\u2019s earliest guidelines, there now are a host of recommendations for properly conducting a phone call, especially for business. Plantronics business partner Shortel advises<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n Today with widespread use of mobile phones and the shift from private offices and cubicles to large open office spaces, which are short on privacy but can be big on noise, new issues have emerged\u00a0 affecting phone etiquette.<\/p>\n Some things to keep in mind about calls if your small office employs an open office plan from UnMasked, an inside look at acoustics<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n Keep your voice down:<\/strong> That applies to conversations on the phone and off. Your open office space acoustics, if designed properly, should allow everyone to talk in a normal voice and not have to whisper.<\/p>\n Turn off speaker phones:<\/strong> Speaker phones tend to encourage everyone to speak louder. Not only will your team member be heard, so will the person on the other end of the call.<\/p>\n Turn down ringer volumes and notifications:<\/strong> Whether your team is using desk phone, mobile, tablet or the computer, turn down volumes, limit the number of rings, put mobiles on vibrate, and don\u2019t listen to voicemail on speaker.<\/p>\n Not too long ago, I shared my views with Small Business Trends<\/em> about the need for small business owners to provide guidelines for team members about exhibiting professionalism when using mobile phones as well as staying safe. Here are a few of my recommendations from \u201c10 Rules of Mobile Etiquette for Small Businesses.\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Move 10 feet away if you must make a call:<\/strong> Ideally you don\u2019t need to interrupt face-to-face conversation with someone else. But if you must, excuse yourself and explain why the call can\u2019t wait. Then move to a location \u2013 some say at least 10 feet \u2013 where you can respect the personal space of others.<\/p>\n Avoid checking smartphones in meetings:<\/strong> This applies to visually checking for text messages, emails and missed calls, or listening to voice mails. Checking your mobile phone distracts you from giving your full attention to the meeting at hand. It may be construed among other attendees that you find the people in the meeting to be boring or unimportant \u2013 certainly not the message you want to convey.<\/p>\n Ditch the wild ringtone:<\/strong> Want to convey professionalism \u2013 ditch the acid rock ringtone. This might sound funny but your ringtones say a lot about you. When it comes to business, keep it that way and pick discreet ring tones.<\/p>\n Plan for good reception:\u00a0 <\/strong>If you know you will be spending time on the phone while you are out of the office, check to make sure you\u2019ll get good mobile phone coverage in the area. Nothing disrupts your ability to create rapport on an important business call more than when you keep hearing, \u201cCould you repeat that? You broke up there.\u201d If bad reception persists, then hang up and offer to call from another location.<\/p>\n In and out of the office also consider a headset to help boost phone etiquette. Headsets ensure audio clarity for your team and callers by keeping down background noise. They also keep your hands free so you can take notes or check for information online without putting the other party on hold.\u00a0 Find<\/a> <\/strong>Plantronics wired and wireless headsets that support your small business needs and \u201cpolite” conversation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When was the last time you got your team together […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[510],"tags":[929,1214,1215,1216,1217,637,580],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
In the open office<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Going mobile<\/strong><\/h4>\n