Perfect Phone Performance 

By Alison Blackman Dunham

Adapted from Chapter 3 of:

“You Are The Product - How To Sell Yourself To Employers”

“How you sound and behave as a ‘phone voice' can boost your competitive edge before you ever meet an employer, client or even a new friend. Your voice and attitude will reinforce or alleviate any initial positive or negative feelings or concerns that they have about your product. Making a positive first impression on the phone is critical to your entire personal marketing strategy, and your future career success!

Most of us use the phone so much that we take it for granted. However, having great phone presence is part of personal marketing. It will help you to get a competitive edge and help you sell yourself. People want to believe that you're trustworthy, intelligent and likeable and they're going to start making that decision before they ever meet you, on the phone. Here are some ways to boost your phone performance:

DO: answer your own phone by stating your name and waiting for the caller to respond before continuing. Answer your own phone by stating your name and waiting for the caller to respond before continuing.

DO: keep a pad and pencil near the phone for jotting down messages, and for important names, phone numbers, addresses or other information critical to the job. It's also a good idea to keep a copy of your resume, pitch letter, or notes handy in case you need to refer to them quickly.

DON'T: put someone on hold for ‘just a moment', which turns into longer than 60 seconds. If someone does this to you, you are within your rights to hang up and call again when they are ready to talk to you.

DON'T: answer the phone with anything besides “Hello” or another polite, basic phone salutation. Casual is fine in person with friends, but in business you'll turn people off if the first thing they hear out of your mouth is “Whassup?” or some off-hand, smart remark. Remember Bridget Jones who, trying to be “cute,” answers her phone: “wanton sex goddess” only to discover that it's her father on the line!

DON'T: talk to a client or prospective employer if you're not ready. If someone calls from a company you can't even remember applying to, your cat is throwing up on your new couch, or there is anything else that is diverting your attention, the best thing to do is apologize for not being able to talk on the phone right then, ask to re-schedule the conversation, and get off the phone as quickly as possible.

DON'T: leave long, complicated voice mail messages spoken so fast that it sends someone scrambling for pen and pad to frantically write it all down. If you don't reach the caller you'll have to talk later anyway, so bag the long story and just leave your name, date, time and a brief explanation of why you called.

Your Conversational Skills and Initial Phone Pitches

Most initial phone contacts with clients or employers are brief, usually just to set up an in-person interview. Sometimes, these initial phone contacts turn into actual sales sessions. How you perform on the phone will decide whether or not you get to the next stage. The person on the other end of the line has never met you and only has his or her ears and intuition with which to judge you. Make sure you are cordial, understanding and friendly to whomever you are speaking, no matter how tired you are or how frustrated they make you. You may soon be working for (or with) them! If you're really not ready to make a convincing case for yourself, do your best to re-schedule the conversation. If you're not enthusiastic, calm, and confident how you can expect anyone else to think you are?

DO: speak in a moderate, clear, pleasant tone of voice. Have someone listen to your voice on the phone and critique how you sound. Note any major problems and begin working on making them better.

The above is an excerpt from The Last Job Search Guide You'll Ever Need: How to Find and Get the Job or Internship of Your Dreams, which is available for sale for $19.85 in our bookstore or $27.00 at Amazon.com but for free to those who subscriber to our free career newsletter. This hot new book contains job search secrets of the most experienced, most knowledgeable and most respected career experts. Learn career planning, job hunting tools and tactics, interviewing, cover letter and resume writing (lots of samples!), networking, and how to find an internship. Written by 149 career experts. To receive a free copy, subscribe to our free career newsletter.

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