How to make an efficient phone call?
Picture by kiwanja
Telephone can be very efficient tool for communication if it is used in a right way. At the same time it can be a huge time-waster as many people spend hours on the phone and basically talk about nothing. We spend a considerable share of our working time on talking on the phone and therefore making the calls more efficient can save a considerable amount of time.
What is an efficient phone call? It depends what we want. In case of business calls we want to achieve some kind of result, it can be making other people to make an action or gaining information. In the first case we may want to organize a meeting, give orders to other persons or make other person to buy a product. In the second case we may want to get a phone number or opinion from other people. In many cases there can be many tasks you want to achieve with one phone call. If you achieve these goals in short time, then it makes a phone call efficient.
Before calling someone think what you are going to achieve with it. Write down the goals of a phone call. Make a plan. Keep also relevant information, for example emails, project documentation etc. which is going to support your discussion, handy. If you need to start searching a file or an email from you computer during the call, then it will be a huge waste of time. Be prepared for the call.
In order for you or business call to be successful you make the purpose of the call clear for the person you are calling at the beginning. In case of a business call you should follow the rule of 3-point introduction, which means that you should tell him your name, affiliation and reason for calling. Although some social conversation can act as an ice-breaker and will make your discussion easier, it should not last more than half a minute. If you want to be effective then you have to get to the point in short time.
It is important that you stick to the plan during the phone call. Avoid starting conversation on the irrelevant topics. If your partner starts talking about other issues then you may suggest discussing them some other time. Keep the written goals beside the phone. Every time you have achieved one goal, make a tick mark on it. It will help you to follow the plan.
If there is no possibility to achieve one goal during a telephone conversation then accept it and move to the other goal. For example, if the person you are calling is not sure about his opinion on some question and needs to think about it then give him a deadline for that.
If you have accomplished the objectives of the call then you should bring the call to the end. It can happen that you have got the desired results in short time, but then the call develops into a social conversation, which last for 10 minutes. In order to prevent this from happening you have to know how to conclude the call. It is a good idea to repeat the main decisions you made in the call. For example, you may remind that you decided to meet on Tuesday at 2 PM and that you will look through the budget of the project, while your partner has to take contact with the marketing team and to work out the marketing strategy. It will guarantee that both sides have not misunderstood their tasks and it gives a signal that it is time to say good bye. If the other person you are speaking with is very talkative then you may start concluding the call, with the phrase. “Before we are going to end, I would like to say….”
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My name is Kristjan-Olari Leping. I am a speed reading trainer. I have an associated professor position at the University of Tartu, am a policy analyst in a policy research center, I am a trainer and I am involved in many other business projects. 