Telephone in Business

Telephone English

Learning how to communicate well on the telephone is one of the top priorities for many students who need to use English at work. Learning the common phrases that are used on the telephone helps students know what to expect. However, what students often need most is practice, practice, and more practice. While helpful, practicing a role-play in the classroom is not always the best way to improve telephoning skills. Telephoning requires special skills as there are a number of difficulties that arise when telephoning that are specific to telephoning. The first and foremost difficulty is not being able to see the person you are communicating with. This lack of visual communication often makes students, who can communicate quite successfully in other situations, nervous and thereby hinders their communicative abilities. Add to this the typical hectic pace of business communication, and you have a particularly difficult situation.

This feature includes a number of ingredients to improve telephoning skills. Included you will find specific telephoning phrases, telephoning techniques to improve confidence when telephoning and telephoning practice exercises for use with your colleagues or in the classroom.

Telephoning

You are probably used to making informal calls to family and friends. When making calls to companies, however, some special rules and conventions apply. On this page we explain how to call someone in a company that you do not know personally (the most common kind of formal call made by students) and give you some models and language that you can use.

	General rules When making a formal call, three rules should influence your choice of words: ·         Be brief. Do not waste the receiver's time. ·         Be clear. Explain the background and purpose of your call. ·         Be polite. Recognize the receiver's point of view. These rules can sometimes conflict. If you are too brief, you may confuse the receiver or appear impolite. Try to balance the three rules.
	Making a call to someone you do not know The most difficult calls to make are calls to people that you do not not know. Usually, the purpose of your call will be to make a request for information or a meeting. This kind of call can be divided into sections according to the function each serves: ·         Locate the person ·         Make request ·         Make arrangement ·         Close the call In the following examples, we will imagine that you are calling Mr. Lau to arrange a visit to his office.
	Locate the person If the person you want to speak to answers the call, this part is simple. If the receiver gives her name when he answers your call, you can skip to the next stage. If the receiver does not give his name, you can confirm that you have the right person: Hello, is that Mr. Thomas? More often the number that you have will connect you to an operator or secretary. In this case you will have to ask to speak to Mr.Thomas: Hello, I'd like to speak to Mr. Jhon, please. If Mr. Thomas is not available, you will need to find out when you can speak to him: Could you tell me when he will be available? If the person you are calling has a busy schedule, you may have to call several times. When you are finally connected, it is best to pretend that this is your first call. Do not mention how difficult it was to make contact! Sometimes, you will not know the name of the person who might be able to help you. In this case, you can state your request and then say: Could you put me through to someone who might be able to help me? Locating someone at a company can be frustrating if you are passed from person to person. Try not to let your frustration show!
	Make request Making a request involves three stages: introducing yourself, giving background, and making the request itself. Introduce yourself by giving your name and explaining who you are: I'm ...., I'm a first-year student at Hong Kong University.... If you have been given the receiver's name by someone else, you should also mention this: Mr. Chan from Eurasia Products suggested that I call you .... Give the background to your request by explaining why you are making it: I'm doing a project on work experience and I need to arrange a visit to a company in your field .... Make your request politely and clearly. Make sure that the receiver knows exactly what agreeing to your request will involve: how much of her time will it involve and what will she or her staff will have to do: I wonder if I could pay a visit to your office for an hour or so sometime in the next two weeks, to talk to one of your staff about....
	Make arrangement If the person you are calling agrees to your request, it is important to make a clear arrangement. If you are arranging a meeting, for example, arrange the time and place and make sure you know where to go and what to do when you get there. Make a note of all the information so that you do not need to call back again to find out something you have missed. If the person you are calling cannot agree to your request, he may modify it. Listen carefully and try to fit in with his schedule. If the person you are calling cannot agree to your request at all, ask if he knows someone else who can help: Do you know anyone else who might be able to help me? Whether the receiver can help you or not, thank her and close the call politely.
	Close the call As the caller, it is your job to close the call when you have got the information you need. Unless the receiver shows that he wants to talk, it is not polite to chat once your business is finished. If there is a difficult silence at the end of the call, it is probably because you are not doing your job of closing the call. You can do this by confirming the arrangement: So, I'll come to your office on Monday at 10.... thanking the receiver, Thank you very much for your help.... and saying goodbye Goodbye.... In each case, wait for the receiver's response before you go on to the next stage. Wait until you have heard the receiver say goodbye before you hang up. Close the call extracts:

Example telephone dialogues

Here are examples of typical telephoning language:

Getting through

You: "Can I speak to (Mr. Smith), please?" or "Is (Mr. Smith) there, please?"

Receptionist: "May I ask who's calling?" or "Could I have your name, please?"

You: "Yes, this is Tom McIvor speaking."

Many British people don't identify themselves when they make or receive a phone call. Even at home, they normally pick up the phone and say "Hello". But they won't be offended if you ask for their name.

Telephone Tips

1. Speak slowly and clearly

Listening to someone speaking in a second language over the telephone can be very challenging because you cannot see the person you are trying to hear. However, it may be even more difficult for the person you are talking with to understand you. You may not realize that your pronunciation isn't clear because your teacher and fellow students know and understand you. Pay special attention to your weak areas (such as "r's" and "l's" or "b's" and "v's") when you are on the phone. If you are nervous about using the phone in English, you may notice yourself speaking very quickly. Practice or write down what you are going to say and take a few deep breaths before you make a phone call.

2. Make sure you understand the other speaker
   Don't pretend to understand everything you hear over the telephone. Even native speakers ask each other to repeat and confirm information from time to time. This is especially important if you are taking a message for someone else. Learn the appropriate expressions that English speakers use when they don't hear something properly. Don't be afraid to remind the person to slow down more than once. Keep your telephone in an area that is away from other noise distractions such as a radio or television.
3. Practice with a friend
   Ask another student to practice talking on the phone with you. You might choose one night a week and take turns phoning each other at a certain time. Try to talk for at least fifteen minutes. You can talk socially, or role play different scenarios in a business environment. If you don't have access to a telephone, you can practice by setting two chairs up back to back. The most important thing about practicing telephone English is that you aren't able to see each other's mouths. It is amazing how much people lip-read without realizing.
4. Use businesses and recordings
   There are many ways to get free telephone English practice. After business hours, you can call and listen to recorded messages. Write down what you hear the first time, and then call back and check if your notes are accurate. Use the phone in your everyday life. Call for a pizza delivery instead of going out to eat. Call a salon to book a hair appointment. You can even phone the movie theatre to ask for the listings instead of using the newspaper. Some large cities have free recordings you can call for information such as your daily horoscope or the weather. (Make sure that you aren't going to get charged for these numbers first.) Some products have free phone numbers on the packaging that you can call for information. Think of a question you might want to ask and call the free number! For example, call the number on the back of the cereal box and ask for coupons. You will have to give your name and address. Make sure you have a pen handy so that you can repeat the information and check your comprehension.

5. Learn telephone etiquette (manners)
   The way that you speak to your best friend on the phone is very different to the way you should speak to someone in a business setting. Many ESL speakers make the mistake of being too direct on the telephone. It is possible that the person on the other line will think that you are being rude on purpose if you don't use formal language in certain situations. Sometimes just one word such as "could" or "may" is necessary in order to sound polite. You should use the same modals you would use in a formal "face-to-face" situation. Take the time to learn how to answer the phone and say goodbye in a polite manner, as well as all the various ways one can start and end a conversation casually.
6. Practice dates and numbers
   It only takes a short time to memorize English Phonetic Spelling, but it is something that you will be able to use in any country. You should also practice saying dates and numbers aloud. You and a friend can write out a list of dates and numbers and take turns reading them over the phone to each other. Record what you hear. Swap papers the next day and check your answers.

Answering the phone           ·         Good morning/afternoon/evening, York Enterprises, Elizabeth Jones speaking. ·         Who's calling, please? Introducing yourself ·         This is Paul Smith speaking. ·         Hello, this is Paul Smith from Speak International. Asking for someone ·         Could I speak to John Martin, please? ·         I'd like to speak to John Martin, please. ·         Could you put me through to John Martin, please? ·         Could I speak to someone who … Explaining ·         I'm afraid Mr Martin isn't in at the moment. ·         I'm sorry, he's in a meeting at the moment. ·         I'm afraid he's on another line at the moment. Putting someone on hold ·         Just a moment, please. ·         Could you hold the line, please? ·         Hold the line, please

 

Telephone: connecting

Introduction

This section features phrases you might hear when you telephone a company hoping to talk to someone.

Think

Imagine you are calling a company and want to speak to someone who works there. Can you think of any phrases you might use, or that you might hear?

After you've thought of five

Listen

Now listen to two conversations. In the first conversation Richard Davies is calling the marketing department of a company and wants to be put through to Rosalind Wilson. In the second conversation Mike Andrews wants to talk to Jason Roberts in the marketing department. As you listen, see if you can hear some of the phrases above.

Check Understanding

Check your understanding by reading the scripts below:

Michelle:	Hello, you've reached the marketing department. How can I help?
Male:	Yes can I speak to Rosalind Wilson, please?
Michelle:	Who’s calling please?
Male:	It’s Richard Davies here
Michelle:	Certainly.  Please hold and I’ll put you through.
Male:	Thank you.