Telephone Skills

I used to be a telemarketer for a phone company, and I hated every single minute of it. But the experience did give me the opportunity to see really how poor many people’s telephone skills are. Even now, since I’ve been free from that horrendous job as a telemarketer, I can’t tell you how many times a conversation like this has happened when I call someone.

ME: Hello, may I speak with Melissa?

THEM: Ummm, (short pause) she’s not here.

(silence)

ME: Well, do you know when I might be able to reach her?

THEM: Nope.

(more silence)

ME: Could I leave a message for her?

THEM: I guess.

ME: Can you please have her call Joy at (555) 55…

THEM: (exasperated sigh) Hang on, I don’t have a pencil. (Sound of phone dropping and papers rustling. What seems like several minutes pass, the phone is picked up, and they say…) OK.

ME: Please have her call Joy at (555) 555-5555.

THEM: (just silence)

ME: Did you get it?

THEM: Umm, yeah.

ME: Thanks.

THEM: (quickly hangs up)

Can I just tell you how aggravating that is! I keep wondering who taught—or didn’t teach— that person how to answer a phone.

Having even rudimentary telephone skills is so important, and it really isn’t that difficult to teach your kids how to answer the phone. You don’t need a book, and instructional video, or curriculum; just set aside an hour for practice, and your children should be able to improve their skills dramatically.

Learning Suggestions

After discussing each of the following suggestions with your children, have them practice what they learned. Simply go into another room, get out your cell phone, and call your home phone. Spend some serious time having your children answer the phone to practice what they just learned. You can pretend to be a friend, family member, telemarketer, bill collector, or whatever you want. Just provide your kids with ample opportunity for practicing before they try out their skills in the real world.

• Initial answering phrase: Start by teaching your children what words they should use when they answer the phone, whether it be a simple, “Hello,” or a longer, “Hello, Smith residence.”
• What to say when someone’s not available: Instruct your children to say, “They’re not available right now, may I take a message?” or something similar when that person is unable to take the call. Make sure your children understand why they shouldn’t let someone who calls know that they are home alone.
• Finding out who is calling: You may want to teach you children to first say, “May I ask who’s calling,” before they let the caller know if the person they asked for is available. Depending on your child’s age, they may also be able to give you a heads-up on whether the person who is calling is a dreaded telemarketer. Finding out first who is calling also gives you the opportunity to tell a friend or family member that you’re too busy to talk right now and that you’ll call them back without having to answer the phone yourself.
• What to say when someone is available: When the person being asked for is available, teach your children to say something like, “Yes she is. Just a moment and I’ll get her.” If it takes a while for the person asked for to get to the phone, teach your children to let the caller know that it will be a moment before they get there. You may also want to teach your child to say, “Here she is,” before handing the phone over to you.
• Dealing with telemarketers: Teaching your children to discriminate between real callers and telemarketers is difficult. You should discuss with your child what they should do if they answer a call from a telemarketer.
• Making a phone call: Teach your child how to call someone else. You may want to teach them to introduce themselves when they make a call, such as, “Hello, this is Michael, may I speak with Kyle?”

Just remember that simply talking about these skills, but not practicing them, won’t really do you much good. So get out your cell phone, and call!

Image by Brian Rendel