InterPersonal Communication

Bring out the importance of telephone in interpersonal communication. If you were the Managing Director of a company what instructions would you give your telephone receptionist regarding effective use of the telephone?

Most of us have to use the telephone at work either to respond to people’s enquires or to obtain information from others. Very often the telephone is the only point of contract we have with our customers. How each of us   treats callers will therefore affect the may in which our organization is seen. The process does not stop with the telephonist-it continues with all of us whenever we answer our telephone.

Most of us would agree that we want to create an image of ourselves and of our organization that is helpful creates its corporate image through interpersonal communication of the organization.

As a managing Director I would instruct my telephone receptionist to remain “Efficient and friendly” and observe the following:-

• Answering promptly.
• Do not be heard Eating, drinking on telephone.
• Tell the caller your name.
• Not holding two conversations at once.
• Requesting the caller to hang up if you are busy but not for long time.
• Transferring people immediately.
• Intelligible warm greetings.
• Positive attitude.
• Sounding sure of what you are saying.
• Use appropriate question to maintain control
• Keep people informed
• Check all details

Points to consider in Telephoning

1. Be aware of time zones. Few business persons want to get phone calls in the middle of the night.
2. Speak more clearly.
3. Restate and summarise more often. Memorises are prone to error loss.
4. Follow up the conversation with a letter of fax. This way you and the message receiver have a statement that summarises the major points covered.