Summary: Business calls go more easily after the right preparations are made. Learn how to prepare for business calls from a communications specialist in this free phone etiquette video.
Tracy Goodwin has a master’s in corporate communication and 10 years experience in professional speaking. Recipient of numerous public speaking awards and is a college professor of...read more
"Alright, now let's talk about making business phone calls. Now, you're thinking, "wup, so what? I'll make a call." No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not the proper way to do it. The proper way to do it is, if you need to have a business conversation with someone over the phone, you should schedule a time. You know, "I want to talk to you about XYZ at noon tomorrow. Does that work for you?" Because, otherwise, what happens is you end up with a lot of phone tag, or I just unexpectedly call you and you're walking out the door. So, if I have a specific, I know for a fact that two o'clock I have to have this call, everything is okay, and thats the way, that's the proper way to do it in business. Now, before you make that call, you really should plan a little bit, and when I'm talking about planning, I'm talking about why are you having this conversation, and what specifically do you need. There should be a purpose for the call. Be very clear on that. Another thing, when you know you're going to place the call at a certain time, you want to make sure to eliminate distractions during that time. Don't set the call at one o'clock if, for some reason, at your office at one o'clock everything gets really, really loud, or there's lots of interruptions at that particular time. Schedule it and be ready for it. That's the professional way."
eHow Article: Phone Etiquette for Preparing to Make Calls