Do Business Well

‘For people who like peace and quiet:a phoneless cord.’

When you are feeling anxious, the tension can come through in your voice and create problems for you on the phone. Research shows that an anxious man sounds elderly, inflexible, irritable and bad-tempered. Tense women can be judged to be irrational,emotional and unstable.

You can rid yourself of tension before phoning by relaxing yourmind and your muscles. Take a deep breath, tighten up all over, clench your fists and toes, stretch your legs and hold for a slowcount of five.

Relax and breathe out for a count of five. Take another deepbreath, hold for a count of five, breathe out and relax. Make sure your teeth are unclenched by putting your tongue against theback of your top front teeth.

Continue to breathe quietly: five seconds in and five secondsout. Feel a deep, calm relaxation flowing through your whole body. Concentrate on your breathing in for five and then out for five. Soothe yourself by picturing yourself doing something relaxing that you love doing.

Above all else, when making your call, care about the person onthe other end. Be polite and respectful. Always keep in mind the four types of professionals with whom you may be dealing. Avoid wasting the other person’s time or, on the other hand, not spending enough time for the other individual to feel comfortable with you.

Staying in control

‘Experience teaches you to recognise amistake when you have made it again.’

There are powerful ways of staying in control of a call. One way to sound more authoritative is to stand up while phoning. When you stand up, your whole system is more aroused and alert, your sense of power is heightened and your mind is sharpened. A smile will make you sound affirmative, bright and happy.

Smiling is a good tactic to use when you are talking to Aspirers, who can seem intimidating by the rapidity and brusqueness of their speech. Conversely, not smiling can make you sound flat, dull and tired — not at all a pleasure to talk to.

On the other hand, if you’re after an appointment to sell a holiday in the sun and you want to sound relaxed and casual, there is no harm in lounging back in your chair and chatting to an Admirer or an Inspirer as though you were sitting on the beach.

Effective listening

‘If the phone doesn’t ring, it’s me.’

Earlier we looked at design techniques and saw that it was important to position your copy either on the left- or right-hand side of the page in order to send the desired message to the reader. Similarly, it makes a difference whether you listen to a caller with your right ear or your left, believe it or not!

Listen with your right ear to evaluate complicated facts because the right ear communicates with the cool, analytical, left side of the brain.

Right-ear listening is helpful when you speak with an Aspirer or an Enquirer to understand information correctly and respond logically.

To listen sympathetically, hold the phone to your left ear. This transmits information to the right side of the brain, the hemisphere of intuition, imagination and creativity.

By increasing sensitivity to unspoken emotions, left-ear listening enhances empathy. Admirers and Inspirers generally listen with their left ears, and you should listen to them with your left ear because they are attuned to emotions.

There are two main barriers to effective listening. The first is distraction: doing two complicated tasks at the same time, such as reading while you are taking a call.

Decide on your priorities. If the memo is more urgent, read it before you pick up the phone, otherwise you will listen only to the first few words and then concentrate on the reading.

The second barrier is dismissive listening, which occurs when someone has a problem and, because we are not pleased with what we are hearing, we want to interrupt. To avoid this, attend not only to the spoken words but also to those left unsaid. Say as little as possible while you are listening. Encourage the other person to continue. Murmur phrases like ‘I see’, ‘I understand’, ‘That’s interesting’ or ‘Do tell me more.’ Thus, the speaker feels welcome to speak freely.

Keep your feelings to yourself for the moment. Don’t get angryand dismiss what the person is saying by responding too soon. Wait until you’ve heard everything; take notes and pinpoint the critical issues.

Then come back calmly and quietly when you’ve both had achance to get to the root of the problem. The right time to express your side of the argument is after you’ve listened long enough to understand the other person’s problem exactly. Don’t take the issue personally. You are only sorry about it; you didn’t cause it.

As a case in point, IMCOR in New York upgraded its computers. After a few days’ use, they crashed, causing a great deal of distress and loss of updated documents.

Unknowingly, I happily returned what I thought was the most recent version. My editor’s phone call to me made it very clear that a great deal of her editing had not been done and she was justifiably upset. In the old days I would have become defensive and upset, too. This time I just murmured along and agreed that it was an incredible waste of her time and hard work.

Later I found out what had happened and we were able to discuss it amicably. I was sorry about it, but I didn’t cause it.

A good aid to effective listening is to check your understanding by feeding back key points at suitable moments. Say, ‘So you’re suggesting that…’ or ‘Then we agree that…’ Checking important points prevents much wasted effort and encourages you to take good notes as the conversation proceeds.

Head your notes with the date and time of the call and the caller’s name, phone number, title and company. This way you have a record of what went on by doing no more than stapling your notes together and putting them into your file.

Take time to write a letter or memo that confirms your understanding of the discussion and what you have both agreed to do next. Mail, fax or deliver it as soon as you can after the discussion. The longer you wait, the less the recipients trust your notes as their memories have gone dim, too.

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