Great Customer Service on the Telephone

PART	III MANAGING YOURSELF

 

The most important person to manage in any telephone conversation is you. Fortunately, of all the things you manage, the thing you have the most control over is yourself. All you need to do is choose to exercise it.

If you don’t manage yourself—if you are unaware of your own voice, or you are too tired or too stressed to care—chances are slim that any call you handle will leave a positive memory with your customer or a positive “job well done” feeling with you.

Managing yourself means understanding and paying attention to the communication qualities and tone of your voice—and making a commitment to continually build on your vocal skills. It means learning how to ease the emotional labor of telephone talk by ...