Formal Rules And Etiquettes In Tele-conversation

First Edition, August 2009

Published By,
Malaysia Productivity Corporation

You may find it difficult to believe the above situation actually happened. But believe us, it actually did. That was one of the scenarios that we came across when we called some of office in Malaysia, either private or public sectors, while conducting our research.

It makes you wonder, how such rude people can become an asset to organisations that strive hard for excellence, or be an asset for business empire that struggles to build their business.

Whatever the reasons may be, there is always room for improvement as long as the person is willing to change his/her bad behaviour. " If there is a will, there is a way." And this is what this Guidebook is all about, instructing and guiding all members of the public on formal telephone conversation skill, with scenarios to show how etiquette is incorporated and used in real life conversations.

The target of the Guidebook is for students who wish to have an advantage when they enter the workforce, for workers who wish to stand out advance their careers, and for trainers who can use the Guidebook to help train those who are not familiar with formal telephone conversation skill

TELEPHONE ETIQUETTE :

Employer / Employee

A good head start on telephone etiquette is to observe and listen to telephone conversations between employers and employees. This is the type of telephone conversation that workers conversation that workers will likely face on a daily basis. Appropriate greeting and endings to calls help build a good rapport with callers. It also avoids giving any negative impression that you are stalling and hot attendeing to callers' enquiries.

1. Greeting

First impressions are always important and a proper greeting is the best way to ensure a good impresion with employers. The elements of an appropriate greeting are :

• identify yourself,
• give your job title/department, and
• politely ask who is on the other line, and if your workplace has a caller-ID system, you can immediately address your employer with " Good Morning, Sir/Madam" or " Good day Sir/Madam".

The most important thing is your attitude, which needs to be cheerful when answering a telephone call. A cheerful tone of voice would certainly infuse a sense of welcome to the callers and make them happy.

The first two elements are helpful in confirming that you are the person that your employer is seeking, especially if the work environment is a big office with a large number of employees and many different departments. The third element demonstrates proper respect for your employer and show s that you can handle formal conversations.
(to be continued)