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Make perfect use of your telephone

by Doctor Marshall

Telephones

. Communications is one of the fastest moving technologies in business. The advance in mobile telecommunications is one that is both well known and well documented, however sometimes the humble telephone is forgotten about. The telephone has seen advances of its own though, and with the many features that are available you should carefully consider what is relevant to your business requirements. Every business needs telephones regardless of the industry; communication with customers and other businesses is the most fundamental aspect to your survival.

Know who you’re speaking to.

Caller ID gives you the ability to know who’s calling before you even pick up the phone. It can be very useful to know whether you are talking to a potential customer or to a member of the family.

Voicemail – your personal secretary.

Nobody can be available to answer his or her phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Voicemail or mailboxes will be familiar to those who regularly use cellular phones and act similarly to a personal secretary, answering your phone for you and taking a message. You should always return the call as soon as possible and preferably with an answer to any request or confirmation of any details required.

Wrong department? No problem.

Call forwarding, sometimes known as group transfer, allows you to forward a call to another desk within your business. This is a preferable option to asking a prospective client to ring another number. It may only seem a minor inconvenience to you but to the caller it is bad customer care and it will be remembered. Another use of call forwarding is to reroute your office phone to your home phone or to your cellular phone. By doing this you can answer your office phone even when you aren’t in the office.

Speaker or hands free.

Another function that the cellular phone user will know all about. This gives you the capacity to speak to a caller while looking through a file or performing another task. You can also involve other people in your call. The headset is used more often for ease of multitasking and conference calling has become standard practice for three or more way calls. The speakerphone can be considered irritating by those around you so use it sparingly and considerately.

Conference call.

The conference call allows three people or more to partake in a phone call. This is ideal if you are all situated in different locations. If conducting a conference call you should use people’s names on a much more regular basis to avoid confusion and to allow the call to run smoothly.

For all the advances the modern office environment has seen the telephone is one of the oldest and most widely used office accessories available. Technology has, however, seen the possible uses of the telephone increase greatly. These improvements do not look set to stop as telephone providers try to outdo one another and gain an upper hand in the marketplace. The business is the one sure place that will benefit from this increase in competition.

The contents of this page are Copyright © 2006, Doctor Marshall - All Rights Reserved. Copyright stored at the Library of Congress in the United States of America. This page is taken from Doctor Marshalls Book: The Red Handbook for Business on the Internet.

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