They’re easy, right? Well, they’re easy to get wrong.
How to have a really good phone call. It’s simple:
First thing, make sure you know the name of the person you’re going to speak to and the name of their company. Might seem obvious, easy to forget. Make sure you’ve got all the things that you need to know in front of you. So, that date, the time, the cost all those essential details, you don’t need to be calling them back later to check them on something which you should have done in the first place.
Secondly, have your note-taking medium of choice available. I like to use a Word document but a pen and pad might work better for you. Document all the important stuff because then the third step, really important: you’re going to email them afterwards with: ‘here’s what we discussed’, ‘these are the particular details’ ‘this is what we agreed’. You might have got it wrong, in which case they can correct you and that’s fine. But then that happens immediately. Rather than a week down the line, when you say, “oh, I thought you said the 12th of December”.
And as a last tip I would say try to have fun; have a human connection with that person. So it might be when you start off, you have a little bit of a joke and laugh. We talk about something slightly informal before getting down to business. They will remember that last moment of the phone call. So make sure that it’s light and fun and engaging, ‘great talking to you, I will do this course of action’, ‘I will speak to you tomorrow’ or ‘I will send you an email’ or ‘I will be in touch within the next few days’.
And that’s how you have a great phone call.