Make the Most Abused Tool in Any Office, the Telephone - An Assest rather Than a Liability!

It may seem odd, but "the" most abused business tool in use today is....The Telephone! Yes, the telephone. Whether it's on the corporate side with endless commands, "Dial one for English, two for Spanish, three for customer service, four for sales" the list really does go on and on. Or home use with cute yet time-wasting answering machines that tell us everything from, "You know who you are so leave a message" to " I'm not here right now but I will be back later. If you would like, please leave a message," etc., etc., etc.!

Or you are talking to someone on the phone and you know, yes you know that they are not listening to you at all. It's all just rude. So, what do we do to help break this habit of poor phone use? Well, we clean up our own phone manners and start a trend.

There are three basic skills that are critical to effective telephone use: listening, questioning and speaking. We are going to look at one of these three, listening Believe it or not, listening is NOT the same as hearing. Hearing is really just a physical ability that requires no intellectual effort. Listening on the other hand is an active process that demands both hearing and thinking. Too often when we are on the phone we are ready to talk and are so focused on talking that we fail to listen. This can be a real problem in both our personal and our business lives. If you don't listen you may misunderstand what the other person is saying. You may jump to conclusions without knowing all the facts; you may appear to be rushing the other person by cutting off their end of the conversation; you may fail to understand what they are trying to say.

The problems caused by not listening are numerous. But what to do? Here are six quick tips to help you better listen when you are on the telephone.

First, try listening for understanding. Do this by concentrating on what the other person is saying and repeat the important points to your self.

Second, verify what you think you heard. Paraphrase back to the caller what they have said to make sure you have understood.

Third, listen for expression. Note the mood of the speaker. Their mood may be just as revealing as their words.
Fourth, listen for omissions. Notice what is not being said. This may tell you much more than the words used.

Fifth, keep an open mind when listening. Don't anticipate what the caller will say next or prepare what you are going to say before they have completed talking.

And sixth, keep involved in the conversation. Don't let your mind wonder!

All of this takes practice but it will help with your use of the telephone.

For further information on how to properly use the telephone log on to http://www.jwavideo.com