Your Brand Is How You Answer The Phone

This is a telephone. You might be shocked at how many people do not know how to use it.

In our business, we call a lot of potential clients. We make a lot of networking calls, and in the first couple of seconds of those calls we can almost always predict whether a business has what it take to be successful. Because if you're lazy in how you answer the phone, you are also lazy in other areas of running your business.

Your brand is how you answer the phone. First impressions are crazy important, and it is surprising how many businesses throw that first impression away. There are a lot of things we can't control in business (market trends, competitor pricing, production issues, weather, local laws etc.) But it is unforgivable to slip on the things we CAN control.

These are all ways that actual businesses in Toronto answered the phone recently when we called them:

"Hello"

"Yeah"

"Hi"

"Uh huh"

"What"

Every single one of these greetings is woefully lame. Even "Hello". Telephone greetings at a place of business should be friendly, pleasant and professional. It should sound like you have phoned a place of business. It should NOT sound like you have phoned your cousin Lenny.

And above all...your telephone greeting should include your company name (for example: "Good morning, this is Gertie's Hernia Belts. How may I help you today?").

When clients tell us their advertising isn't working, one of the first things we do is phone their customer service line, or we phone their store directly. It is extremely common to find out that their customer service people are not speaking to, and greeting, their customers in a polite, respectful, pleasant way. People are quick to blame poor sales on market conditions. But often, the problem lies in how they present their company to their potential paying customers.

Good business starts with first impressions. Being professional is one of the easiest ways you can help your business. And it can all start with how you answer the phone.

Image 2018 Joe Middleton