A lot of healthcare professionals today spend some or part of their day on the telephone. Whether interacting with patients, family, other health professionals or businesses, phone calls are still an essential form of communication. With any communication, there are good ways and bad ways to conduct oneself. Learning and utilizing professional phone call etiquette can help you interact well with others and help you achieve success in your communication. Here are a few tips to practicing phone call etiquette:
- Identify yourself when making a call. Don’t assume the other person knows who is calling. If you are a business professional, make sure to also include your appropriate title.
- Be polite and address the person you are calling by name. Listen carefully to the other person.
- Don’t be afraid to ask the one you are calling to repeat themselves. It is better to hear correctly, then assume what you heard or miss necessary information.
- Do not interrupt the other person. Be patient and have an open line of communication.
- The words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ can go a long way to showing respect to your caller.
- Take notes if necessary.
- Ask to place the other person on hold if you need to check something.
- Treat your phone call like an in person conversation and be fully committed to your conversation. Don’t try to multi-task.
- End your conversation with an appropriate goodbye.
