Our website is undergoing enhancements. You may experience brief interruptions, and we appreciate your understanding as we improve your experience.
A phone call often gives an outsider the first (and, perhaps the only) impression of an office, a department, or an entire company.

Every employee should try to cultivate a pleasant phone manner. People should be encouraged to speak clearly and to adopt certain basic phone practices – giving the company name and their own name or department – on answering the phone.
Chapter 1

First Impressions

Picking up a phone when it rings and saying ‘yes?’ Or ‘what?’ is not good manners and doesn’t impress. Giving the name of the company or department in a voice that implies that the caller is a thorough nuisance and could not have picked a more inconvenient time to phone is clearly undesirable. Picking up the phone and continuing a conversation with someone else before deigning to speak to whoever is on the other end of the line is just rude.

The way you answer the phone reveals a great deal. It tells the caller something about the sort of people your company employs, but it may go much further than that. It will probably set the tone for the whole conversation – or at least profoundly influence it. The caller who is already in a bad mood will not be satisfied if your response is grudging or discourteous. A caller who is having difficulty obtaining information may well give up in disgust if you treat his or her call with bored distain. A caller who has something to offer that may be of benefit to your company may also hang up if it sounds from your tone of voice that you couldn’t care less.

Telephone Calls: The Ten Commandments

  1. Try to make your voice sound clear and pleasant. It should convey that you are paying attention.
  2. It helps if you smile in a friendly manner when you answer the phone. The caller can’t see you, but your demeanour will be evident in your tone of voice, and you will sound much more welcoming.
  3. You should identify who and what and possibly where you are at the moment you answer.
  4. Listen carefully to what the caller has to say to you – it can be irritating to be asked to repeat information because someone has not been listening properly.
  5. You should take special care in noting the name of the caller, the name of the person he or she wishes to speak to, and any other names that crop up during the conversation.
  6. You should be patient and tolerant on the phone. If the caller has not sufficiently prepared what he or she has to say, then you have to give them a chance to make up for that.
  7. If the caller has come through to the wrong extension, or the call isn’t for you, you shouldn’t give the impression that you think it is the caller’s fault – or anyone else’s fault, for that matter.
  8. If you have to interrupt the caller (for example to redirect them to someone who can be more helpful), then you should interrupt as politely as possible.
  9. If you promise to call back, you should keep this promise.
  10. If you promise to leave somebody a message, you should do so right away, to avoid forgetting.
Chapter 2

Telephone Lies

In almost all cases honesty is the best policy on the telephone, though the temptations to lie are enormous. A classic case is when you are acting as a buffer between the caller and someone within your office who may not wish to speak to the caller. Making a lame excuse like ‘I don’t think he/she is in the office right now’ and then cupping your hand over the receiver and hissing ‘it’s Joe Bloggs – do you want to speak to him?’ will make it perfectly apparent that you are vetting your colleague’s calls.

If you need to find out if someone is available to speak, or to ask for advice or information, put the caller on hold, so you can speak without inhibitions. Do not rely on the ineffective hand over the receiver – it muffles the sound but snatches of conversation will still be audible.

It also isn’t fair to inform the caller that you ‘won’t keep you one moment’ if you know that there is going to be a long delay in taking the call. It’s better to be truthful – waiting only makes people cross. If, however, you admit that there is going to be a long wait and suggest that you get someone at your end to call back, then you have to keep this promise.

Shunting calls to innocent colleagues simply because you don’t want to have to deal with them is a shabby trick, unfair to caller and colleagues alike.

The only telephone lie that usually works is when you say ‘I’m sorry, I’m afraid there is no one here at the moment who can help you…’. It works because the caller cannot prove that there is – whatever he or she may suspect. But it’s a lie with a limited life, as the caller will either demand ‘when will there be somebody there who can help?’ or will ring back anyway.

Chapter 3

Handling Unwanted Calls

Once it has become clear that you are dealing with an unwanted phone call, it’s tempting to slam the receiver down or wickedly pass on the call to an unsuspecting colleague. Though very understandable, both courses of action should be avoided.

Unwanted callers often ring back if cut off in full flow, and your poor colleagues will almost certainly guess who passed the call on.

Instead listen carefully to unwanted calls to establish if this is a call that should genuinely be put through to someone else. If not, you will have to attempt to bring the call to a speedy, but polite, end. The best policy is to say firmly, but politely: ‘I’m so sorry, there really isn’t anyone here who deals with problems of that nature’ and then sign off with a general and genuine-sounding mutter of regret that you are unable to help.

Chapter 4

Voicemail

This handy facility provides a 24/7 non-stop point of contact with the rest of the world. However, it can easily become a headache, especially when countless callers leave rambling messages, indecipherable numbers and pleas to call back.

Try and cut some of these problems off at the outset by recording a personalised voicemail message. This should contain the following information: your name/number/department (whatever you would normally use when answering your phone); a polite message along the lines of ‘I’m afraid I can’t come to the phone right now, but please leave your name and number and I’ll call you back’. This should at least ensure that callers who leave a message are aware that they have reached the correct person, and it may even persuade them to keep their messages short and to the point.

Of course, this works both ways, and when you reach a voicemail in a business context, you should follow the same rules. Clearly state your name and number and ask to be called back (it helps if you state a time when you will be available). If necessary, you can add a very brief, succinct sentence about the nature of your business: ‘I wonder if you could call me back about the sales projections for the first quarter’. This will alert the recipient to the information you require and will save time.

Chapter 5

Difficult Calls

From time to time tempers are lost in the world of business. Irascible calls are not unknown on the telephone, but no matter how grave the provocation, nobody should stoop to rudeness. If you are the victim of such behaviour, there are sadly no fool-proof ways of dealing with rudeness on the telephone. Prevention is always better than cure, so the first thing you have to do is make sure that you are never the cause of invective or personal remarks. If the caller starts to be uncivil, then you are entitled to point this out to him or her, and this is probably the best thing to do. It’s best not to do so snappily or waspishly, and never threateningly – there is nothing a bad-tempered caller likes better than the sniff of combat in the air.

If you’ve pointed out that you believe the caller is being rude and this hasn’t calmed him or her down, then you are at liberty to tell the caller that you are (reluctantly) going to have to put the phone down, and that you hope that it will be possible to have a reasonable conversation at another time. You should then follow through on your threat and actually put the phone down – don’t hang on to see what effect this has.

What you shouldn’t do, no matter how much you’d like to, is pass the offending caller on to someone else. If the caller is making threats, however, or is being intimidating or offensive, then you should let your boss know, or at least look for support from a colleague once the call is over. If things get out of hand you may want to record the call, but you should always tell the caller you are going to do so.

Chapter 6

Mobiles

We all have mobiles now, and some of us have dedicated business mobiles. It is inevitable that they will be used in a business context, and in most cases the same rules apply to mobiles as to business landlines.

If you’re using your phone for work, record business contacts by name, so that you will see them on your incoming caller display, and will be able to greet them in a friendly but professional manner. Do not expect your recipient to have done the same; when they answer the phone, clearly state who you are.

If you know your mobile will be used by business contacts, make sure that you have a sensible and informative voicemail message.

If you are using your mobile when outside the office, for example to explain that you are going to be late for a meeting with a client, have the courtesy to find a quiet place to make the call. An inaudible communication, interrupted by station announcements or traffic noise, will cause irritation and communicate nothing.

You will inevitably use texts in a business context: sometimes it will be to simply tell someone that you are running late for a meeting, or to give them a meeting location; on other occasions you may be sending a brief message with substantial news. Bear in mind that texts are ideal for conveying short, instant messages. Important information may need a more lengthy and nuanced explanation; if in doubt, send an email where you have more flexibility and space.

If you are sending a text to someone you don’t know, or to a business contact who may or may not have a record of your number, it is a good idea to include a sign-off at the end of your message – eg ‘Thanks, Jessica’.

© 2025 Debrett’s. All rights reserved.
Developed by BuiltByGo
magnifiercrossmenu