How To Answer the Phone Professionally: Top Tips & Best Practices

Practice active listening

Active listening is when the listener pays close attention to verbal and nonverbal cues, asks clarifying questions, and avoids distractions to help them understand exactly what the speaker is trying to say. 

It sounds easy in theory. But in practice, it’s easy to lose focus or leap to inaccurate conclusions based on your own biases – all of which distorts the caller’s message. 

When you take the time to practice active listening, you’ll feel more confident in your ability to deliver excellent customer service. Which, in turn, means you’re better placed to answer the phone professionally. 

How to handle the call 📞

Remember, it only takes a few seconds to form a first impression — and those impressions tend to stick like glue. So once you pick up the phone, the pressure’s on to answer professionally. For best results, answer quickly, speak calmly and clearly, and maintain a positive tone of voice.

Answer promptly

You want callers to feel valued, not like an inconvenience. So you should strive to answer calls quickly — ideally in two or three rings. Answering calls promptly also demonstrates that you respect the caller’s time, which is another way to demonstrate your professionalism.

Speak clearly

In reality, there might be a ton of things happening in the background when a customer decides to call you. You might be filling in a bunch of complicated paperwork or paying invoices or sending an email to confirm an appointment. 

But you don’t want the caller to know about any of that stuff. Instead, you want them to feel like they’re your sole priority. 

Speaking in a calm, clear voice demonstrates that there are no distractions on your side. As an added bonus, this approach helps the caller understand what you’re saying, which reduces the need for repetition and paves the way for a successful call.

Greet the caller professionally

Sure, it sounds obvious, but one of the most important steps to answering the phone professionally is to use a professional greeting. We’ll share some effective greeting examples later in this article, but as a general rule you should:

👉 Mention your name

👉 Mention the name of your business

👉 Ask how you can help the caller

Do it in a clear, positive-sounding voice and you’ve gone a long way toward nailing your greeting 👏

Use the caller’s name

Try to make callers feel like individuals, not just another item on your to-do list. You can make this happen by referring to them by name a handful of times throughout the call. This lends the call a more personal touch, which paves the way for a positive conversation.

If you’ve already captured the caller’s details through an interactive voice response system (or similar), you can use their name from the start of the call. Generally speaking, it’s best to start by referring to them as “Mr/Mrs/Ms X” – but you can also ask permission to use their first name later in the call.

Smile while you speak

To answer phone calls professionally, you definitely don’t want to sound over-friendly. But you should also avoid coming across as sullen and disinterested.

One simple-but-effective hack is to get into the habit of smiling while you speak on the phone. It’ll naturally make you sound more upbeat, open, and positive, which can encourage the caller to adopt a similar tone.

Be positive

Similarly, avoiding negative phrases can help you sound more professional and focused on achieving successful outcomes for the caller. To give a simple example…

⛔ Don’t say: “I don’t know.”

✅ Do say: “Let me find out for you!”

At the same time, you should also take cues from the caller. If they sound angry or frustrated, you might want to dial down the positivity and strike a more neutral tone.

Avoid slang and jargon

What counts as “professional” can vary somewhat from one industry to the next. For instance, accountants and law firms tend to keep things super formal, whereas home services businesses can be (a little) more relaxed.

But whatever industry you’re in, you should definitely steer clear of using slang – it’s never professional. 

At the same time, try to avoid industry-specific buzzwords and jargon unless you’re certain that your callers are familiar with those terms too. And you should also minimize so-called filler words such as “um” and “like”. Not only do they sound unprofessional, but they also make you seem uncertain.

Be transparent

Transparent communication is another crucial element to delivering a professional customer experience over the phone. For instance, if you’re going to place the caller on hold or transfer them to a different member of your team, tell them first — and explain why you’re doing it.