Telephoning across cultures
Many people are not very confident about using the telephone in English. However, good preparation can make telephoning much easier and more effective. Then, once the call begins, speak slowly and clearly and use simple language.
Check that you understand what has been said. Repeat the most important information, look for confirmation. Ask for repetition if you think it is necessary.
Remember too that different cultures have different ways of using language. Some speak in a very literal way so it is always quite clear what they mean. Others are more indirect, using hints, suggestions and understatement (for example “not very good results” – “absolutely disastrous”) to put over their message. North America, Scandinavia, Germany and France are “explicit” countries, while the British have a reputation for not making clear exactly what they mean. One reason for this seems to be that the British use language in a more abstract way than most Americans and continental Europeans. In Britain there are also conventions of politeness and a tendency to avoid showing one’s true feelings. For example if a Dutchman says an idea is “interesting” he means that it is interesting. If an Englishman says that an idea is “interesting” you have to deduce from the way he says it whether he means it is a good idea or a bad idea.
Meanwhile, for similar reasons Japanese, Russians and Arabs – “subtle” countries -sometimes seem vague and devious to the British. If they say an idea is interesting it may be out of politeness.
The opposite of this is that plain speakers can seem rude and dominating to subtle speakers, as Americans can sound to the British – or the British to the Japanese. The British have a tendency to engage in small talk at the beginning and end of a telephone conversation. Questions about the weather, health, business in general and what one has been doing recently are all part of telephoning, laying a foundation for the true purpose of the call. At the end of the call there may well be various pleasantries, Nice talking to you. Say hello to the family (if you have met them) and Looking forward to seeing you again soon. A sharp, brief style of talking on the phone may appear unfriendly to a British partner. Not all nationalities are as keen on small talk as the British! Being aware of these differences can help in understanding people with different cultural traditions. The difficulty on the telephone is that you cannot see the body language to help you.
The Etiquette of the Telephone
Hundreds of millions of telephone calls are made every day. A high percentage are made in connection with business and of that huge number a large proportion are between individuals who have never met each other. Calls are made to gain or give information, to discuss and resolve problems, to seek and give advice, to make arrangements and to persuade the listener to take some action. Telephone calls leave no ‘footprint’ except the recollection in the minds of the parties involved of whether they were effective in meeting their objective.
Many calls are unsatisfactory, leaving one or other party feeling uneasy or irritated (or worse). Quite often the reason for this was not the content of the call but the way it was conducted – in a word, one party failed to observe the normal etiquette that most of us have come to regard as acceptable. Someone handles us badly – our hackles rise – we stop listening – we hang up in a bad temper. The sequence is only too familiar. In this chapter we explore the etiquette of the telephone, discovering that it is as often our unconscious actions which are bad manners as our more obvious errors.
Initiating a call
Like all effective business actions a telephone call needs preparation – well before you lift the handset. Imagine that you have decided to call Mr Jones, the factory manager of your main supplier, to raise a query about a consignment of material. What preparation should you do? Ask yourself the following key questions:
• Am I clear about the exact query that I’m raising and can I put it simply and clearly?
• Have I to hand all the information I might need to have a satisfactory discussion with Mr Jones?
• Is Mr Jones the most appropriate person to deal with this issue? If not, whom should I approach?
• Is this likely to be a convenient time to call Mr Jones (many managers have well-known busy periods in their schedules)?
• Do I really need to deal with this now by telephone or would some other method (for example, an exchange of faxes) be more effective?
These questions apply when the call is important or urgent from the point of view of the caller. Equally, there are circumstances in which the call is more important to the receiver (for example, when a bidder is waiting to hear the outcome of a tender) than to the caller. In these cases the responsibility of the caller is to think first about the receiver’s interest rather than his own. This is a good example of the “duty of courtesy” which businessmen owe to each other.
Good preparation is all about making the call as effective as possible, in particular by respecting the time of the receiver. By making the call you have the initiative in shaping the conversation itself. The receiver will always listen for a short time without interrupting the caller and that opportunity should be used to establish your identity and the purpose of the call clearly. It is discourteous (and generally ineffective) to waffle on for a minute or two before coming to the point. If you are speaking to someone for the first time, lack of clarity and brevity on your part may result in your being given the “double-glazing salesmen’s” treatment – a brisk ‘Not today, thank you”.