What do you say when you answer the phone?

[RedLentil]

Hello there. I'm helping out a small, home-based business and the owner has children at home in their late teens and early twenties. At the moment, the phone is being answered as if you've rung a private house and it's not great for the business which is quite swishy in other ways.

So, I was wondering. What do you say when you answer the phone when you work from home? Do you have a separate work number, do you chant your business name or do you just go for a confident 'hello?

I would say my name 'Jajas speaking' or if in litigious mood 'Sarah Beenie's Laywer speaking'. That way you are at least introducing yourself if not your whole company which would be a bit of a mouthful for private calls. Alternatively have a separate business line, that's what we have .

Two lines is the answer. Cant you get two numbers for one line with different ring tones? Or did I dream that?

I'm going to ask them to do that, though I think it might cost a bit more here than in the UK. For now, I think I'll ask them to give their own names confidently because it's a bit disconcerting to ring and not know who you've got through to.

Thanks for your help.

I have caller display and so I generally know when it's a client - and I just say hello confidently.

I say my phone number.
Always have, always will. With caller ID I know who's calling often but it gives a second to think.
Have taught the kids to do it too.

Talkinpeace - I grew up in a small business and we always recited the number first too. My mum has done it for over 30 years with the same number. Now she's in Ireland more and she can't bring the number with her but she chants it automatically anyway.

That's a good idea about caller ID - I'll mention that to them. Thanks.

373 7645
moved out of that house when i was 9

I just say hello and my name, unless I've already worked out who it is from the caller display, then i'll say hi Bob in best confident tone

I think that saying your number thing sounds a bit Back to the Future. Like you should be holding a big old Bakelite phone and saying your number as 'Hammersmith 451' in a plummy accent.

I like skype though - when you can see if someone's online first, then message them and check if they're free then call. Much more civilised. Makes a phonecall seem so abrupt!

At the firm I worked for we had the MOST WONDERFUL receptionist who knew the voice of every client
she would answer the phone with the name of the firm and by the time they had drawn breath, knew who it was - we had nearly 1000 clients
I'll never be as good as Margaret so I stick with my system!

I say "Hello Mash here!" all cheerily...sometimes a cliet calls when my DC who is 2 is in the middle of a freak out...then I say "Ooh...sorry, I work from home and the nanny's sick!" or "Sorry, I sometimes work from home and my DC is having a bad day! I'll just get away from her!"

Then I run off to the end of the garden having closed the french windows...my toddler presses an angry face to glass and rages for duration of call...but we can't hear her!

Usually clients laugh at my blatantly running way from the toddler...or they ignore it...they dont care as long as my cll to them is uninterrpted. And I figure DC will forgive me shortly.

we were always taught to say the number and then who is speaking please?

TalkinPeace
foursixdoubletwoeighttwowho'sspeakingplease ...

At the moment here it's just a mad dash to reach the phone before my seven-year-old son starts shouting 'who is it? who is it?' at the person on the other end.

Once while on the phone with a tax inspector I had a howling 2 year old trying to climb my leg.
Lady on the other end started getting twichy
cos she realised that working full time and having her little one at a child minder was not what she really wanted.
mad moo!

I answer the phone with the name of my business (it helps that it's also my childhood nickname, so works fine for family members, too :) ).

I could, however, just answer with "no, this isn't Darren at the council planning office, his number is one digit different to my number, and you have dialed wrong" as that seems to be the majority of my calls at the moment

Surely if the kids are that old - they can be trained to answer properly?

I would hate to phone a business and get a dodgy 'hello' answer and for me to have to say ehhhhhhhh... is your mum there??

I just say "Hello, Whippet Surname" which is what I used to say when I worked in an office.

Most of my work calls come into my Skype phone or mobile, but the problem is that I often make calls out from my home line as it's cheaper, and then then you get people 'returning the call' on the number you dialed from.

Sometimes my 10 year old answers, and then I just laugh about it a bit and say I'm working at home, and my calls have been forwarded....

I always thought Skype would be the answer to all my problems but it has been Sh*t

TracyK - he normally answers the phone beautifully, but while we have renovations on, it's sometimes a struggle to get to the phone and he gets a bit flustered. Peace again from next week I hope.

Skype phoning definitely isn't all it could be.

From the customer point of view - I really hate it when I call a business, it's evidently the home phone, and I just get 'hello' (often with television/kids/dog/etc in the background). I particularly dislike when I then get weird reactions to asking 'is that [business]?' - usually surprise that I need to ask, like the 'hello' should have given it away.

But then I do have ishoos with telephone use.

I just say allo ?

I don't use a landline at all. All business and personal calls come in to my mobile so I can see who is calling. If it's a business call, or I'm not sure, I answer with 'Hello, crazycatlady speaking'.