SIGN OF INEFFICIENCY

Evening Star, Issue 22685, 26 June 1937, Page 1

SIGN OF INEFFICIENCY

BAS TELEPHONE MANNERS Hare you the right attitude to your work ? You must not. only know you* job but you must convey the impression to other people that you know it. A calm,- quiet efficiency will win you the respect of your colleague* and inevitable promotion (states n writer in' the ‘ Cape Times Your manner on the telephone ia important. Many young people leaving school and going into businesa have a lamentable ignorance of telephone technique. The result is that business " firms who employ these juniors with bad telephone manner* often give a first impression of inefficiency to the.caller, who. may b« an-important customer or a prospective client. Judging by the number and character of the complaints on« hears on this score,' many firms in. this country are losing business through delay resulting from th« inefficient handling of the telephone. Initial clumsiness in the taking down of business messages, however, is more excusable than rudeness. With the remote and impersonal character of telephone conversations people ara only too apt to give way to irritation. Your chief will appreciate you if you 'make it a rule to ask him as few questions as you possibly can. When it is a matter of tracing somebody in a distant part of the building, don’t ask the boss to tell you how to get there —find out for yourself.