If you work in a office as a receptionist, secretary or a customer service call center, you will deal with a lots and lots of phone calls. You have to deal with those calls just like the callers were sitting just in front of you, and help them in their needs, that's the reason why they are calling you, they need something from you. And with this guide you will do it the best way to satisfy your customers, and your boss eventualy. And now, the steps:

1. The phone rings, let it ring twice to give a few seconds to get ready to answer, in case you were busy with something and then pick up the phone;
2. You announce the place where you work, say your name and ask in how you can be useful to them. The "welcoming sentence" should be something like this "Good morning,this is from Company X office, it's Joan speaking, how may I help you?", just for an example;
3. Then you listen to the callers need and if you can help him/her, do so directly in a preferably short, clear and simple way;
4. If you can't help that person directly and you need to transfer the call to someone else, say to the caller that he needs to speak with another section, office, etc., and that you are going to transfer the call right away;
5. When you're going to transfer the call to another person, warn first who the caller is and the purpose of the call, and if accepted, transfer the call;
6. When the purpose of the caller has been achieved, thank him for using your company, office, etc., services, if thats the case, and then say good bye.

And now a few tips you should always have in mind:

• Smile while on the phone, it helps keep an upbeat intonation as you speak;
• Never, but never lose you temper, always keep your professional courtesy;
• be direct and simple on your sentences;
• try to keep the same tone of voice during the entire conversation, because the caller could misunderstand the way you're speaking and think you are joking with him or something, try not to vary much on your tone and keep a moderate one;
• do not use slang or jargon, or use words that you you would use with your school buddies,or mumbles like "uh huh", "um" for instance;
• be always positive on the phone, even on "bad" day;
• if you're taking notes during the call, take them immediately and acurately, ask the caller to spell it, if need of it;
• don't leave people on hold for too long, just about 30-45 seconds, then ask if the caller wishes to continue to hold or to call later;

And this is it, with all this knowledge you should improve your phone answering skills.