Posted on June 29, 2012 by Stephan Wiedner

I hate spammers and telemarketers as much as the next guy. But when you’re picking up your business phone, you should answer it with a little less annoyance. You never know, the next caller might be a prospective client, someone that may want to partner with you, or better yet Oprah frickin’ Winfrey.

Ayla Wallbank, our revered customer service expert points out that “There’s a huge difference between ‘Who’s this?’ and ‘May I ask who’s calling?’”

Ayla would know because she is frequently calling coaches as part of her regular duties. She says it’s amazing how many coaches answer the phone in an unfriendly and cold manner. If I was a client who was looking for a coach, and they started off with that, I would be turned off.

While we’re on the topic, here’s a few more pieces of advice regarding your phone.

1. Answer the phone like Oprah’s calling
Not recognizing a phone number on call display is no excuse. With the growing popularity of Google Voice and Skype anyone can have an unrecognizable number. Maybe even Oprah.

2. Answer the phone
Yes, this seems obvious but far too many coaches don’t answer their phone, ever. We know that clients are likely to hire the first coach they speak to so getting that person on the phone is crucial – especially if you are still growing your business. With call forwarding services, cell phones, and virtual assistants, it’s easy to be available most of time. If answering the phone cuts into your lifestyle or is too much of an annoyance, then consider getting a job instead of building a business.

3. Advertise your phone number
For some reason, a small number of coaches don’t display their phone number or they write “phone number available upon request”. What?! That’s crazy. You should prominently display your phone number on your website or Noomii profile. We’ve had dozens of user testers come into the office and give us their impressions of the website. Many of them assume that coaches that don’t display their phone number are not serious and not worthy of their business. I think they’re right.

4. Get a separate business line
It just doesn’t look good if your kid answers the phone, puts it down and then yells “Mom/Dad, it’s for you!”

5. Record a professional greeting
There’s nothing worse than “Hi, you’ve reached Mike, Jane, Suzie, Tim, and of course, Little Rufus woof woof. Leave a message.”

6. Consider a toll free number
They are so cheap now that it doesn’t hurt to have a toll free number available for clients that are calling from out of state. I’m not totally sold on this one because the ICF and the data we have suggests that people prefer a local coach. Having a local number reinforces your local presence so instead of replacing your local number with a toll free number, show both numbers.

7. Keep your phone number up to date
Whether it’s on noomii, your personal website, forums, whatever. If you’re advertising your coaching and someone calls and gets “this number is no longer in service”, you’ve just lost a client – they’re not going to try and hunt down another number for you. If you’re no longer coaching, do us a favor and remove your profile.

Any other phone tips for coaches? Please leave your comments below.