How to Direct Dial Their Hearts

Hundreds of people have formed impressions of you through that

little device on your desk, your bed table, your kitchen wall. And

they've never actually met you. They've never seen your smiles,

felt your frowns. They've never grasped your hand or enjoyed your

hugs. They've never read your body language or seen how you

dress. Everything they know about you came through tiny filaments, sometimes from hundreds of miles away. But they feel they

know you just from the sound of your voice. That's how powerful the telephone is.

Powerful, yes, but not always accurate. For years I dealt with

my travel agent only by phone. Rani, my faceless agent whom I'd

never met in person, got me rock-bottom prices on airfares, cars,

and hotels. But her snippy phone personality really ticked me off.

A dozen times I vowed to find another agent.

One Monday morning several years ago, I received bad news

and had to book an immediate flight home for a family emergency.

I had no time to wait in line at the airport, so I jumped in a cab

and asked the driver to wait in front of the travel agency while I

grabbed tickets and a boarding pass.

Like a lit fuse, I zipped into Rani's agency for the first time.

Seeing my frenzied rush, the woman sitting at the front desk sympathetically jumped up. She gave me a reassuring smile and asked

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how she could help me. As I blithered on about my need for an

emergency ticket, she smiled, nodded, and lunged immediately

into action. "What a terrific lady!" I thought as she printed out

the tickets.

Moments later, darting out gratefully grasping the tickets in

my fist, I called out over my shoulder, "By the way, what's your

name?"

"Leil, I'm Rani," she said. I whirled around and saw a thoroughly congenial woman with a big smile on her face waving to

wish me a safe trip. I was dumbfounded! Why had I previously

thought she was so snippy? Rani was, well, so nice.

Sitting back in the cab on the way to the airport, I figured it

all out. Rani's friendliness—her warm smile, her nods, her good

eye contact, her body language, her "I'm here for you" attitude—

were all silent signals that didn't travel through wires. I closed my

eyes and tried to remember the voice I had heard moments ago.

Yes, it was Rani's same crisp, curt pronunciation. But her friendly

body language made her seem like a different person from the

brusque agent I'd dealt with on the phone. Rani's phone personality and her demeanor in person were completely different shows.

I realized it's the same with all of us. Your personality, mine,

and everyone's could be likened to a show, a theatrical performance. You want to make sure yours is a box-office smash, not a

flop. The following ten techniques will get your phone personality rave reviews.