For most home based business people, the first contact with potential clients is by telephone. This initial contact can either make or break your reputation as a serious businessperson. The following tips will help you present your home based business in a professional manner:

• Install a dedicated telephone line in your home to be used for business calls only. If this is not feasible or is cost prohibitive, talk to your service provider about obtaining a “smart ring” on your line. This feature will give you a separate phone number for business purposes only and will have a distinctive ring, which will become easily recognized as a call intended for business purposes only.

• Always answer the telephone by identifying your business. Speak in a professional, clear manner. Try to smile when you are speaking with clients; it’s amazing how a bad mood can be transmitted through your voice. A happy, upbeat reception will immediately put others at ease, thereby opening the door for you to promote your business.

• It is not a good idea to have children answer the phone unless they have been fully trained to do so and can appreciate the subtleties of telephone communication.

• Keep background noise to a minimum. Close the door to your office to shut out extraneous babble and remember lower the volume on the radio before you take a call.

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