Telephone and Helpdesk Skills: A Guide to Professional English

If you are a non-native English speaker and make telephone calls as part of your work, then this book is for you. By applying the suggested guidelines, you will stand a much greater chance of making an effective telephone call. You will learn how to:

• prepare for a call both psychologically and from an English language point of view
• receive calls (if you work on reception)
• leave messages
• find out about another company and talk about your own company
• chase people (i.e. people who have not followed up your requests)
• deal with difficult calls and callers, and improve your telephone manner
• use the telephone while working on a help desk or helpline
• resolve language difficulties (i.e. when you cannot understand the other person's English)
• improve your pronunciation
• use resources on the Internet to improve your listening skills

The book concludes with a chapter of useful phrases. There is a brief introduction for trainers on how to teach telephone and helpdesk skills within a Business English course.

Wallwork, a native English speaker from the UK, has 25 years of experience teaching English at various IT companies in Pisa, Italy. He has published 13 books with Springer Science+Business Media.