Tommy Kramer Coaching Tip #574: The Best Phone Call Tip

Music format or Talk format – it doesn’t matter. There’s a real art to creating a phone call “culture” – which I’ve written some about before. But the actual taking of a phone call (or airing one live) can often be messed up in the first few seconds.

Here’s how to avoid that, in two easy steps:

Greet (or bring on) the caller.
Then SHUT UP.

From that beginning, you can then move on to wherever the call needs to go.

Here’s why I recommend this – most phone calls go awry when I can’t hear what the caller is saying. Two people talking at the same time (or one being buried by the phone interface) is unlistenable.

Note: I strongly urge shows in music formats to always tape and edit phone calls before they get on the air.

For Talk formats, live calls are even more likely to suffer when there’s talkover. Be Patient. A second or two of dead air won’t matter if the call is good.