Most people simply don’t know how to put themselves across by telephone.

Face to face, they’re fine. They dress well, make eye contact, deploy a firm handshake, carry a snazzy briefcase or folder under their arms, present crisp business cards, and smile warmly.

Look back at this paragraph.

The person who puts himself across face to face has a lot of props on which to rely, don’t you think?

When we’re on the phone, we have to prompt ourselves to use the tools that are available to us.

Here are five tips for enhancing your telephone presence, your credibility and your overall effectiveness.

(1) Speak slowly. The tendency is to speed up when we’re nervous. When we do, we sound like undeserving amateurs.

(2) Speak clearly, enunciating your words more than you normally do. Many people are in the habit of slightly slurring their speech, which is barely permissible face to face because there, people can read our lips and interpret our gestures and facial expressions.

(3) Smile! Folks aren’t in front of you, true, but you still need to seem nice, open, and friendly to be accepted graciously.

(4) Write out your opener, the first words you plan to say. Rehearse it, off the phone, many, many times. This will make you sound professional and organized, and therefore, credible.

(5) Be prepared to deliver succinct, but meaningful messages to secretaries and to voice mail. Again, scripting these morsels helps a lot.

You don’t have to be present, in someone’s field of vision, to have telephone PRESENCE.

Implement these five tips, and you’ll be on your way to being able to come across as big as life, over the phone!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.