Many people think that the first step to effective call answering is to pick up that phone as quickly as possible. It's not! It may come as a surprise, but if you think it through, it makes sense; people just don't expect their call to be answered that quickly. You may be ready to answer as soon as you hear the phone ring, but callers expect it to ring a couple of times before anyone picks up. Before two rings have passed, they are probably distracted, or even finishing off something that they were doing before they picked up the call. You don't want to start the call off with the caller feeling like they were caught out, so give them a chance to ready themselves.
Waiting for at least two rings also gives you the opportunity to prepare yourself. Cast an eye at the clock so you know whether you should be saying "good morning" or "good afternoon", remind yourself of the appropriate greeting spiel, and smile. Then you are ready to pick up the phone!
Answering too quick risks an unprepared caller, but take too long and you risk losing the call altogether. Generally speaking you should aim to answer before 6 rings have passed. Some very impatient callers may hang up before that, but most will wait at least that long. Not many will wait much longer.
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