Have you ever had an experience where you realized you didn’t quite hang up the phone with the customer, coworker, friend, etc or the dreaded accidental call where the recipient can hear what you’re saying! You’re completely oblivious until you either realize you’re being heard, the person calls you back or a manager advises you. I recently had an encounter where a business reached out to me to offer their services and writing a 4 page article on me and my business. The person left me a voicemail and unbeknownst to him, he didn’t disconnect the call properly. So I listened to the voicemail and learned quite a bit from this 1 minute and 32 second voicemail.

1. The Person Was a Trainee and "Helpful" Colleague Made it Worse

The trainee started out great with his initial pitch advising who he was, who he represented, and why he  was calling. Then it started to go south a bit because his colleague could be heard in the background trying to give him pointers of what to say and not to say. The poor trainee then got very rattled, stumbled on his words and inadvertently forgot to hang up the phone.

My first bit of advice: Let a trainee complete the entire call and then provide coaching after the call.

2. The Trainee Seemed Like a Genuinely Nice Person

Obviously when the trainee was giving his pitch, he sounded courteous and nice but what was he like when he didn’t know he was being recorded? He actually seemed like a really nice person and was thankful to his coworker for pointing out the error. I could tell he was writing notes on improving his pitch and incorporating the feedback. So he was nice, respectful and receptive to feedback. He seemed like a team player and someone you’d want on your team.

Second bit of advice: Be the same when you’re knowingly on the phone and off the phone. Nice job to the trainee!

3. The Trainee Dropped a couple of S and F bombs

So here is where it went a bit south and problematic for me. I know the trainee was flustered and trying to get his thoughts on track however using profanity near phones is problematic. Not only is it problematic near your own phone but also for other coworkers since customers may hear others in the background. I’m pretty sure the trainee realized near the end that he was still on the phone because he said, “Hello?”. Then there was a pause and then it was a panicky, “What the @#$%?” Needless to say, not good to hear profanity on a voicemail to a potential customer or anyone for that matter. 

Third bit of advice: Don’t use profanity at the job since coworkers and customers can potentially hear you.

Did I find the whole mishap funny? Yes I did! However, there were several coachable moments in this short voicemail that could be used to help improve their operation. As a potential customer, do I feel confident in their company? Not really. So this incident cost them a potential customer. The moral of the story is to be mindful of what we say at the workplace regardless if we are on or off the phone, on a break, in a meeting or anywhere since we don’t know who can hear you.