The telephone is probably still the most widely used form of technology for personal and business communication, though email is quickly catching up. The telephone portrays an image of a person through the tone and inflections of the voice. Skilled telephone communicators are aware of the importance of these vocal sounds and how they impact the words that they convey. Unlike the oratory of speeches and the monologues of advertisements, telephone communication takes more than just speaking skills. Listening skills are every bit as important with this talk technology. Telemarketing companies that sell goods and services over the telephone are highly cognizant of the importance of voice tone, inflections, and listening qualities of the telemarketers they hire to interact with customers and potential customers. Carefully planned scripts are written with instructions for emphasis on certain words and phrases with pauses in just the right places for feedback and selling signals from the person on the other end who is being marketed.

The telephone is the means of communication for many a help desk where 'techies' walk computer users through a myriad of technical problems. The best and most successful help desk teams are trained thoroughly in the art of telephone communication. When so many companies are outsourced now, and foreign departments are helping people with problems in countries outside their own, and all over the world, many clients of companies who have outsourced their help desks are losing customers because of service that is sub-par. It isn't that the foreign workers on help desks are less capable or less knowledgeable, but their inability to effectively communicate because of a language barrier causes misunderstanding and further frustration when customers may already be agitated because of a problem they are experiencing it is necessary to make a. The last thing they need is a communication problem. Companies using foreign help desks may want to reconsider how much, if any, money they are really saving by hiring offshore.

On a last note regarding telephone communication, it is important to remember that what can't be seen may still be heard. Even though facial expressions cannot be seen, except with the most advanced video/phone technology, in regular telephone communication, the person is not seen by the other party, yet the best telemarketers will smile when speaking to a customer just as they would in an in person conversation because the tone of voice tends to correspond with the attitude of the speaker, and it can be instinctively evident to the listener that the speaker is smiling though not visibly evident. Good telephone communication, along with a good communication plan and a good communicator can be an awesome recipe for exceeding the loftiest marketing goals.