After he has found out who a caller is，John usually takes a few moments to talk personally before he gets to business.This is called friendly conversation.John has learned that customers like it if he takes a few moments to show he is interested in them.
"Each customer is a separate person.Each person likes to be recognized as an individual，to know you are interested in him or her."
When he meets somebody new on the telephone，John talks or asks questions about simple things.Then he remembers the answers and asks questions about what he was told when the person calls again.
For example，if it is sunny，warm Friday，John may say he hopes the weather will stay nice for the weekend.The other person may then tell John about what he or she is planning to do over the weekend.Then，when John talks to the same person the following week，he will try to remember to ask，"Did you have a good time last weekend？"
John learns a lot about his company’s customers in this way.He is able to win their confidence by knowing them.Even though he has never seen many of the people he talks to，he has become friendly with most of them.This is important in giving service to customers.Customers have confidence in people they know.The customers know John.And John knows most of his company's customers.
When he gets down to business in talking to customers，John is very careful about his speech.He is careful to pronounce all words clearly.He is especially careful about pronouncing names and numbers.When customers give John their names for an order，he always asks them for the correct spelling.John always repeats the names and numbers he writes and asks the customers to verify them-to listen and to be sure all the information is correct.