How To Conquer the Interruptions of the Telephone

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The telephone can be a tremendous time saver as well as a time waster. The important point is to make it your servant, not your master....you must take control, or suffer the loss of wasteful consequences.

A good recommendation is to schedule time to deal effectively with phone calls, not take them on a chance basis. The first step is avoiding the knowledge of an incoming call. Choose any of these methods that suits your personality and your work situation.

Ask your secretary to hold all your calls, then ask for a review or message slips at a time of your choosing, once or twice per day, allowing yourself time to return those which are important, or to give instructions for your secretary to handle the response.

If possible, your secretary should be located at a distance from you that you never hear the phone ring, or hear him/her talking on the phone.

3. The use of voicemail or an answering machine. The machine should be located where you cannot hear it and ringers should be silenced. You will do well to create a courteous voicemail message that simply explains that in order to work more effectively and serve each person with your attention undivided, you will return phone calls between 10:00 and 11:00 A.M. And 3:00 to 4:00 P.M. It is also wise to encourage callers to contact you via email. Of course, you check email no more often than twice daily, just before or after you handle your phone calls.

Customer service and order taking should be very responsive. Farm this phone task out to a company which that charges per minute and specializes in these areas, such as:

1. Direct Connect at 402-758-1200 follow the instructions to speak to Jim Buck

2. Live Ops at www.liveops.com works through home based reps for lower cost

3.West Teleservices www.west.com big player

4. InPulse at www.inpulseresponse.com Offers all services necessary to put together a complete direct marketing campaign and handle responses.

Establish a second phone number (I use a pre-paid cell phone) that you share with certain special people...those you can trust to call only for important business, who will not call just to "see what you are doing", or for personal reasons. This allows the few truly important calls to get through to you directly. Most of my friends, associates and customers do not know the number for my cell phone. For those important calls that do get through at times other than your scheduled phone time, be courteous, efficient and businesslike.

It is best to not answer in a social manner like "Hi, John, how are you?" Get to the point: "Hi, John, I'm glad you called; what can I do for you today?

If John strays off course, you might say: "John, I'm having a really busy day and I have a meeting/phone call to make in three/five minutes. How can I help you?"

If John is really, really chatty, you might say: "John, it was great to hear from you, but I am late for a meeting/appointment/phone call, I've really got to go."

Summary:

1. Distance yourself from the phone or turn it off

2. Delegate: give your secretary specific instructions and leave the phone to him or her. Then get a report at your scheduled phone time

3.Establish a special "urgent" line. Give this number to a few select people you can trust to respect your time.

4. When you must get on the phone, or if a call slips through your defenses, be businesslike, direct and to the point. Determine the purpose and scope of any call before you answer or return it, then take care of business and bring the matter to a swift conslusion.

5. Encourage all who may contact you to use email instead. You can then better prepare your responses and be more effective in the use of your communication time.

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