TIP 70
LEVERAGE THE TELEPHONE
When the telephone rings, it is against the law not to answer it.
There are a number of ways that you can leverage the telephone to your advantage. First, put a 10-minute limit on phone calls. Long, drawn-out phone conversations become tiresome very quickly. Always try to end the phone conversation first, and do so gracefully. For example, you can say, “It’s been a real pleasure speaking with you.” By keeping your phone calls short, friendly, and focused, you will develop a reputation for being a professional whose time is valuable. This goes for personal calls too. If you end the call first, people will be left wanting more of you and will look forward to the next call.
Most folks have short attention spans, and if they know you have a tendency to talk a lot, they will tune you out. They may start doing something else while they are on the phone with you. If you keep your conversations laserlike, you’ll get and keep their attention. As a bonus, you’ll create extra time. You may want to make exceptions to the 10-minute rule for calls to your parents, significant others, and special friends. However, as much as you may enjoy them, all those phone calls will devour your time before you’ve realized it. Let your friends know the best time to call you. Pick a time when you aren’t going to be focused on some other activity so that when they do call, you won’t feel interrupted and can enjoy them.
One client realized that every time a friend called her after 9 p.m. she’d be annoyed, resenting the intrusion on her personal time. I asked her if she had informed her friends and family not to call her after 9 p.m., and she said she hadn’t, assuming they would sense that by her stony silence or the irritation in her voice. I requested that she start letting her friends know not to call after 9 p.m. unless it was a real emergency (Tip 6). All of her friends were happy to comply with this simple request. Let people know when it is a good time to call and when not to. One senior executive takes this tip from phone to e-mail and writes on the bottom of each e-mail when he is typically available for calls. This prevents him from being interrupted throughout the day, enabling him to focus on projects that enhance the company’s profits.
Another way to leverage your telephone is to take advantage of voice mail, instead of letting the phone run your life. Deborah, a high-level real estate executive, works in an office with an open-door policy. She has a private office, but keeps the door open so anyone can interrupt her at any time. She also believed that it made more sense to answer the phone when it rang and handle the call on the spot than it did to call back later and risk missing the person and playing phone tag. On a typical day she would get to work at 8:30 a.m. and leave at 7:00 or 7:30 p.m. Needless to say, she felt like a mashed potato when she finally got home from work. When I asked her when she got the most work done, she admitted that it was in the evenings. It hadn’t occurred to her that this was when the phone had stopped ringing. All day long she got nothing accomplished because she was busy answering the phone (she even has a secretary, but didn’t use her to screen calls). Now Deborah sets aside two hours a day, from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon, to get some serious work done. She unplugs her phone and uses voice mail. She shuts her office door, and the secretary tells would-be interrupters that she is working on a project and will be available at noon. Deborah is leveraging her secretary, her private office, and her voice mail to her advantage.
Don’t be afraid to use your voice mail and answering machine to screen calls. Now Deborah gets out of work at 5:30 p.m. and feels like she has actually accomplished something for a change. With the extra time, she has started an exercise program with a personal trainer at the gym and has the energy to go out with friends in the evening. Thanks to her increased productivity, she got a bigger bonus than ever this year. She is also more relaxed in general and has attracted a man into her life. Use the phone as a tool to increase, not decrease, your effectiveness.