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First, I hope you understand that my job is to help you learn to re-arrange your work systems to enable you to get more done in less time. For that reason, you will find my articles to be short, to the point and without frills. You don't have time to waste reading a bunch of excess fluff...you just need to learn what to do to get more done in less time. If you do not fully understand, or just need more information, just go to my web site and fill out the contact form and ask your question in the comments section. 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. You need to schedule time to deal effectively with phone calls, not take them on a chance basis, at the caller's convenience. Step one is avoiding the knowledge of an incoming call. Choose a method 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. It is best if your secretary should be located far enough from you that you never hear the phone ring, or hear him/her the conversations. 3. Use voicemail or an answering machine. It should be located where you cannot hear it and phones should be turned off. Your machine can offer a courteous voicemail message that simply explains that in order to work better and serve each person with undivided attention, you return phone calls between 10:00 and 11:00 A.M. And 3:00 to 4:00 P.M., for example. It's also a good idea to encourage the caller to contact you using email. Of course, you check email no more often than twice daily, just before or after you handle your phone calls would be a good time. 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. Jim Buck at Direct Connect at 402-758-1200. Just follow the voice mail instructions to speak to Jim 2. Live Ops at www.liveops.com works through home based reps for lower cost 3.West Teleservices www.west.com. This is a big company. 4. InPulse can be found at www.inpulseresponse.com All the services to put together a direct marketing campaign and handle the response. 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 gets chatty you might say: "John, it's a really busy day and I have an appointment/meeting/phone call to make in three/five minutes. How can I help you?" If John is really, really off topic, you might say: "John, it was was really wonderful to hear from you, but I am late for a phone call, I've really got to get with it." By way of review: 1. Turn off the phone's ringer to and keep your distance, avoiding its distractions. 2. Give your secretary clear instructions and let her handle the phone work. Ask for a report at your predesignated time 3.Establish a special line for emergencies, etc. Give this number only to the people you can trust to respect your need to stay focused. 4. When you must get on the phone, or if a call slips through to you, be businesslike, direct and to the point. Know the purpose and scope of a call before you answer or return a call, then take care of business and get off. 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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Sgt Carpenter has taught many Marines and soldiers how to accomplish more in less time. You too can learn to work less and accomplish more Don't reprint the same version as everyone else. Get your own unique content time management article here.
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