Eliminating Long Calls

[JFrenzel]

Ok,

So my biggest distraction is long ass phone calls. Ugh, they drain you from head to shoe. I have this one friend that always seems to have an "emergency." I respect and acknowledge that things come up but I do not approve of people involving each and every one of their personal problems on their amigos. Starting this week I am going to do the following: 5 min phone calls with any friends that I see on a regular basis. Clients get the 10 min mark. This may sound harsh but I want to see what some of these conversations sound like when they have limited time to get to the point. Anyhow, has anybody here used a similar tactic? Thoughts?


Best

Jose:D

[kamakiri]

Wow. I can't imagine spending that much time on the phone. I am finally breaking my habit of answering ever call now. I find that the fewer calls I answer, the more the people calling tend to not need to talk to me. I have trained them to solve problems themselves.

I have also trained myself to forget everything, and I tell people that in advance (repeatedly). I also mention in the same breath that they need to write something down for me to act on it, or it will not get done/answered/addressed.

If a buddy wants to shoot the breeze, that is great and all, but have no qualms about cutting them off. Tell them you need to go see a man about a Wallaby, anything to get off the phone. Tell your clients that if they need a specific problem addressed to drop you an email about it.

It is also easier to address written problems, because the person sending the email actually has to think about the problem before writing about it, instead of just calling with a case of diarrhea of the mouth. Here again, the more they have to write out the problem the more often they find a solution themselves, making your work load even lighter and freeing up even more time.

[JFrenzel]

I like those thoughts Chris. I am going to start doing this with clients and friends(having them write all things out first). I think writing/typing has a very powerful effect on the brain.


Jose

[read]

I've had a battle with phone calls myself. What I've finally done is put my phone to go straight to voicemail. Usually, when I see that I've had a call I'll listen to the message, then decide when I'm ready to call back. I know this is a little annoying for those calling me, but it's helped me focus and not be frustrated by constant (and potentially long) interruptions. I have a hard time getting folks off the phone. It's not their fault. I just tend to be too accommodating...

[kamakiri]

Wow, I hate voice mail even more than talking on the phone. I specifically tell people who call me often to never leave a message. 90% of the message I get are of the, "I called, call me back version.", and my phone tells me who called anyway so they are pretty redundant.

I just ignore the call if I am busy.

[JFrenzel]

Damn, that is sooooo damn true. Geez you nailed it. I hate listening to my voicemail and it' somebody saying "hey what's up." Add that to my new list of phone avoidance tactics.


Chris your advice stems up with that of Tim's. I am not one to say things like that, but really you have some sound advice.

Cheers

Jose

[Stallion]

I don't see how you could have a long conversation unless you're rehasing years of your life ot a friend you haven't seen since high school.

I think if you can't sum up a problem in one sentence, you probably need to go figure out what the problem is than.

When they figure out the problem in one sentence, than they can email it lol.

[camdengirl]

There's two elements to this - friends and business.

For friends, everyone knows I will not take personal calls during work hours. They just don't get answered. I also make sure I speak to the people I want to speak to enough so that they don't feel abandoned. For others, hey, there's a REASON I didn't call you back.

For business, the girls have a very strict policy on putting calls thru to me. Unless the person will tell them exactly WHY they are calling, I won't take the call. They filter out any friends/family, sales calls or things they can deal with this way. If I've said I don't want to be disturbed the girls will transcribe whatever the situation is into an email which I'll check at the end of the day. I find that usually by that point most urgent stuff has been resolved anyway!!!

[dking]

Why not just set up a time based redirect with a white list?

[Crickwat]

You have made a wise decision. I try my best to avoid long calls. Unless if it is a friend calling after a long time. Your idea of giving more time to office clients and less to the other callers is very good. I will try implementing this. :)