By Ed Morrow
Your cell phone usage can enhance your “service image” and also “emphasize privacy” but also has the potential to subtly insult your client.
Have you ever been in a meeting and had the person you were talking with getting a lot of calls? Each time they reached for their cell phone to see the caller, they were deciding “Who is Most Important – you or their caller?”
One financial consultant, who is really very busy and receives lots of calls, makes an issue of this. As he starts a session with a client or prospect, he says, “Excuse me” and dictates the following message into his phone: “This is Jackson Jones. I’m entering an important meeting with a client and can’t take your call. Please leave me a message, or call my assistant, Gloria Bennett at ###-###-####.”
Sometimes the meeting is not with a client, but with a prospect or an important supplier, but the result is that he has just complimented the other party by elevating their importance.
As cell phones get smaller and more powerful, the importance of effective phone courtesy gets larger. You can increase your phone power with just a bit of forethought…