March 4th 2009

Common sense phone etiquette

Have you ever been in a restaurant in the evening with your spouse and wanted to enjoy an evening of togetherness?

Now right next to you; you see another couple where one of the parties is on the phone the entire night. Any thoughts to that?!

Maybe I am very old fashioned, but when I am with my clients, friend or family at breakfast, lunch, dinner or in a meeting my phone is silent. Any call that comes in during that time has to wait until I am done and my FULL attention is focused on the person(s) and task in front of me and everything else will have to wait until we are done.

It is not only very inconsiderate to the person that you are with at the time, especially when you are planning on doing business with them, but also to the person you talk to on the other end of the phone.

Here are some tips on avoiding phone interruptions during meetings.

• Turn your phone on silent
• Let your office know that you are in a very important meeting and let them take a message as for you.
• Have your Voice messages emailed or texted to you
• Change your phone message to reflect that you are in a meeting and that you will get back with the person with in a set time frame.
• Have a set time when you have meetings, answering calls back and do other work

I have more tips but my main basic tip is; Don’t take phone calls while you are in a meeting.

Bettina Settles