cell phones and driving ?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. My view is one of the business professional using the phone for conducting business. I feel this falls under the broader umbrella of a cell phone etiquette issue, but that's a topic for another day. But lets just say cell phone etiquette needs to evolve.

A. I have resisted giving out my cell phone number to customers, suppliers and various other people who I have a reason to talk to as I conduct my business. I'm not sure how typical this is but I believe I am probably in the minority on this. But it works to cut down on the number of incoming calls, many of which can wait until I am back at the office or I am not driving and have a chance to call in to get my voice mail. I have to believe that a lot of the conversations business people are involved in while driving could wait until a more reasonable time, i.e. while not driving. I make time to call people before I drive. You probably can't hope to have it always work out. But if I leave a customer meeting and feel the need to call someone to maybe get a ball rolling or whatever, I try and do it in my car but before I roll off. Now a lot of folks will be late for that next meeting and will make the call when they are back on the road. But in general you should try and make the call before you drive off. At least people should have it in their mind to decide to call while sitting there if they can. I don't think many people think about this and just use the convenience of driving and talking. Secretaries/receptionists. I believe that business people should use such a person to assist them. This seems to be a dying trend with automatic phone systems and voice mail and cell phones/pagers. But a live person can do a lot in determining the nature of the call. If it is non emergency they can just say that the person is out and offer them voice mail, preventing the cell phone from ringing. If it is dire emergency they can use three way calling to contact the persons cell phone, this prevents having to give it out to the third party. If that person doesn't answer the cell phone, someone else can be sought out, a nice service a live answerer offers. The receptionist is a great asset that is, for the sake of new technology, being abandoned in error. IMHO. Well these are my thoughts on cell phones and how I try and use mine. I don't find myself on the phone a great deal while driving. Basically unless they make a law against using them while driving we will be living with it. But users with some planning and applying the technology in a smart way can minimize the time they spend on them while diving.

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