YOUR VOICE MAIL!!
Seriously, people call you and you have 15-30 seconds to say something cool. Credit to Jeffrey Gitomer who first put this thought in my head. ” I am on my phone or away from my desk…” Says nothing, shows nothing but it does waste the time of the person that called. Help them smile, maybe even laugh. Why not?
How about letting a call go to voicemail? Absolutely!! Stay on the phone with me, show me you are interested in just me. Show me you are committed to speaking with me and getting something done. Instead you click over or put me on hold. You then need to try and reengage in the conversation. We lost any flow we were in but hey you probably also just made another person feel unimportant as well.
Do you think you make anybody feel good when you tell them your are busy and will need to call back?
Now I understand sometimes things happen. I do make exceptions for my wife, but not all the time. She knows she can text or email as well. But if a child is sick or one of us is traveling, yes, in my world, this may constitute a good time to interrupt some business. Beyond that, I am not rue of any reasons
Heck not answering the phone while on the phone or engaged in a task that already has your focus is more polite than interrupting someone. On some level it also shows you are in demand
P.S. Please respond to all your messages and make some effort into leaving good voice mails as well. Honestly, if a text or e-mail will work it is more important that you thoughtfully respond.
Just some thoughts, use as you see fit.