How To Exterminate Time Wasters FAST
December 27, 2007
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One thing we’re often short of in business is time. And once we’ve lost time, we can’t get it back. How many times have your plans for the day been interrupted by unexpected phone calls, visits etc?
Here’s a few ideas for stopping these time wasters from interfering with your day.
The Telephone Time Wasters
From annoying sales people to friends and relatives - these unexpected callers will often interrupt when you’re in the middle of something important. And they’ll almost certainly waste a big chunk of your precious time. Here’s a few ways to stop them:
The Sales Person: 1) If you have staff, get them to tell the salesperson to call back at a particular time of day. I use 3 to 4pm, as it is my braindead hour.
2) If you answer the phone yourself, do the same. But, only if it is something you would be interested in. Don’t allow them to drag you into conversation - just be firm and polite. Most of the time, they will not realise it is you they’re actually speaking to anyway. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve answered the phone with my name and the sales person has asked to speak to me.
3) Don’t waste your time telling them you’re not interested in what they’re selling. Most of them have a script to deal with this, and they’ll waste your time by launching into it. Here’s a few ways to get rid of the persistent sales person. Often they’ll actually hang up on you, which is great as it means they won’t call again:
a) Can you call back at a more convenient time? The person you want to speak to is in prison right now, so five years would be good.
b) We already sell the product you’re trying to sell me.
c) A good one for those who work from home: Sorry, the person you want to speak to is away on business right now. I’m just staying here because I’m having an affair with his wife, so it would probably be better to call back next week. (My husband uses this one a lot and it never fails to work).
The Talkative Friend or Relative
We all have chatty friends or relatives who will call us at work and talk forever. Here’s how to deal with them without hurting their feelings too much:
1) If they call your mobile (cell phone) get one of your staff to answer and take a message. If it’s important you can call them back.
2) One minute into the conversation, knock on the door or get someone else to do it. Or if you have numerous phones in the office hit the speed dial to one. Either way, you’ll have a great excuse to hang up.
3) If you recognise the number, get your answering service to pick up the call. They’ll ring back if it’s urgent.
Callers Who Just Pop Round
This happens a lot when you’re working from home. It’s amazing how often friends feel that it’s ok to just pop in for a coffee. You can try telling them how busy you are, but the most persistent ones just don’t get the hint. In that case do one of the following:
a) Sling your coat on when you hear a knock on the door and when you answer, tell them they caught you at a bad time - you’re late for an important meeting.
or b) This is my favourite. Just don’t answer the door. I very rarely answer the door to anyone I’m not expecting.
Of course, you could ignore these tips and let unimportant calls and visits eat into your working day. But, when you wind up constantly working through the night to catch up, you’ll begin to regret it.
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10 Responses to “How To Exterminate Time Wasters FAST”
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Another way I find stops calls is to ask who the decision maker is at their company and start pitching for their business.
After telling them you have no budget and are quite keen to generate some business.
Nobody likes getting a sales pitch, so they won’t call back in case you try and sell to them again!
Ian - that is a brilliant idea. I will be trying that one next week. Are you all back at work at your office?
We’re only doing the bare minimum - although I’ve got the accounts to catch up on the rest of the week.
Those are excellent tips. As a rule, I don’t answer my regular phone during my work hours. I used to get on IM to chat with my brother; however, I don’t do that anymore some of my buddies would always IM when I was online. I didn’t have time to chat a few of them got offended. People automatically assume that since I work at home that I have all the time in the world. That is definitely untrue I’m busier now than I’ve ever been.
Catherine! Wow!
You really had me RMAOL! Those first rebuttals you have for the annoying sales calls were hilarious but very clever!
Sometimes when I get those time consuming calls a trick I love to do is the foreigner trick. The sales people will call and I’ll say, “hold on while I get Mr. Whoever for you!”. Then when I come back to the phone I begin speaking a ridiculous language and begin asking for translators!
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Dwayne - that is an excellent idea. I’ll be trying it this week.
Cath,
We’ve gone virtual so we’re all working form home. The decision to oursource the call answering has really helped us all have a good break.
We’ve had a few support calls but most of our clients have shut down - only 3 calls yesterday!
Must admit that I’ve just completely switched off!
Back a few years ago, I ran a tiny hacker site and put out a digital zine. But I also had a feature on my site that 1) generated traffic and 2) put an end to my telemarketer calls.
I kept a list of the caller ID numbers that came up when a telemarketer called me, and simply added it to the list online. When they would call, I would thank them for giving me content for the list, tell them where it could be found, and tell them about the site…which was about the time they would hang up the phone.
The calls stopped within two months.
Hi Catherine,
I use “caller ID” on my phone and calls that show “Unknown Caller or Unknown Number”, I don’t answer. There are a couple of businesses that have their numbers blocked, but if I don’t answer the call, they will leave me a message.
If I do happen to accidentally pick up a call, and they ask for me, I do the same thing you do…I’m usually “out of the office for a week or more”.
In the states we have the national “do not call” list, however, that doesn’t seem to help with businesses.
I have also done the “grab my coat” trick, and am “leaving” just as some unwanted “guest” shows up at the door.
Since I have two phone in my office, and call waiting, I have also called the line I’m on and then told the other person…”I have another call coming in…gotta go”.
It’s pretty bad that we have to resort to these measures, but you are so right….time is money.
Barbara - it sounds like you resort to the same type of things I do. But, if we didn’t we’d spend half our working day listening to pitches for products that we don’t need.