Originally appeared on: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/qdtarchive/how-to-screen-your-calls/
February 16, 2015
Strategically using your address book can help you screen calls like a pro! Learn Get-It-Done Guy’s tricks.
I used to love getting phone calls! I would sit by the phone for hours, just waiting for one of my many friends to call. Then I would remember that I didn’t have any friends. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Now, I have a great many friends, but still no one calls. Phones have fallen out of favor. We love being interrupted and distracted by our devices bleeping, binging, and popping up text to us. But we really don’t like it when actual people call. After all, they might distract us from our texting.
But people still call. Specifically, my dentist’s office (to remind me of appointments), political fund-raising campaigns, telemarketing companies, political fund-raising campaigns, public opinion polls, political fund-raising campaigns, debt collection agencies, political fund-raising campaigns, credit card companies, political fund-raising campaigns, charities, and political fund-raising campaigns. Occasionally, a prospect calls, too.
Simply picking up the phone when an unrecognized call comes in has become a real problem. When you’re trying to design the perfect Zombie Hydration Chamber (zombies dry out in the hot sun, yet another detail the movies gloss over), a prospect call is fine, but a telemarketing call represents a serious distraction.
Screen With Caller ID and Voicemail
The solution has been with us for decades: screen calls with caller ID and voicemail. When it’s focus time, check the caller ID. Pick up if it’s a friend, client, or other person you want to speak with. Otherwise, those political fund-raisers go straight to voicemail. They can leave a message.
Political fund-raisers go straight to voicemail!
Interestingly, they rarely do. That’s telling. If it’s not important enough for them to leave a message, then it’s certainly not important enough for you to pick up in the first place. They may argue, “With a voicemail, we’d never talk you into giving us money.” Well, that’s true. And that’s even more reason to let them go to voicemail.
Never Answer Blocked or Unknown Numbers
Those marketing and political fund-raising groups have gotten clever. Now, their caller ID has no name listed. They’re smart enough to know if they supplied a name, like Little Red Riding Hood’s Find-Raising Service, no one would ever pick up. So they call in from innocent-seeming numbers somewhere in the midwest, where the Nice People are. Or they make sure their numbers are listed as “Blocked” or “Unknown,” because that’s a sure sign that someone you want to hear from is calling.
If a call comes through from a number you don’t recognize, or a number that’s blocked or unknown, let it go to voicemail. If they think they need to disguise who they are from you, they must really be trying to hide something they’re ashamed of.
Take Calls from Prospects and Clients
But then there are prospects. Their number comes though as one you don’t recognize, so you let them go to voicemail. But you realize your mistake the moment the voicemail plays. Call them right back. But never make the same mistake again; their call is one that should always get through.
Immediately add them to your phone book so that next time their name comes up instead of just the phone number. But don’t just enter their name into your phone book. Add a “P:” to their first name. The next time they call, your phone will show “P: Suresh Johnson,” telling you who it is, and that they’re a prospect.
If the phone number is a client, add the number to that client’s address book entry under “other.” When they call from that number, their name will appear, and you’ll know to answer. If they’re calling from the cell phone of their boyfriend, girlfriend, spousal equivalent, transgendered partner, or polyamorous family unit, then awkwardness could ensue when you call them back at that number. Dial safely! Make outgoing calls strictly to numbers you’ve label “home,” “work,” and “mobile.” Use the numbers you marked “other” for incoming-only.
You can also do this for numbers you’ll only be using temporarily, say when negotiating back and forth with an art dealer to arrange the purchase of a beautiful painting that’s a stunningly good replica of one that was stolen from the Louvre on your birthday last year. What a coincidence!
Prefix temporary numbers with “T:” and get rid of them as soon as the painting is delivered in its tasteful, non-descript, brown paper-wrapped package. (You wouldn’t want the neighbors to get jealous.)
Prune Your Prospects
Your prospects should also be deleted when they get stale. Just search for “P:” once every couple of months and ruthlessly discard any prospect entries that didn’t become clients. After all, if they didn’t have the good sense to hire you, why should you devote your precious bits to storing their contact information?
Unless…hmm…maybe we can sell their number to a marketing or political fund-raising company?
You can find out more on using hashtags and organizing your contacts in my episode on managing your contacts.
Take back your time from those who would interrupt you. Use caller ID and voicemail to keep them out of your hair. Always let unknown callers go to voicemail, but get back to them quickly if they’re prospects or clients. Then add them to your contacts list appropriately named, so you quickly have a clue about who’s calling. Remember to prune your list regularly and, above all, make sure to offer your competitors’ phone number to any telemarketers who ask you for referrals. It’s all about spreading the love.
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the Get-it-Done Guy podcast, an iTunes top-10 business podcast, from 2007 to 2020. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a degree in Computer Science from MIT.
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