In many cases, the advent of cell phone technology has been a boom to increased productivity, especially for the person making the call.  It allows an individual to get immediate answers to their questions.  No longer does a Sales Manager have to wait for a salesman to call the office in order to find out if the Acme Corporation is actually going to place an order.  No longer does the Service Manager have to wait for his service staff to call the office or come back from a field service call to find out what the problem was with Mrs. Smith’s furnace.

Working on a project and need an answer from an associate, dial their cell phone and you have an instant response.

The caller hasn’t had to wait, put projects aside, they have supposedly increased their productivity.  What about the person receiving the call?  Has their productivity increased because the Sales Manager or Service Manager called them while they were theoretically performing another task?

Is there anyone reading this article that hasn’t been in the middle of a conversation with someone when their cell phone rings?  I had a formal complaint from a customer who was paying an hourly rate for a service man and I was told that during the three hours at their facility, he received six calls and one of them lasted for more than 15 minutes.  In reviewing the itemized cell phone bill, I found out that he actually received eight calls and one of them lasted 23 minutes.  Five of the eight calls were from the Service Manager, including the 23-minute call!  The other three calls were definitely not of an urgent nature.

I have had sales people trying to close me, and in the middle of the conversation, their cell phone rings and it’s their office.  Is there anything more annoying?

Next time you pick-up your cell phone to call someone, consider what effect receiving the call will have on his or her productivity.  Plan your calls.  Determine all the questions that require an answer “right-now”, items that cannot wait for a time frame that may be more productive for both you and the person you are calling.