Cell Phones - Increased Productivity?
By: Robert Berman
In many cases, the advent of cell phone technology has been instrumental in increasing productivity throughout an organization, especially for the person making the call. It allows an individual to get immediate answers to any and all questions that they confront during their normal day-to-day routine. No longer does a Sales Manager have to wait for a salesman to call into the office in order to find out if the Acme Corporation is actually going to place an order and if not, why? 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 and even more important than all of those issues, no longer does a friend or relative have to wait to find out if you're available to go bowling tonight.
Working on a project or an assignment and need some input or an answer from an associate, dial their cell phone and you have an instant response.
The caller doesn't have to wait, or ponder what the answer might be. The caller doesn't have to put projects aside. The caller avoids all of the frustration of having to wait. The caller has 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 serviceman 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 the serviceman 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! After some investigation I determined that the other three calls were definitely not of an urgent nature.
I have had sales people trying to close me, using all of the closing tools at their disposal and in the middle of the conversation, their cell phone rings and it's their office. Is there anything more annoying? Besides the obvious fact that it broke the continuity of the closing for the salesperson, it made me, the customer, second to someone else! That cell phone call did not increase the productivity of the sales person who received it.
Although there may be many valid reasons why servicemen should leave their cell phones on while working at a customers facility, I have never been given a valid reason why a salesperson should leave their cell phone on while visiting another client.
Next time you pick-up your cell phone to call someone, consider what effect receiving the call will have on their productivity. If you do need to speak to someone who is "working" away from the office, plan your calls. Determine all the questions that require an answer "right-now", items that cannot wait for another more productive time frame and keep the calls short and to the point. You may quickly realize that it will be more productive for both you and the person you are calling.
About The Author:
Robert Berman is a business consultant specializing in business development, strategic planning, acquisitions & mergers and international sales & marketing. He has been a columnist for the National Post Newspaper under the byline of "The Business Doctor" and he has authored "The Business Buyer's Manual". He may be reached at Robert.Berman@businessbuyersmanual.com www.businessbuyersmanual.com