Tips on cellphone etiquette for business people

3. Instead of leaving a voicemail message, send an SMS. SMS removes the need to write down details while listening to messages. Furthermore, scrolling through SMS messages is much quicker than listening to many voicemail messages.

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I experienced this today (got a number in a voicemail, had to listen to the voicemail twice to get it). Plus, if the caller is in a noisy envorinment (bad traffic, busy airport etc) the voicemail may be unclear, whereas an SMS is always as clear as your eye's allow it to be

TheLoot said:

I experienced this today (got a number in a voicemail, had to listen to the voicemail twice to get it). Plus, if the caller is in a noisy envorinment (bad traffic, busy airport etc) the voicemail may be unclear, whereas an SMS is always as clear as your eye's allow it to be

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I've been using a new(ish) service that converts VM to SMS.

It will takes your voice mail, do speech-to-text on it and SMS it to your phone.

Very handy when in meetings as your VM's come through as SMS's. Also, it allows you to keep a record of VM's.

Mmmmmnnn....let's use SMS, says the MD of a company selling a bulk SMS service. I vote advertorial!!

ic said:

Hmmm, the only problem is that some people tend to have irritating tones setup to notify them of the arrival of SMSes.

IMO the most important thing to do, when attending a meeting and other times when one doesn't want to irritate people [e.g. cinema], is to activate a silent profile - there are people that still don't bother doing that.

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Agree, but then it alerts you to an incoming voice mail and you can't listen to it!

But with the VM -> SMS service you can at least read your voice mail.

I don't suppose there's a way to opt out of being called by telemarketers trying to sell you funeral policies, insurance etc? That's my biggest cellphone etiquette problem.

ic said:

IMO the most important thing to do, when attending a meeting and other times when one doesn't want to irritate people [e.g. cinema], is to activate a silent profile - there are people that still don't bother doing that.

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I also believe that when you are in a meeting your cellphone should be switched off, or at least in your bag, NOT on the table in front of you and constantly being checked. This sends a message to the people in the meeting that you are not interested and that whomever might be contacting you via the phone is more important than the people in front of you.

For me its a matter of simple courtesy to focus on the meeting. There are circumstances - wife about to give birth - where having a cellphone on are acceptable. It is not acceptable to answer the phone in a meeting, then whisper "can't talk I'm in a meeting, call me later", then ask what you missed. What's going on with that? If you can't take the call, switch it off.

I know in our always contactable world this will seem heretical, but that's a risk I'll take. Also from the callers perspective why do you expect that you caller will always be able to answer immediately?

For those of you who respond, but most of the meetings I attend are less important that the calls coming in. Don't attend the meetings, or ar least work to make the meetings more useful. If everyone were focussed on the meeting it would be quicker and more effective.