When to use and not to use a telephone
Using a telephone can help you to save a lot of time and make your activities efficient, but at the same time it can be a huge time . A telephone is a good communication tool for some situations, while it is not so wise to use it in under other circumstances. If you want to use your time efficiently you have to know when it is appropriate to choose telephone as a medium for communication.
Making a phone call is justified, when you have to reach a person immediately. In comparison to written communication, which is slower as it may take a whole day to get a reply to your email, by making a phone call you can contact a person in seconds.
Phone calls allow instant two-way communication. In some cases it will be possible to make conference calls with more than two participants, but these types of phone calls are not commonly used.
At the same time phone call is interrupting. If you have not agreed with other person when will call, which is true for most of the phone calls, then you do not know what he/she is doing. In comparison to sending an e-mail with a recipient can read and answer when he/she wants, there is no such a possibility for a phone call. You have to answer the phone and talk when you are calling. It means that making a phone call will consume other peoples time more than sending e-mail and therefore we have to respect their time (if we want other people to respect our time) and do not make unnecessary calls.
Making a phone call is a good solution in following cases:
- Getting a fast opinion. If you have to make a decision and need an opinion of conformation from other person then a phone call will allow you to get it fast. For example, you need a conformation for making a purchase. It is important that the other side has the relevant background information, so you do not have to explain him all the details.
- Schedule an appointment. If we want to meet an other person then making a phone call is an efficient way to agree the time and place of the appointment. To make it more efficient we should send the other party the relevant information he/she needs to be informed before meeting us by e-mail.
- Delivering fast messages. If there is anything that the other person needs to get to know fast then call him as it is the most efficient way of doing it. So using a phone is required in all kinds of emergencies and situations, which call for fast action. As the other person may not be able to answers the call, then you can send him a text message or leave a message to the voice mail.
- Social conversation. Telephone is a tool for keeping in touch with our business partners, friends and relatives. By making a phone call there are more possibilities for delivering emotions than sending an e-mail. At the same time it is not as time consuming as meeting people face-to-face. Phone calling allows us to keep in touch with our networks.
- Sending good news to a small number of people. If you want to appreciate someone for a good job or thank for a favor then making a call is a quick and easy way to do it. Making a call is more personal then sending a thank you e-mail and it will be more helpful for building warm relations. Similarly, it is a good idea to send good news to a couple of persons (if the number of recipients is higher then send e-mail as phoning people one by one will take too much time). Make a phone call to tell your team-member that our project was approved and see how much delight you can create with it.
Making a phone call is not a good solution in following cases:
- Delivering facts and information. If you have to send detailed information, which you want the other person to remember, then it is sensible to send it by e-mail. It is inefficient to read a price list by phone ant let the other person to write it down. In a similar way detailed information about products, time plans or meeting agendas should not be talked by phone.
- Complex discussions with many participants. While it is a good way to ask an option from one or two person by phone calling them, it will be a waste of time to discuss problems with ten people by phoning them one-by one. If there is a need to make decisions, where the active participation of a greater number of people is needed, then it will better to meet.
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My name is Kristjan-Olari Leping. I am a speed reading trainer. I have an associated professor position at the University of Tartu, am a policy analyst in a policy research center, I am a trainer and I am involved in many other business projects. 