Firsts

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Today was my first experience in returning someone's call to my office line.

It would have helped if I had considered the possibility that I would reach her voicemail.

It would also have helped if, in reaching for the list of proper phone numbers for her to call back, I had not knocked down two books and a binder.

I'm sure the crash sounded very lovely over the phone.

Comments

Matthew Carroll said…
In a previous life (one which involved frequent telephoning) I was educated that you reach a live person only 1/3 of the times you dial the phone.

Futhermore, I was given a tip, that if you call some high-mucky-muck, and get his or her voice-mail, he or she will appreciate if you begin your message saying something like this, "Hi my name is Matthew, you can reach me at 818-555-1212. I'm calling concerning..." That way, if the person wants to call you back and needs to listen to your message again to get your number he doesn't have to listen to the whole explanation before getting to the number, just the beginning.

I found that helpful because my natural tendency when getting someone's voice-mail was to do this: "Hi, um... this is Matthew and I wanted to call, I mean I was hoping to ask about XYZ. Thanks so much... Oh, yeah, wait, my number is, hold on... 818.555.12 [beeeep] [click] Oh, dang!"
7:38 AM
slowlane said…
Those are helpful suggestions. Thanks.
1:01 PM
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