Phone calls are increasingly seen to be cumbersome now that text messages have replaced most brief calls. If you’re going to take the time to call someone, have a list of talking points ready.
Chances are good that if you’re taking the time to call someone, rather than just email or text them (outside of leisure calls, of course), you have several things to discuss in a short time frame. By writing down a list of bulleted notes before hand, you give yourself a script to work from and avoid wasting time in a phone call. As Unclutterer puts it:
Like with meetings, you should never make a call without knowing how you want the conversation to end. If you can’t construct a purpose statement before dialling, don’t dial.
As a bonus, after writing out what you want to discuss, you may decide that what you’ve written could be better suited for an email. If it looks like something you could send as-is, no need for the phone call. If you write out notes and still need to hear your answer from a person’s voice, you’re good to dial.
Excerpt: Six tips for organising your time spent on the telephone [Unclutterer]
Picture: Marjan Lazarevski/Flickr
Comments
3 responses to “Write Notes Before Making A Phone Call To Stay Focused”
I find this very helpful because then I can go straight to the point and discuss the things that were the reason for the call. It helps especially when you have a lot of things to talk about.
– Liam, removing age spots
Nice ad there, asshat.
Yeah, great tip with real practical benefits. Good job!