No one picks up the phone anymore. Even many businesses do everything they can to avoid picking up the phone.
The automatic reflex of answering that ring is gone.
Some find if they hear their cell phone buzzing from across the room, and realize it’s a call, they won’t even bother to walk over.
The popular opinion seems to be as stated in Does Anyone Answer Phone Calls Anymore:
As far as trends show, phone calls will always have a place, but people would rather type. There will always be times where speaking is better than typing, but for now the general public says: Why take several minutes to do something that could be done in a few seconds?
People prefer text or email.
I get it, whether you’re working or spending quality time with loved ones you don’t want to be interrupted.
What do you do when a number you don’t know calls. Do you answer the phone?
Peter Shankman, an American entrepreneur and author says he always answers his telephone, especially when he doesn’t know the number. He tells us why in You’re Not Important Enough to Let an Unknown Number go to Voicemail:
Back in 1997, a small, unknown company named Huawei called the top ten consulting firms in the US and Europe, asking each of them to take their money.
Nine of the firms didn’t return Huawei’s call.
One firm did, however. One consulting firm called Huawei back, and took the first meeting. That first meeting led to a relationship that’s still going strong to this day.
By simply answering the phone, and returning Huawei’s call, IBM has been paid over $500,000,000 for consulting work from Huawei, and that was just in the first ten years, from 1997 to 2007. Imagine how much more they’ve made over the last nine?
Huawei, by the way, is now the third largest mobile phone maker in all the world, after Apple and Samsung, and is China’s largest privately held company.
What will you do the next time you hear your phone ring?
Maybe this is good advice for us. Take the call and ask them to email you!
