Winner Don"t run... They use cell phones

Gone are the days when the car phone was an absolute luxury. The car phone can prove to be an absolute necessity for the busy sales professional who spends little time behind a desk. Most salespeople who own them agree that car phones have increased their productivity and they don't know what they ever did without them.

If you are considering purchasing a car phone, or already own one, here are some ways to get the most productivity out of your auto-based telephone conversations.

Schedule appointments.

Often you have to call a potential client several times before you can get that all-important first appointment. By calling during odd moments while you are in your car, you are more likely to connect with him and thus be able to schedule that appointment. I know of one new car phone owner who had played telephone tag with a would-be client for about three months before he purchased his car phone. He'd call the client and the client would be out of the office. When the client called back, he was out of the office. With a car phone, he finally was able to make that long-delayed contact within one week. The result was a $3 million sale.

Do you still believe car phones are expensive? Your competitors hope you will continue to think that way.

Take calls you otherwise would miss. The efficiency of a car phone can reduce the time lapse between messages taken and messages received. When you are out of the office, all your secretary has to do is put the caller on hold, call you in the car, relay the message, put you on hold, return to the line and say, Can he call you right back? What is your number? She can then relay that number to you, and you can return the call immediately.

Another alternative, depending on the type of phone you have in the car, is for her to patch the incoming call directly to you in the car.

Make an immediate follow-up call. After you have completed an appointment, call to say, Thank you for your time, and if you have any additional questions, I'll be here in my car for the next 30 minutes or so. Just give me a call. Or call me here anytime if you can't reach me at my office.

Act on ideas immediately. You're driving down the road and an idea pops into your head. Often the best time to act on an idea is when it first occurs to you. Pick up the phone and get to work.

Make a spontaneous call. When you are driving through an area and would like to drop in on a client you haven't seen for a while, call and say, I just happened to be driving thorough your area. I'm in my car at the moment, and I'm less than a mile away. May I stop in to say hello?

Manage your business better. Keep in contact with your regional offices. Check in periodically with your branch offices. Call your boss for instructions. Call your subordinates to give them directions or handle their problems. Learn to use your car phone as an effective business-management tool.

Cross time zones. If your office is on the east coast and you leave for home at 5 p.m., call your clients in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, or Los Angeles while you drive home. They will still be in their offices. Likewise, if your office is in California, call your clients on the east coast while driving to work in the morning. Turn your commute time into work time.

This list of ideas only scratches the surface of what you can do with a car telephone. The only way you can lose with a car telephone is if you don't have one or if you do have one but don't use it efficiently and effectively.