Cell Phone Etiquette for Your Home Business

Do your cell phone practices/etiquette hurt or help your business? 

Image: sxc.hu

I’m not talking simply about how you talk to people on the phone.  I’m also referring to your constant use of the cell phone when you’re in public.

You’re representing your business when you’re outside your home, as well as in.  Your dress, your manner of treating people, your smile (even when you don’t think people are looking), and your actions reflect on your business.  When you’re in business, you “live in a glass house,” someone once told me.

• Do you constantly have a cell phone glued to your ear?
• Do you answer calls or text messages when you’re carrying on conversations with other people? 
• Do you continue talking on the cell phone when you’re in a store, ordering a meal, going through the check-out, discussing a service or driving your car?  Are these calls so important (occasionally there will be an emergency) that you must ignore other people or refrain from giving them (and your driving) your full attention?
• Are you looking at text messages and answering them when talking with other people?
• This frequently gives others the impression that if you tend to ignore the people around you for a cell phone call, you wouldn’t give them full attention if they came to your business.  The cell phone would take priority over the needs of your customers.

That’s my take.  What’s yours?