1) Never delete your
voice mail. The ability to check your voice mail on
speakerphone when someone else is in the room and have them hear "
You have 99 messages" is extremely useful.
2) Attribute the highest level of
importance to everything you must do during the day. The mate you are meeting for a
beer at lunchtime is an
important meeting. This is why it is so hard for your
clients to get hold of you and realise that you havn't touched their website for weeks.
3) Check your
cellphone regularly for
messages and
missed calls.
Push some buttons now and then. During meetings have someone (perhaps an
autodialer on your computer) phone you. Look to see who is calling, then divert the call to your voicemail (building on #1). Do this several times, then answer an 'important' one, and
excuse yourself.
4) Carry the bigest
diary you can. Check it regularly
in the presence of others. Just make sure they don't see that the pages are
blank, or covered with
crude pornographic drawings.
I can't remember where I read these, but they stuck in the back of my mind for ages. I actually started doing #2, and have used #3 to get out of boring meetings that can be re-scheduled. I'm sure you can think of many more ways. I personally like:
5) File
everything in your filing cabinet. Flicking throuh thousands of little folders (really filled with a mess of sad jokes and
guitar TAB) when you get your client's file out just has to leave an
impression.