Most of us will agree there aren’t enough hours in the day to take personal calls (although there are always enough hours for client calls). Are you a better e-mail friend than a phone friend? I am.  Anyone who wants a quick response to a non-business-related question is better off sending me an e-mail.  For those of you who are wanna-be phone snobs, here are a few tips.

• In your voice mail message, mention that if the caller wants a quicker response, they should send you an e-mail. Don’t forget to leave your e-mail address in your message.

• Give your cell phone number only to those you actually want to hear from. Otherwise give people a work number or even a home number (especially if you never answer it). The only reason I have a home phone line is for my alarm company and apparently for phone solicitors to call me often. Don’t tell them the ringer is off.

• Use caller ID often. Unless you’re a superhero, plumber, electrician or someone who can perform emergency surgery, let the call go to voice mail and then check the message.

• When recording your message, let the caller know within the first few seconds if they can bypass it. Long, boring messages are annoying so let callers get right to the beep.

• Keep your outgoing message short, simple and professional. Don’t forget to include your Web site address so callers can get more information about your company and an e-mail address as another way to contact you.

• Review your message after you’ve recorded it to make sure there aren’t any unwanted background noises and that your voice sounds clear.

• Ask the caller for the best time to return his or her call (and do the same when you leave messages for others). This will help you avoid phone tag and if you don’t want to talk to that person, you can call when they’re not there.

• Don’t save all of your messages. Instead, do something with them. After writing down or entering the message and number, erase it.