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• PRO

  Phil Voice May 10, 2013 at 9:54am

  Hi Chris

  I do understand the need for some peace when not at work (but does/should a self-employed person every rest? :-0))

  You say "getting personal and business contacts mixed up is unprofessional" but with today's smartphones you can easily segregate them into different ring tones.

  Your business associates don't need know that your personal and business contacts are stored on the same phone.

  Alternatively you can use a dual simcard phone: http://www.technogist.com/2013/01/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-d...
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  Claire Brown May 10, 2013 at 4:37pm

  I think it also depends on if you are the business. -

  i'e if people say I get my gardening done by Chris and his team, or if they say X gardening services come to me.

  Personally I am my business, and when I tried getting a business phone, the only calls I got on it were sales calls. - All my clients wanted to call me on my mobile. - Now I just don't answer calls when i'm with my family, and call back as soon as I can.
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  Dan Frazer Gardening May 10, 2013 at 5:01pm

  A business phone is a must.

  I don't think it's good to mix your personal life with your work. You need a rest and to know where calls are coming from. I also believe it puts out the right message if you answer the phone properly to a business call rather than 'hello' as you would on your personal phone.
• PRO

  Gary RK May 10, 2013 at 5:49pm

  For landlines, BT allow you to have two numbers on one physical line.

  Inbound calls to each number are differentiated by two different ring tones.

  It was provided under the 'Calling Feature' options and cost an additional £3.25 per quarter.

  I still have this feature on my home line. Its a nice simple solution for those who have someone available at home to 'answer' the phone
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  mark harris May 10, 2013 at 7:28pm

  why have 2 mobile, extra expense, 2 to carry around, if your are in buisness you have to expect calls ,how work is at the moment evey call could be a job,any number you dont have in contacts is gonna be buisness related you have the option to answer it as for being professional only you control your phone so what is the issue
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  phil@gardenchief.co.uk May 11, 2013 at 7:46am

  One phone for me, generally I know if it's a customer because it'll come up as a random number not a contact.
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  Stuart Land-Scape.co.uk May 11, 2013 at 9:37pm

  people can and do call my home number, if i answer the phone i give a polite hello, if the number doesn't have a name then it gets a slightly politer hello. never felt the need for a formal pickup on the phone. it annoys me when people waste my time telling me who i've just rung, when i am well aware who i've rung and invariably i've forgotten the name of the person who introduced themselves by the time they let me speak anyway.

  i only call customers from my mobile, all my customers names are prefixed with a Z and have their address after their name, all builders merchants are prefixed with B and skip companies with SK. i find doing this keeps the clutter of work out of my phone, and i'm more than happy on a sim only tariff paying £10 a month for more minutes and texts than i ever use.

  The way I organise my phone works for me, so it is the correct way for me. we will all have a different answer to this one.
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  Boyd Carswell May 12, 2013 at 11:17am

  I have one phone for both and all ways answer it the same way when on hands free or it is a number only.

  When on the handset I can look at the name and know who it is and answer as need be, I also take a photo of all of my clients houses/gardens and put it in the photo profile thing so if I ever have 2 with the same names I will know which one it is by the photo and will be able to talk about their garden without any embarrassing questions about who they are as all Glaswegians sound the same to me.

  Also with 2 phones which one do you put on the hands free as the one you don't will ring (had this all the time when I was a rugby development officer). Also friends and family will give out your personal number to work mates and friends to call you as that's the one they have so you end up with a cross over any way.
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  Christopher Ray June 2, 2013 at 11:52pm

  It seems I'm a bit slow with technology these days, though I didn't think about assigning ring tones to different contacts, that's a simple but great idea! Which I think I will do from now. I don't really want two phones, I have enough clobber to carrying with me now :). Saying that, is it easy to claim back expenses from having one phone? I thought simply, have two phones, you can easy segregate what's what and pay accordingly.

  Btw I should have asked, what smart phone(s) do you have?
  And what provider are you with, more importantly, would you recommend the provider?

  Thanks very much for all the replies! Sorry I have only just had a chance to reply :)

  Edit: There was a reason I thought of a business phone, I read the terms and conditions of the phone contract, and some not all, say that the phone is only for personal use. Others state that the phone can be used for business use. This was something that played on my mind a bit. Any ideas?

  Chris
  
  Phil Voice said:

  Hi Chris

  I do understand the need for some peace when not at work (but does/should a self-employed person every rest? :-0))

  You say "getting personal and business contacts mixed up is unprofessional" but with today's smartphones you can easily segregate them into different ring tones.

  Your business associates don't need know that your personal and business contacts are stored on the same phone.

  Alternatively you can use a dual simcard phone: http://www.technogist.com/2013/01/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-d...
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  Christopher Ray June 2, 2013 at 11:57pm

  This was the specifically thing I'm worried about, as when you get an unknown caller then its easier to have a answer message. But clobbering about two phones :(.
  
  Dan Frazer Gardening said:

  A business phone is a must.

  I don't think it's good to mix your personal life with your work. You need a rest and to know where calls are coming from. I also believe it puts out the right message if you answer the phone properly to a business call rather than 'hello' as you would on your personal phone.