As a businesswoman working from home, you are able to make and take business calls from your home telephone. Imagine this…the kids are at school or at a friend’s house and you have the next hour to conduct some business over the phone. There is no one asking for a snack or needing this or that. As you are discussing an upcoming project, your call waiting beeps. Do you answer it? After all, it may be the school nurse saying that your daughter is ill; it could be the plumber saying he can’t make it today; it could be another mother saying she can’t pick your son up from school this afternoon. Yes, the person you are speaking with takes priority, but here are some things you can do.

First, let the caller know that you need to answer the other line and will only be a minute. Quickly answer your call waiting, making sure it isn’t something as mentioned above. Explain to the person calling that you are on the other line, but will call them back shortly. Unless it is an emergency, never give the second caller priority and hang up with the first.

Remember, there are only so many times you can answer call waiting during a single business conversation. If this happens more then two times, I suggest you do not answer it, as a courtesy to your caller. If you have voicemail, you can immediately check that and if not, you can always *69.

I find that a voicemail service, rather than an answering machine, really takes the pressure off answering call waiting, as you know that the caller can leave a message and it will only be moments before you can check it.

More Quick Tips:
Business Telephone Calls	Proper Introductions
Email Etiquette	Business Meetings in the Home
Are You Busy?	Life In Your Home Office
Unexpected Payments: To Accept or Not to Accept	When Your Healthy Home/Work Life Balance Is In Jeopardy
Dealing with Difficult People	Equal Share
Returning Phone Calls	Handling  Little Awkward Situations
Call Waiting Etiquette	Should I Take The Blame?
Networking Dilemma	It’s Not Your Job Title That Is Important….