Top 3 Strategies for Small Business Owners to Increase Productivity. By Victor Mataraso, M.B.A. Now, don't answer your phone is not to be confused with don't have your phone answered. Making your business accessible to prospects and clients is essential to your success. But in this world of information overload and instant access, it is increasingly difficult to find time to actually accomplish anything. Yet, as a small business owner it is critical that you find time to focus on your genius and plan strategically for the growth of your business. Here are a few strategies you can use to reduce interruptions and increase your productivity. 1) Screen your calls. Whether you use a receptionist, telephone answering service or an answering machine with caller ID, it is important to know who is calling before committing to a conversation. Unexpected phone interruptions are a sure-fire way to get side-tracked from the work you planned to accomplish. However, not being available by phone at all may deprive you of information you need to move forward on your task at hand. The solution is to be able to quickly identify who is calling and efficiently calendar unrelated communications for a time that works with your schedule. 2) Manage your communications. There is a fine line between screening your calls and being unavailable to clients and prospects. The solution is to set reasonable expectations for when you will be available to communicate. The best way to do this is with a receptionist who can screen and announce calls to you and give you the option to quickly relay information to a caller without actually taking a call. Often times, inquiries can be satisfied quickly and easily by a third party individual who is not obligated to engage in an extended conversation just to convey simple information. Even if you don't work with a receptionist, you can update your voice message greeting throughout the day to let callers know when you are available to return a call. There is a big difference between, "Hi. I'm not in. Leave a message," and "I'm working on a project until 2pm today, but will be available to return your call at that time." 3) Schedule phone time. Increasingly, successful business owners are choosing to schedule their phone communications to better manage their workday. There are a number of effective tools for doing this. Again, if you are fortunate to have a receptionist answer your calls, they can readily schedule phone calls for you at a time that is mutually convenient. Most callers would rather know they have a firm time to speak with you about the issue at hand than risk playing phone tag for hours or days. Without someone else to answer your phone, consider setting up a web-based calendar and advising callers on your voicemail greeting that they can visit your website or web calendar to schedule a time to speak with you at their convenience. You, of course, manage the available time slots on the calendar. Despite today's instant access and information overload, we can increase our productivity using old fashioned ideas like a telephone receptionist, new fangled technology like a web calendar, or whatever combination works for you. Victor Mataraso, M.B.A. is the founder and president of Reliable Receptionist, a company that provides off-site telephone reception and appointment scheduling services for companies with 1 to 100 employees. Located in the East San Francisco Bay Area city of Walnut Creek, CA, Reliable Receptionist provides an alternative for businesses that need something more than a telephone answering service, but don't wish to hire an additional employee. He can be reached at (925) 627-4200 or www.ReliableReceptionist.com. His blog is available at www.ReliableReceptionist.info.