Techno Lost & Found

In the past, if you found something that someone had dropped, you'd look for a lost and found or some other place to turn it in. You could only hope that the person would think to look there and ask if someone had turned in their item. And usually, you'd never find out if the property was ever reunited with it's owner.

Today I realized how much things have changed when I found a cell phone in a parking lot. The phone was fully charged, so I figured that it had been lost that morning. First I used it to call my cell phone. With it's number now in my phone's memory, I called back and explained that the phone was lost and how I could be contacted. Unsure if the owner would think to check the phone's messages, I then looked in the phone's address book and found a phone number listed as, "home." Guessing that it was a land line, I dialed it.

I reached the owner of the cell phone, who had no idea he had lost it. We set up a nearby place to meet and I returned his property. He was very grateful. I was glad to help.

Here's a free tip if you should ever lose your cell phone and it's found by a dishonest person: Mine is set up so that when it's turned on, you have to enter an unlock code. That way if I ever lost mine, the person who found it could only make calls on it until the battery died. After that, they'd be locked out of it. Sure, they might have the exact charger and be able to keep it going forever, but with so many different types of chargers that's become less likely.

Attention is a Hot Commodity in Communication

In the past, getting time with someone has been seen as a path to success. You want five minutes with the boss or a prospective customer. You'd have the person's full attention and hopefully achieve your objective.

In today's world, you have a lot of factors competing for your target's attention. Sure, you may have a five minute meeting with the boss but is he or she looking at their email, answering cell phone calls, or typing on their Blackberry? Multi-tasking can become an addiction and you need to keep in mind that you may only have a slice of someone's focus. This can be especially bad when you're having a phone conversation. And how many companies have lost money because of a misunderstanding, especially those that can be traced back to poor communication?

When making your pitch, you need to make it shorter and more powerful to hold your prospect's attention. State what you want and why it is important. Do this right away. Ask questions to keep the other person engaged in the conversation. And above all, do not just talk and talk and talk. The more you speak, the easier it is for your subject to have their attention wander. If you have a history of getting to the point, then it's more likely that you'll be heard.