2 practices that kill your professional image

Anyone running a business while simultaneously looking for investors or seeking a venture capital investment will invariably be busy. They are sometimes so busy that they end up taking phone calls with potential investors at inconvenient times, or else go from one phone call directly to another. While the need to multi-task during these calls is frequently strong and sometimes understandable, there are some actions that should really be avoided during calls:

1. Going to the bathroom while you’re on a call. When you’re busy, the temptation to do this is pretty strong. However, most bathrooms have excellent acoustics (no really, just look at the number of amateur musicians on YouTube who record in their bathrooms). This means that whoever happens to be on the other end of your call (usually someone like me), can hear every zip, flush, and trickle of water. If you really need to use the restroom, just ask the other person to hold and take the minute or two that you need… which brings us to the next worst-practice:
2. Asking someone to hold – and then forgetting you actually put them on hold. At the very least, use your mute button. I once had a CEO ask me to hold, forget to put me on hold, and then I proceeded to spend the next five minutes listening to a contractor berate him for paying with a credit card that bounced. Similarly, if you’re in a small office space (as many expansion stage firms are) and you want your receptionist to tell people you’re in a meeting or out of the office, make sure they know how to put the call on hold so that the person on the other end can’t hear him/her turning and asking you if you’d like to take the call.