Your Global TuneUp™: Telephone and Fax Numbers

In this post, we're focusing your Global TuneUp™ on your telephone and fax numbers.

• Be sure to include your country code, preceded by a "+" sign, such as
  +1.411.555.1212
  This is especially important for professionals in the USA. Most people in countries outside the USA (such as Canadaand Jamaica, which are also under the +1 country code) include their country code in their contact information.For example, it's critical information that Morocco's telephone country code is "+212" and Britain's is "+44", etc. However, people in the USA omit "+1" all the time as if the world revolves around us and our country code!!! Imagine what we are communicating to others when we expect people to look up or "know" the country code for the country in which we (not they) live. Is that a message you want to send or an impression you want to give to others?

  If you use the country code designations as a part of your phone number, you'll be using standard information that anyone in any country can use around the world, regardless of the way that their phone provider asks them to get access to international lines.

• Do not include any digits in front of country codes that may be numbers used to get access to long distances lines and/or carriers from your country or carrier -- such as 00, 001, and 011. This is an incredibly common error. These access codes digits can vary according to location, office phone system, carriers, networks, VOIP systems, countries, etc. Leave them out.

• If your country uses "0" or other numbers in the digits that indicate an area or city as a way to distinguish dialing a number from inside your country, consider framing these with parentheses to show that these are optional, such as: +44.(0)2.411.555.1212. This is yet another good reason for only using "." as a divider for telephone numbers -- to allow in-country digits to be easily recognized.
• It should be obvious, but I'll say it anyway, be sure to always include your area code.

• Spell out words or use common abbreviations such as "Telephone:" or "T:" or "Tlf:" for your main telephone number, "Mobile:" or "M:" for your mobile number and "Fax:" or "F:" for your fax number. These are standard international designations. "Cell phone" is mostly a USA designation and can confuse your international colleagues.

• If you are able to set up your home or office phone system so that all your phone numbers can be fed into one line (such as an internet phone or VOIP), consider doing this. Google Voice and Skype provide some free as well as low-cost services in this area. (I haven't had a landline since 1994 -- and haven't missed it.)

Here's how I do it:

T:  +1.612.234.1814 | F: +1.866.433.6694

Good luck with that Global Tuneup™! Let me know if you have other suggestions!

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This post is part of the Manitou Heights Global TuneUp™ series. If you're not familiar with it, check out the Global TuneUp™ series introduction!

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