Whether you are a sales person, a tech support ninja, or a busy manager, we all have the same challenge: in the face of all daily activity, to stay productive while remaining available.

Customer-facing jobs, especially, are prone to interruptions. By exposing ourselves to others and tending to their needs, and looking to engage with them, we also give up some control of our time.

And then there’s the need to focus. The more intellectually challenging the task, the more we need a time without interruptions to be able to achieve flow. But lock yourself out of all communication and prepare to miss out. Even some of those relationships you’ve worked hard to build may deteriorate.

So how to balance both?

Here are few tips:

• Schedule yourself around the rythms of the day. People call in the mornings. Monday mornings are especially busy. The cost of not being available during those times is high, simply because of the amount of follow up needed. It’s probably best to schedule communication-centric tasks for a frew hours early in the day. Conversely, communication dies down around lunch time and late in the evening, so those are prime spots to focus on interruption-sensitive tasks.
• If you’re the “interruption aggressor”, consider the implications of catching people at a busy time. There’s nothing I hate more than a cold call in the morning.
• Focus time.When you’re actually trying to focus, it’s no use to get easily distracted. It’s better to focus like “you really mean it” That means shutting down Twitter, Facebook, IM. If you use a rich calling solution like Ringio, set it to “Do Not Disturb”. This is easier to do when your phone system knows when to disturb you even if you don’t want to be disturbed (e.g. an emergency, or a call from a very important person)
• Deal swiftly with repeat offenders. There are some people who are really not deserving of your time. Headhunters, trying to steal your employees or colleagues. Sales people who bought your business card from a marketing provider. With these kinds of callers, it’s best to use a call screening solution that denies them access to you.