Craig Newmark Multitasks with Calisto Pro
The Calisto Pro helps you get more done in less time, especially administrative duties that can be conducted on the computer while making phone calls.
Craig Newmark put the “Craig” in craigslist. He created the Web site in 1995 as a community bulletin board. Craigslist now hosts classifieds and forums specialized for hundreds of cities around the world.
Despite serving over nine billion page views per month and managing 450 classified Web sites, craigslist remains a humble operation with just 24 employees, including Craig. In addition to his duties as company founder and spokesperson, with speaking engagements requiring frequent travel, Craig continues to be hands-on with the work at craigslist, taking on forum moderation and customer service responsibilities.
“I think listening to our users is important – helping out with enforcement and moderation lets me do that, and it takes some of the load off of our customer service team,” said Craig.
Craig recently started using the Plantronics Calisto Pro hands-free phone system to enable him to communicate better with customers. He does about two-thirds of his work out of his home office, and that’s where he installed the Calisto Pro. According to Craig, the setup was simple and took about one minute.
“Most of what I do requires two hands,” said Craig. So he leverages the Calisto Pro’s hands-free capabilities to multitask while making phone calls. Craig noted that he often makes customer service, personal and speaking engagement-related calls while searching the Internet or typing e-mails on the computer, helping him keep up with his fast-paced business.
Craig conducts a few radio interviews via phone each month, and he has been using the Calisto Pro for those as well. “By all reports, the sound quality is very good,” said Craig. The audio has been clear and crisp, attributes that most wireless phone conversations do not possess. In fact, most radio interviewers discourage the use of wireless phones for on-air content. But with the Calisto Pro, there has been no problem.
Since he’s frequently on the go, Craig finds value in the multi-functional capabilities of his iPhone, and he has paired the Calisto Pro headset to the device to enable additional hands-free abilities while making calls. Calisto Pro users can switch between their cell phones and landlines with the touch of a button, meaning that they never have to miss a call or invest in multiple headsets to pair with various communication devices.
“I can’t multitask like a 10-year-old anymore, so it’s important to have the right enabling technology,” said Craig. The Calisto Pro helps him get more done in less time, especially administrative duties that he can conduct on the computer while making phone calls.
Craig plans to continue to use the Calisto Pro to help him communicate clearly while taking care of his craigslist business. He’s been experimenting with making calls over different VoIP services and looks forward to sampling the Calisto Pro’s capabilities on that front as well.
