Only one came up a winner and took the call.

Businessmen and women need to pay particular attention to how, where and when they use their mobile phones.

When phones ring and people take calls in the presence of clients and colleagues, relationships are damaged and deals are affected. Not adhering to cell phone etiquette can tarnish your professional image, and in business, image is everything.

If you want to outclass and outlast your competition, learn to avoid the seven deadly sins of cell phone use.

• 1. Failing to turn off your phone in public places. The person whose phone interrupts the business meeting or conference calls attention to himself in the most negative fashion.
• 2. Answering the phone wherever you are. So it rings. You don't have to answer it. Check the caller ID or the voice mail and walk to a private place to return the call.
• 3. Talking loudly into the phone. It is not necessary to raise your voice. If there is a lot of noise around you, don't stand there and yell. Move to a quieter spot. If the signal is weak, call back later.
• 4. Multi-tasking while making calls. It is practically a sin in the 21st century to do only one thing at a time, but wait until you have finished your banking, shopping and marketing before talking on the phone.
• 5. Selecting one of those catchy ring tones. If you want to be taken seriously in the business world, choose a traditional ring just in case your forgot to turn off your phone.
• 6. Taking a call when you are in a face-to-face conversation with another person. This is the height of rudeness. The person in front of you has priority.
• 7. Using your cell phone while driving, flying or pumping gas.

Where safety is involved, this should be a no-brainer. No phone conversation is worth endangering a life.

Cell phones are not the problem -- people are. They have confused efficient with effective and are sacrificing courtesy for convenience.

In the interest of professional image and relationships, businessmen and women should turn off their phones rather than their clients and colleagues.