In a blog post today, Google announced the availability of Google Voice to everyone, without the need for an invitation. I’ve been using Google Voice for about nine months now and highly recommend it to help manage your client and other telecommunications. Here are the brief highlights of what it does for me (and can do for you):

• Create one phone number for the world to use to contact you. Mine happens to be (612) 234-5823, which equates to (612) 234-LUCE. Clever, huh? Last time I looked, you have some control over the number you choose.
• Prioritize your calls. So, who cares about having one phone number? Well, get this: when someone calls that one number, any or all of your phones will ring, depending on how you set up Google Voice. So, for example, if my wife calls me, then my cell phone, work phone and home phone ring. Or if opposing counsel calls me, it rings only my work phone. Basically, it prioritizes my calls and controls who can reach me, where they can reach me and, ultimately, when they can reach me. So, for instance, if I have a key client and want to be available for that client at all times (at least for the time being), I can make sure that happens with just one phone number. Or, on the other hand, if I have a client that calls me way too much, I can program Google Voice to send that client directly to voice mail (and this is particularly nice to do for telemarketers who call me — I never have to get that call again).
• Control and customize your voice mail messages. This is a great feature, as it allows me to personalize my voice mail messages based on the caller. So, again, if that key client calls? If I cannot take the call, a customized message for that client is played, giving that client special attention. Or if it’s a telemarketer who has called me in the past, I may have a particularly funny or off-beat message that generally tells the person to leave me alone.
• Get transcribed voice mail messages delivered by e-mail. When someone leaves a voice mail message, Google Voice sends both the message and a transcribed text of the message to my e-mail, making it easy for me to understand and prioritize how I return calls (or get texts on my phone with the message without having to listen to the message). Granted, Google Voice has a long way to go to perfecting the transcription of voice mail messages, but for the most part I can get the general gist of a message and understand how quickly I need to return the call (or not return it at all).

These are just a few of the features and the ones I depend on the most. With all of its features, Google Voice is a telecommunications game-changer. Grab a number now, mess with it, and soon you’ll have better control over your calls. Honestly, it’s that good.