Minor Rant - Answering a Sales Call

[wireyourworld]

A successful approach would be to give your 30 second stump speech to the assistant and allow them to do their job of deciding if your wares are important to their boss. They can then pass along the info and call you back if the boss is interested. Most assistants are very tuned into what the boss needs to hear now later or never. You insult their intelligence by not being honest. You will get more interest by respecting the gate keeper.

[Pixie1000]

Originally Posted by wireyourworld

A successful approach would be to give your 30 second stump speech to the assistant and allow them to do their job of deciding if your wares are important to their boss. They can then pass along the info and call you back if the boss is interested. Most assistants are very tuned into what the boss needs to hear now later or never. You insult their intelligence by not being honest. You will get more interest by respecting the gate keeper.

This is excellent advice and I couldn't have put it more succinctly. Honesty with the assistant would work for me since my boss does not have a clue about the day-to-day running of the company. He just audits the financials at month's end and relies on me to make the normal decisions of the business.

Plus, if you are not forthcoming in your objectives and try to manuever your way into just speaking with the boss, we will avoid you forever.

[sourcesc]

Thank you, Wireyourworld and Pixie1000, this is pretty much what I do. There is no point in trying to "fool" someone into talking to you as the basis for any kind of a relationship is destroyed. Most of the time the people I encounter first know more about the business than does the boss, so it's good to get to know them. Some times those people can be just plain rude, but that comes with any personal interaction.

I hope that all your future callers are respectful of your position and don't make your life difficult.

RICK