Making a Sales Call: Bad Habits for Getting Through the Receptionist
By Mavicity, 28th Jan 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutBusinessSales & Marketing
Can't get past the receptionist and have her transfer you to the Marketing or Purchasing department?
Here are some bad habits to make it through.
- Bad habit # 1: Speak as if the receptionist is wasting your time.
- Bad habit # 2: Don't say you want to offer something, imply that you are the company's long time supplier..
- Bad habit # 3: Work the opposite sex.
- Got a tip on how to make that sale?
Bad habit # 1: Speak as if the receptionist is wasting your time.
Do not for one moment let the receptionist feel that she has power to let you through or not. Do not ever ask her for permission if you can please be transferred to one in charge of marketing because darling you ain't never gonna get there.
Assume power, speak in impeccable English and always as if you can't wait to dismiss the receptionist.
Bad habit # 2: Don't say you want to offer something, imply that you are the company's long time supplier..
No, you are not offering your printing services, you are the company's printer. Most of the time the receptionist has no idea anyway, so why let her know that you are just offering?
Introduce yourself as the company's _________ and she'll let you through.
Bad habit # 3: Work the opposite sex.
If you're a guy, you're in luck. Most receptionists are women and all you have to do is to charm your way through to the department you want to be transferred to.
This needs a little practice, and if you are not a natural charmer, well then, get out of sales, that's a frank way to put it.
Put your sex to your advantage. Practice your best bedroom voice.
Got a tip on how to make that sale?
Share your sales and marketing savvy and earn in the process.
All you have to do is start writing now.
Comments
29th Jan 2012 (#)
Great advice, thank you...:0)
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29th Jan 2012 (#)
Sarcastic, yes! Entertaining, yes! Good advice for the sales person? Absolutely not. In fact it is the worse advice that you could possibly give anyone in sales. I was a divisional sales manager for a niche publishing house for half a decade and the one thing that I insisted upon was that my salespeople who made their initial contact by telephone treat the receptionist/secretary/gatekeeper with honesty and respect. For the most part, when they do not put you through to the person you need to speak with, they are not being a you know what, but simply following orders. It will be their ass on the line if they disobey those orders. The gatekeeper can be your best asset at any company, if you win their trust and respect and you do not win that trust by lying to them, by disrespecting them by playing on their sex, etc.
The bottom line is that if any of my sales people treating a gatekeeper in the manner suggested in this article would be severely reprimanded the first time they did it and would be fired on the spot the second time they were caught doing it. The way my sales people conducted themselves reflected on me and the company I represented. Their dishonest conduct not only damaged their reputation in the eyes of that gatekeeper and her boss, but it damaged the reputation of the publishing house they represented.
As for the receptionist that answers the telephones for a large business, she will transfer your call to the person of interest secretary without giving a respectful person a hard time. Quite often, in fact more often than not, that secretary knows more about the sales people and the companies that her boss does business with than you think. If you choose to treat her as if she was a nobody and an ignorant nobody at that, it will be your funeral.
As a rule, I try to keep my comments made on any article here on Wikinut positive and encouraging, but this article, if taking in a serious vein, is downright dangerous.
"Practice your best bedroom Voice?" You get further by practicing honesty and sincerity.
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29th Jan 2012 (#)
HI Jerry, that is why I call them Bad Habits. They get you through the receptionist but they are still not acceptable.
Cheers!
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30th Jan 2012 (#)
i wish you didnt have bad experiece ....love the idea,,, i will play the third one you specified
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30th Jan 2012 (#)
I re-read the article again, after Jerry's comment. Sure enough, you have the three habits listed as bad habits. I hope Cowboy re-reads your page. Thank you for a well-written-out page, but it definitely is easy to get it backwards! Thanks to Jerry for straightening us out!
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