redfathom Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 I just had a person call our office, I am the Exec. Asst. but I am covering the reception desk. He was talking non specific about government contracts and not making much sense. When I tried to get more info, he kept saying, "no, no, no" followed by his reasons for objections to every attempt I made to get him assistance. I offered to give him our sales office number, I offered to take down his info so I could find the right person to call him back, I offered to take down his info and give it to my CEO, his reply: "no, no, no I know you are the watch dog, woof woof, but I don't want to inundate you data." (What like your name, phone number and reason for calling). Then he said that because I would not transfer him to our CEO we lost his business and he would go to our competitor. I am not sure what business we lost because he wanted us to help him and was not specific either way about what he needed. How do you deal with calls where the person, will not listen to you, cuts you off and makes demands with out giving you specific information so you can help them. I kind of think this call is a bit funny. I have to screen all of my boss calls (the CEO) and sometimes people are just weird, they wil call for him and I will let them know that I take all of his messages then they hang up, they then call back a day later and the same thing. It's very annoying. Link to post Share on other sites
lost4ever Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 I'm sorry such and such is unavailable to take your call at the moment. I am his assistant and if you would like to give me your contact informtion (bosses name) will get back with you as soon as reasonable. Link to post Share on other sites
Author redfathom Posted February 7, 2008 Author Share Posted February 7, 2008 Yeah, I try that and they they want his VM, which I explain that I screen, so they want his e-mail or cell phone, which I will not give out. Now I get as much info as they want to give and that's it. I don't even stress over it anymore. We get about 10-15 solicitation calls a day, it's very annoying. Link to post Share on other sites
lost4ever Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Don't you have it set up to where you can put them directly into his voice mail without it ringing his phone...don't even tell them you screen the calls, let them leave a message if it doesn't effect sales don't give him the message. It is annoying, I know Link to post Share on other sites
Tomcat33 Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Redfathom what you experienced is the call from a very pushy sales person who got fed up because all he wanted was to be put through to the highest ranking person in the company. A lot of sales people will bypass channels wanting to talk to the CEO or VP of a certain department and they will pry and pry and befriend the gatekeeper ie, you, the EA to get to the top. What these people don't realise is that the decision makers are often NOt the VPs and execs and they will a lot of the time piss them off with their calls. You did the right thing by screening the call. Given his reaction clearly he was calling the exec to offer him/her some business thinking they were the decision maker. When you get calls like that tell them the following: "I am not in a position to disclose information on our executive team if you want to leave your information I will make sure the correct person gets your information and they can contact you back." If they persist just tell them "I'm sorry but I am extremely busy right now and I am going to have to cut this call short". (always be pleasant and professional and speak with a smile as you say this so that your firm words don't sound rude) I hear the lunch time fill-in receptionist at my job sometimes be ignorant to the callers it's not good to represent the company with a snippy tone but you can get your point across with tact and composure. The rule of thumb is this: if a person is asking a lot of questions and is avoiding the disclosure of their own coordinates ie, who they are what their company is and what they are after, pretty safe to think it's a sales call. They may be selling a product/service or themselves ie looking for work. I deal with a lot of those calls since I am in a positions to decide on vendors, I can spot a sales call before my phone rings :laugh: Link to post Share on other sites
Author redfathom Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 tomcat, haha. I am pretty good at figuring them out. I just had another call where the caller hung up on me. HAHA. I was sitting in the back next to boss and answered the phone. The caller asked for my boss and I said, "I take his phone calls can I take a message." He said, "Is X the owners?" I said, "no he is the CEO." He said, "Is he available?" I said, "no, can I..." the guy hung up. HAHA. I told my boss I hope I remember his voice the next time he calls back so I can hang up on him, JK. Link to post Share on other sites
littlekitty Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 Ehhh I wouldn't worry about it. It's your job to screen his calls, you're doing your job. If they were really interested in doing business they'd be happy to go through the correct channels. Since they aren't, likeyhood is they are trying to sell you something. When I worked as a PA many moons ago, I dealt with this type of thing all the time. I personally found it funny! Sod them!! Link to post Share on other sites
Author redfathom Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 Yeah, I just brush it off. But one day I might just snap on someone. Yesterday one of the other employees in the office was upfront when I got a call and the person hungup, he was shock. He asked me if the caller actually hungup and I said, yep...it happens all the time. Oh well, Karma right. Link to post Share on other sites
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