How to get past the secretary on the phone ?

How to get past the secretary on the phone ? What you need to know.

As you all know, in every battalion there is a role for every soldier. Generally, the front line soldiers are found on the battlefields. They are used to protect, to examine the dangers which arrive and sometimes to take the blows for the other soldiers. We also find them in our companies: I named our secretaries. We all know their role, to welcome, inform, take complaints and direct our customers during physical meetings. On the phone, their role is similar, except that they have the added mandate of filtering!

Whether it is at the request of the manager or on their own! How many of you have experienced the frustration of having to talk to someone and not being able to access them? Thus, to succeed in talking to this person, we sometimes have to take a long road strewn with obstacles, jump over rocks, swim in troubled waters to finally get our hands on our Holy Grail: namely our precious customer! Today, the idea is to tell you in a few points how to get to our customer without losing an arm or a leg!

The seduction of the secretary. It may make you smile, but a smile is heard on the phone and is your best asset. We are not talking to robots but to human beings and God knows how many dull, unpleasant people they had to redirect before your call! So put on your best smile and simply ask for what you want!

The resistance. If the seduction phase does not bear fruit and your beautiful does not give in to your charm, you will have to move on to the next step. Namely, the directive request. It would be a question of being directive without forcing. That is to say that instead of formulating your sentences in the interrogative form, you should use the affirmative. Thus, instead of “Could I please speak to Mr X”, we could say “I would like to speak to Mr X please”. Be careful, it’s not about being rude! It’s about having a confident tone!

It may be that after these first efforts nothing is gained yet! It may even be that your dear and sweet secretary still does not accede to your request, so you can ask her what is the reason for this refusal. By talking and trying to understand this refusal, you will have valuable information that can be used later to ask for the extension number for example. Communicating allows you to create a link and to have access to training or to your client. Remember, we are interacting with people!

It is possible that the secretary’s curiosity will pique and you will be asked what the call is about. Our advice is simple: be brief, concise, don’t say too much and use technical terms instead. This way, you will go beyond your field of expertise and gain access to the doors of the precious client!

If despite all your efforts your coveted one does not want you (it can happen!) then you can take an alternative option. Early morning or late night calls usually allow you to reach your contact. Very often, when the secretaries are absent, the director will answer the calls.

There is another option available to you. You can always ask to be directed to a department rather than a person. This way, the secretary does not take the “risk” of directing you to a person and you get to the service you want! This way everyone is satisfied!