"Please
tell (your prospect) that (your name) from (your
company) is on the line."
Hardly a phrase to arouse conflict—but astonishingly,
it does!
"Please tell (your prospect) that (your name) from
(your company) is on the line" is the phrase that I
advise introductory callers to use with secretaries in
answer to the question, "What is this in reference
to?" [Note: Do not use this answer with a
receptionist—that is a different situation with a
different response. Receptionists aren't
screening—they're saying, "There is no one here
by that title."]
Routinely, when I'm conducting workshops or working
one-on-one with coaching clients, people tell me this
phrase sounds "rude," "pushy" or
"too aggressive." They fear that in saying
this phrase to a secretary, that secretary may respond
negatively and keep them from their prospect.
This is fascinating. The words themselves are neutral.
"Please tell (your prospect) that (your name) from
(your company) is on the line." There's even a
"please" at the beginning of the sentence to
make it polite!
What causes this uproar? Let's imagine that Andrea Jung,
CEO of Avon Products, Inc., calls your prospect and says
to the secretary, "Please tell (your prospect) that
Andrea Jung from Avon is on the line." Is she being
"rude," "pushy" or "too
aggressive"?
How about President George W. Bush? If he calls your
prospect and says to the secretary, "Please tell
(your prospect) that George W. Bush is on the
line," is he being "rude,"
"pushy" or "too aggressive"?
If you believe that Andrea Jung and George W. Bush can
say this sentence and you cannot, what does this say
about your belief system? Do you believe that you and
what you have to say are not important enough? If so, it
is time to change the way you think. "Pushy,"
"too aggressive," and "rude " are
all judgments that you put on yourself. Put another way,
it's "stuff you make up."
Remember that on an introductory call, your prospect's
secretary (just like your prospect) is a stranger. You
have no way of knowing what that prospect's secretary is
thinking. You can choose to believe that she will view
you as "rude," "pushy" or "too
aggressive" or you can choose to believe that she
will view you as confident, in control and having
something important to say. In the first scenario, your
expectation is that she will "screen you out."
In the second scenario, your expectation is that she
would put your call through, that you and your call are
important.
Your expectations can become self-fulfilling prophecies.
The first expectation is self-defeating. You are
"doomed before you dial." The second is
empowering—whether or not you actually reach that
prospect. There are always more prospects, and you have
the power to make more calls. Your expectation that your
call is important and that you will eventually reach
your prospect puts you in control.
© 2003 Wendy Weiss
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