One thing I find funny about so many of the “sneaky” salespeople, they don’t realize that in many offices it is the gatekeeper who will actually make the decision on your product.
In many offices, the gatekeeper is responsible for ordering the office supplies, booking the hotels, and making decisions for most of the products that salespeople sell to offices. Being deceptive and forcing the gatekeeper to play 20 questions is usually counterproductive. Ignore that advice in the sales manual about getting past the gatekeeper and talking to the person “in charge”. Yes, the boss might sign the check, but most of the time the gatekeeper is the one who’ll suggest that the office change coffee vendors.
The New Guy, may I ask how long you have been answering phones for a living? It just kind of boggles my mind that someone would have answered phones for a substantial amount of time and be disappointed that people only give their name when they are asked for it.
(Disclaimer: I answered phones in an office for about two and a half years after I graduated from college. For certain higher-ups in the office, I was instructed to take down a person’s name, organization, and reason for calling before attempting to forward the call, and to my recollection, I never thought that asking those three questions was a burden on me. My bosses would not let me get away with simply reporting a caller’s name, either.)
The OP’s mostly right. It should take minimal gray matter to realize “May I ask who’s calling,” means your call is being screened and you’ll need to offer some semblance of a reason why you should be let through. In some cases I suppose the admin’s just been instructed to introduce a call with a name, so I don’t think it’s a major offense if someone just says “John” and then sees what happens. That response would tend to make the caller look a little dimwitted, but it’s easily rectified.
My experience from working as an admin: the people who require a serious pitting are the ones who growl, “it’s none of your business,” when I ask why they’re calling, and then are adorable to my boss. Their stupidity is a triple threat: 1) It’s the definition of my business - it’s obviously what I get paid for. 2) Who do they think is the one forcing them to jump through hoops to get through? Me or my boss? …And most of all, 3) Don’t they know how their call is liable to be introduced???* “I’m not sure if you want to take this- ‘John’ is calling. He says it’s none of my f-ing business why. He’s a jackass. You want me to tell him you’re dead?” *
I don’t think you’re getting our point, either. If you’re calling an office for the first time, why on earth would you merely say your name? What good does that do me? Trust me, if you insist on only giving your name, you will never get through to the boss without her calling you - I’ll put you right into voicemail if you’re stubborn. I am not bothering my boss.
All I need to know is
“I’m Mr. Smith, from ABC Textiles, calling about sponsoring your fall event.” It is *counterproductive * to be stubborn and not give more information. If I am asking you, “May I ask who’s calling?” I am asking in a polite way, Who the hell are you? I’d rather not resort to other tactics and delay the time for you to get a real answer, but neither am I going to patch you through if you are fishy.
How long have *you * been answering calls that this isn’t pretty standard? The ones who *don’t * get this are the oddities, the rarities, and the annoyances. And I’ve been answering calls for quite a long time, in one job or another.
dalej42, you are so right. I give my boss my opinions, and it will invariably be like this, “ABC Textiles has the best price for this product, but their salesman was extremely rude when I called. Then there’s BCD Textiles, they cost a few bucks more, but the salesman took the time to explain it to me and give me options.” And she’ll factor that into her thought process.
It’s like when you’re dating. If they’re rude to the wait staff, they are not nice people. If they’re rude to the front desk, they are also not nice people.
“Hi, is this Person Who Left the Voice Mail Message?”
“No, can I tell him/her who’s calling?”
“This is The Mango from Legitimate Massage Establishment returning his/her call.”
Really, how hard is it?
'Course, I very seldom encounter the gatekeeper because most people who call during their working hours call from their cell phone (probably about 90% of the massage establishments here in Vegas are the kind that give “full service” massage, so I imagine that people don’t want their secretaries/coworkers to think they’ve been calling a, cough massage parlor.) But really, the same rules apply if you’re calling the person’s home and a family member/roommate answers and doesn’t know who you are or why you’re calling.
Probably more often than not, identifying your company as well as your self will cue the gatekeeper in on what your calling about, since it’s likely that said gatekeeper is reasonably aware of what businesses the boss is doing business with, and what kind of business they’re doing.
I have a friend who works in a lawyers’ office. I have to go through this every single time with the exact same receptionist when I call her:
Receptionist: Good morning, %$#@ Law Firm
Jill: Hi, may I speak to Joanne Cortez? This is Jill Gatwood, I’m a friend of hers.
Receptionist: Who may I say is calling?
What am I supposed to say next? “This is still Jill Gatwood but you may say Minnie Mouse is calling”? I just said I’m her friend. Do I still need to state my business? After the rigamarole, she transfers me to Joanne’s desk and she’s always there ready to chat. I find this routine kind of annoying.
She asks you who you are *after * you tell her? She doesn’t sound very bright to me, and you’re right to find her annoying.
Personally, most times I place a business phone call, I say, “Hi, this is Ravenman from Important Place #1. Is Anaamika in?” If, for some reason, I don’t start the phone conversation that way, and the receptionist asks who I am, I say, “I’m Ravenman from Important Place #1.” It would never cross my mind to volunteer the subject of the call, my title, my return phone number, or any other information, if I was only asked for my name.
If someone is being obstinate, and they want to try to sneak through a phone screener with only giving out their name, I think it is all the more reason for someone answering phones to ask what this is about.
But my reading of the OP isn’t, “First time callers to an office should introduce themselves and their business in order to be an effective salesman for whatever product/cause they’re selling.” Instead, the OP seems miffed that people respond with their name when they are asked their name, and that other people are not aware of a “custom” of responding with several details to a request for a name. As far as I can tell, there’s no such custom.
I haven’t answered phones in a front office in mayn years, but like I said, I did it for a while and this never occured to me. But when a call is put through to me now, I have no problem interrupting someone to ask for their name, where they’re calling from, and their phone number before the conversation even begins. I simply don’t see how its any imposition for someone who answers a call to ask what the call is regarding, especially if one’s boss expects it.
Ok, top this: our attorney’s secretary is deaf. No, seriously. I think it is absolutely wonderful that the attorney is happy to employ someone with a disability- that rocks! I applaud her, she rules, on and on.
Here’s the thing: don’t put her on the phones. Don’t get me wrong, I know there is plenty of technology to aid her, but she still. can. never. hear (/understand). me. I have to yell into the phone and speak very, very, very slowly. Our clients look at me like I am crazy.
The first few times, I got really pissed off. Then one day I went into their office, met the secretary, and realized she’s deaf. I felt like a bitch.
Still: I may be a bitch, but why would you put someone on the phone who can’t…handle the phones. It still pisses me off and I avoid calling just for this reason.
Oh, I hate this question from all angles.
At work. I don’t like asking it. I very rarely take calls for my boss but sometimes the boss is on the other line, in which case it will roll to mine. Aaargh. Fortunately–and by design–I am not working in a place where my boss is going to ask me to ask this question, because it happens to be a dealbreaker for me. I ask that at the interview: “Is there anything about this job that would cause me to ever have to ask the question, ‘May I tell him/her who’s calling?’?”
I really hate–I cannot emphasize how much I hate–for someone who’s screen my calls to ask that question. Just give me the name, okay, and if I decide it’s someone I don’t want to talk to then I will say I’m not available right now. I don’t want someone screening my calls.
(Hmmm, maybe this comes from having been a reporter, where we practically had to hit the receptionist on the head to get her not to ask people calling the editorial offices who they were (what if it was Deep Throat?) but meanwhile the advertising department insisted on knowing.)
But the kicker? My husband wants me to ask people this when they call for him at home. And I absolutely do not want him to ask anyone that who calls for me. After a few rounds of [him] “Who is it?” [me]“It’s your wasted, drunken friend from college, I think–he didn’t say” it became less of an issue.
I get this all the time. [me] “Hi, this is Hilarity N. Suze, could I speak to Mr. Big?”
[cerberus] “May I tell him who’s calling?”
[me] “Okay . . . sure.”
It’s a small bus I rode… :eek:
Wow - I had no idea that I was circumventing some sort of gatekeepers protocol. If someone asks me who is calling - I take it literally. I give my name. Period.
It seems that all of the people who answer telephones are trying to protect their bosses from the dreaded salespeople and such that prevent real business from occuring.
I am not a salesperson, nor am I a solicitor of donations.
I am a consumer.
I might be calling your boss to try to buy something or some service.
If your boss does not take my call because I don’t conform to some convention that says that I should read between the lines and state my business when you ask for my name, then I will leave my phone number. If your boss does not return my call, I will write off your company as being unable to meet my needs as a consumer and move on to your competitor.
Your company does not simply buy things - it sells them too. To people like me.
This is fine. If I need more info than this, I can ask for it.
That’s all I’m suggesting that the OP do.
Really, I’m just astounded that this is such an issue. I have always, for as long as I can remember, introduced myself/company/reason for calling when I call someone (unless it’s people I know/work with enough they know me by first name). Even when I was a teenager. To me, it’s the polite thing to do, it takes two seconds, and it makes it go faster for me. (Plus, frankly, it endears you to the Gatekeeper. A happy Gatekeeper is a Helpful Gatekeeper.) This seems intuitive to me.
And, no, I don’t give out every last shred of my business (a busy Gatekeeper kept on the line for more information than she needs is an annoyed, Unhelpful Gatekeeper). What’s so hard about calling somewhere and saying:
Hi, this is niblet_head from Such and So. I’m calling to talk to Mr. BigWig about this or that. Is he available?
Help the Gatekeeper help you. Badda-boom-badda-bing.
“And may I ask for whom the who who’s calling is calling?”
What about offices that buy or sell nothing, like mine?
My boss likes me to get information from callers so she can be prepared to help. We are a counseling center in a college. I’ll get calls from outside practitioners who just say " This is Dr. Jones for Boss Lady." So, now I have to wheedle the purpose of their call from them. I have a very good follow up question, btw. Here it is:
“Will she know the purpose of this call?” Pretty good, no? I invented that.
If yes, cool. Generally people tell the truth. If no, people tend to get the picture and tell me the purpose of the call. If no, but they don’t want to share the purpose of the call, well, then I’ll just let Boss Lady decide.
Parents like to be all secretive too. I just tell them I’m asking which student they are calling about so that the counselor can better help them. If they still want to be secretive, well, that’s fine too, but I let them know that they’ll get better answers from the counseling staff if we know which student is being discussed.
It took me a long time to figure all this out, I’ll admit.
But, please, anyone who likes can feel free to say “Will he/she know the purpose of this call?”
In Japan the expectation is that the caller will say their name, even for private calls to homes. Naturally, our Japanese clients all say their name and their company names, so we don’t have any issues. “This is Tanaka of Chou Company, can I talk to Player San?”
Sales people will call and ask to talk to the “President” and I have those screened.
When non-Japanese call, they rarely say their names, and my Gateway goes through the asking process. I used to get a lot of Western “investment advisors” calling until I learned who not to give business cards at Amerian Chamber of Commerce events. 
Please note: The literalist answer to “May I ask who is calling?” is not “Joe Blow” but “Yes, you may.” (Or “No you may not.”) If you want my name, ask for my name. If you want my purpose, ask for it. Short and to the point works.