Does anyone have some advice on how to professionally deal with solicitors at work? I'm the receptionist at my company and I'm constantly trying to ward off solicitors. There are more and more of them lately and they are starting to get really tricky about getting information from me.
Answer by theacrob
May I ask who's calling? And what is this call in reference to? Do you have an appointment? I'm sorry, our ______ manager is in a meeting right now, would you care to leave him/her a voice mail?
Answer by Ephram
just say 'can you hold please'
then hang up
they'll think you just got disconnected
Answer by George P
Tell them your not able to make the decision on whether or not to buy their product. Then tell them your boss is away from the office and ask for their number and name and the boss will call them back if he is interested.
Keep track of who calls and when, so if they call back, you can tell them you gave the boss the message the day they called last time, and then apologize that the boss didn't call them back. I wouldn't suggest taking another message, because this might encourage them to call more.
Answer by GEEGEE
A sure fire way of figuring out if they are indeed solicitors is when they ask "may I speak to the person responsible for ordering office supplies" instead of asking directly for Randolf. If that's the case, then depending on your corporate policy, a polite, "Thank you, we're not interested" could work. If they are being sneaky about it, just ask them to forward YOU some material re whatever they are pushing and tell them you will forward it to the proper party, without naming names.
Answer by Wagon Burner
This is what I do.
"Im sorry but the person who makes the financial decisions does not work out of this office."
Also you might try going to the no call registry on line and register your number.
https://www.donotcall.gov/
Answer by Jm e
If your question is regarding phone calls, just ask them to whom they would like their call forwarded to. If they don't know, don't offer any information, just tell them it is company policy not to give employee information. If it is regarding drop in sales calls, just put up a sign saying, no solicitors without appointment.
Answer by E-ma
Ask your superiors about their policy for dealing w/ solicitors. Then give them some examples of what you hear on the phone & ask how they want you do handle them. Each company is different. At one of mine we were never allowed to ask a caller, "May I ask what this call is about?" b/c we dealt w/ confidentiality issues. It made it very hard to deal w/ solicitors & management realized that they had to change the policy about forwarding calls & deal w/ solicitors themselves by having the call put thru to them. So just ask management what they want.
Answer by eyJude
I ask them "is this a sales call?" Then tell them this is a business and to take us off the calling list.
Answer by Mandie
if its the phone-just take a quick message. most likely they want to speak to someone besides you anyway. . .if its in person, your obligated to be polite and ring your boss to let them know they have a visitor. then its their job to get rid of them or not. just remember some managers want to hear from those sales people.
Answer by Bert Weidemeier
Do you know the difference between a "solicitor" and a "salesman"? There is a major difference, and as a receptionist you should know how to properly distinguish between the two.
A salesman is a person who is selling a product to your company. The product may be office supplies, warehouse supplies, capital equipment, spring water, coffee services, copier paper, restroom supplies, cleaning services, etc. A salesman should be directed to the appropriate department manager or purchasing dept. because they can possibly provide a better product at a more favorable price to your company.
A solicitor is someone who either stops by, or calls, to ask for money for a charity, a local event that is being sponsored by a school, etc., and in return all your company gets is a thank you, if that. These people, you can just hang up on.
You should really be able to distinguish between the two, there is a major difference.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Orignal From: Dealing with solicitors professionally?
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