The Selection of Callers

In the selection of callers, sometimes it is a diplomatic young man bearing some impressive title such as "Assistant to the President," or "Executive Assistant," who learns the nature of the visitor's errand and proceeds to make the necessary adjustments. Sometimes the private secretary or the switchboard operator performs these same functions. Sometimes the office boy meets the caller with a card and the polite request that he will write his name and a message. The card is then duly passed upon behind the scenes.

The executive by some such methods as these closes the door against unimportant callers. Yet there are shrewd pickers of locks on the outside.

The Growing Aggressiveness of Callers

In books on salesmanship these lock-pickers have their courage whetted by such statements as, "There are a few men -a very few-who are mighty hard to see. A salesman must try everlastingly to find a way to get in instead of sitting back and proving to himself that it is impossible. When he has finally decided that it cannot be done, he will be obliged to watch some fellow in the same line come along, get in, and make the sale. It should be remembered, always, that there are some men who are getting in; there are some men from whom the prospect is buying. Be one of them."

In sales magazines and at every gathering of salesmen, stories on "How I got by those secretaries," are related with pride.

"A clerk at the information desk," so runs one of these stories, "asked me, 'Whom do you wish to see?'

"I don't wish anything-I came to see Mr. Jennings,' I replied. "Tell him I have arrived-the name is McClure.'

"The girl, impelled by the assurance I put into my com

mand, hesitated, then telephoned to Mr. Jennings that 'Mr. McClure had arrived.' Mr. Jennings came out."

The particular "obstacles between you and your prospect" are analyzed by alert sales managers, remedies appropriate for each are devised, and the whole scheme charted for the edification of their men. (See Figure 19.)

The view current today that all men are salesmen, engaged in the marketing either of commodities or their own services, in itself exalts aggressiveness and shrewdness in reaching the person with whom an interview is sought.

How Shall the Executive Protect His Time?

What does all this mean to the man in the office, who has his tasks to get through on schedule time? Simply that the forces of attack are growing stronger; to protect himself, he must necessarily strengthen his forces of defense.

Judge Gary, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the United States Steel Corporation, meets callers by appointment, a plan which he adheres to rather strictly. It is said that an executive from a prominent Chicago manufacturing house, armed with a letter of introduction from the President of the American Bridge Company, one day walked unannounced into Judge Gary's anteroom. He had made a special trip to New York to see the Chairman. After a three days' wait he returned to Chicago with his errand unfulfilled. A few weeks later he returned, this time by appointment, interviewed Judge Gary without delay, and closed an important deal.

"Judge Gary's time is sometimes filled for a few weeks ahead," explained his private secretary. "However important the unexpected visitor, the Chairman cannot always drop his work or break engagements to see him. Unless the visitor can transact his business with other officers of the company,

he must make his appointment through me and wait until Judge Gary can see him."

The president of a Chicago wholesale house, working upon the principle that it is easier to keep callers out than to get them to go on time, admits no caller directly to his private office. Instead the president leaves his office, usually with some papers in his hand, and greets the caller who remains outside the "dead line" railing. Should a short private discussion appear desirable, the president invites the caller inside the railing with some such remark as: "Come inside a minute or two." This time limit acts as a warning suggestion, which is reinforced by the handful of papers and, if necessary, by the president's statement that he must get back to his desk. "Once he lands in a chair, it's practically impossible to get a man out without dynamiting him until he has told the whole story," says this executive in explaining his procedure.

Shortening the Caller's Stay

Trouble may also be forestalled by granting the caller a definite amount of time in advance. "I have a meeting this morning at ten," a traction executive told his visitor, "which gives me fifteen minutes now. I will be back at half-past one and will then have a half-hour before two o'clock, when I have another engagement. If fifteen minutes will do, I wish you would come in now; if it will take longer, suppose you come around this afternoon."

Such a simple and straightforward statement gives no offense, but it usually does condense into a few minutes what otherwise might be a prolonged interview.

Once the caller has been admitted, the time should be spent profitably. The caller, it is presumed by the fact of his admittance, has a mission which the executive considers worth his while and upon this mission accordingly both men should focus their attention; irrelevancies are time wasters to be

avoided. "If you want to get the most from the other fellow," says a newspaper executive, "never talk about yourself nor permit him to talk about you."

In practice this policy may require a certain amount of planning for each interview; otherwise time is liable to be consumed on non-essentials while some main point possibly will be overlooked entirely.

"I keep at hand," says a real estate executive, "a list of things to be taken up personally with different people who come into the office. When an habitual caller is announced, it takes but the time that he is walking from the outside office to my door to glance at his record card and prime myself for the interview. When he comes in I know exactly what I want to talk over with him and I shape the interview accordingly.

"I never let a man saunter in and talk at random by way of preamble. I get my business through with him first, close it off, and have that much done, then I ask him what he wants of me and am able to get through with the rest of his call in record time."

Closing the Interview

The interview, even though kept in fruitful channels, after a time reaches the point when its prolongation would mean waste. How terminate it?

Various expedients will be mentioned. As to their use it may be said in general: (1) choose whichever expedient seems best suited to your own personality and that of your caller; and (2) commence with delicate hints and gradually work toward the more extreme measures, meanwhile balancing against the risks involved by the caller's possible resentment, your own certain loss in personal efficiency.

A hint which suffices for some callers is a remark such as "I'm glad to have had this opportunity to talk with you,"