Phone Calls

Submitted by wendii on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 23:17.
in

I was watching a random cop program and one of the protagonists needed information on where the person she was hunting was. She called the office, pretended to be the firm detailing his car and got the information she needed.

When I was a recruiter, one of my jobs on a Thursday was to get the local paper and call all the other agencies trying to find out which clients of theirs were hiring. You'd be amazed what people will tell you, without you having to tell any lies, just by using a pleasant voice. I called a business locally recently and asked for someone, only to be told he was in rehab. I didn't even give my name.

There's two lessons to this. One, if you need to know something, just ask. You'll probably get the answer. And two, if you get random calls from people with pleasant voices, find out who they are and what they need to know before you give away confidential information.

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the1mike's picture
Submitted by the1mike on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 16:54.

    Wendii, Thanks for

 

 

Wendii,

Thanks for your recent post. It reminds me of when I was working for a staffing agency. I used to do the same. I would call other agencies (often from my office line) and was still regularly amazed by how much info I'd get on these calls. Who's hiring, who the decision maker was, pay rates, etc.

Now I’m a recruit working from the inside at an IT company and have actually gotten calls from hiring managers at other companies looking to learn more about our hiring guidelines and package offerings.

Always cautious!

Michael

 

cmrud81's picture
Submitted by cmrud81 on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 00:01.

Works great for sales too

Wendi,

 

I am a sales manager. When I am trying to track down a specific decision maker, using a pleasant voice and asking for them works great.  Some of my younger team member are amazed at how easy it actually is. There is no deception or chicanery, just some good ol' fashioned "yes, please, thank you."

I make a point to smile when I am trying to get a hold of a specifically difficult contact. Every little ounce of niceness helps. Gate keepers have volunteered to pull people out of meetings or page them when they aren't supposed to be paged because I smile through the phone and ask to speak with the person I am looking for very nicely.

We are not nice enough to people these days. That is why being nice is so effective.

 

Chris