Why Sales Receptionist The Most Important Person In The Marketing Department | Sales & Marketing

One of the best ways to get people to like you is to first get them to enjoy dealing with your team.

The Most Important Marketer in Your Firm

A vital link in your team is your receptionist. It’s true. Did you know that callers talk with your receptionist two to three times more frequently than they talk with you? Every time your phone rings, your business is on the line.

A frugal-minded office often concludes that the receptionist has spare time when not answering the phone. So the receptionist is assigned administrative filler work. That way, when a prospect calls or comes into the office, often the receptionist will be too busy to help him. This happened to me recently. I walked into a reception area and the receptionist did not ac- knowledge me for several minutes because she was too busy entering data into a spreadsheet.

Or we decide that the newest member of our administrative staff should handle the phone. Seems logical, doesn’t it? Assign the person with the least knowledge of our firm the job with the most contact with our prospects!

Then there is the question of training. I am sure the ones I’ve talked to in the past six weeks had no instruction into what to say when answering calls. Here are some quotes I’ve heard recently from receptionists from professionals’ offices: At 2:30 P.M., “He’s not come in yet, I’ll put you to his voice mail.” CLICK. “He’s gone for the day, please call back tomorrow….” “Are you with a company?” “Accounting offices!” “Does he know you?” “Does he know what you’re calling about?”

Conclusion

Many firms have “trained” their number one marketing agent to repel business rather than attract it. The frightening aspect is that many firms are spending tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours on marketing programs to attract prospects while they let a low-paid receptionist cost them business.

You can make your receptionist a marketing asset rather than a liability with a little creative thought at no expense.