
How To Get Me To Hang Up On You - peter123
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/12/how-to-get-me-to-hang-up-on-you.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+AVc+(A+VC)&utm_content=Google+Reader
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bdfh42
I used to get this from time to time in a previous job. I always (without
exception) immediately hung up. Sometimes I got remonstrations from whoever
was trying to place the call and I would respond as gently as possible - if Mr
X (it always was a Mr) wants to talk to me then they will pick up the phone
and call me. If they can't be bothered then I can't be bothered to hear from
them

This is not arrogance but a matter of common civility.

~~~
staunch
What's uncivil about asking you to do me a favor by waiting 30 seconds?

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hexis
In effect, they are asking for a favor in the middle of the favor.

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staunch
The first favor is answering my call?

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enneff
Yes. A phone call is an interruption. More people should treat it that way.

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lucumo
Yes, thank you! My cell phone is set to emit no sound when I get called, nor
do I notice the vibrate all the time. When I'm busy I just don't notice it's
"ringing". People actually get annoyed with me.

It really irks me when people assume I should always answer the telephone
whenever they call.

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ams6110
Easily solved: when they put you on hold, transfer the call to YOUR assistant
(or some willing co-worker if you don't have one). When the caller comes on
the line, your accomplice says "OK, please hold the line and I'll get him."
Turnabout is fair play.

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eru
I hope this does not escalate.

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dmoney
I hope it does. What would the next level be?

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dasht
A polite way to do it would be for the assistant to say: "Hello, my name is
Bob. I'm calling on behalf of Alice who would like to speak with you on the
phone. Might you have a moment to speak with Alice now or may we schedule a
phone appointment for later today?" Of course, if the matter is not urgent but
can't be handled by email, an even better solution is for Alice to send email
requesting a phone appointment in the first place.

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rythie
I'd hold that line if the person calling were important to me, i.e. _they_
were the VC, or press or the president. If they were selling me something I
wouldn't wait.

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zaidf
Same here. Irony is, some people in certain cultures don't respect you if you
pick up the phone and call saying you are the owner of the company. As I
posted in the OP, we closed a deal after putting my friend in between the deal
to act like my secretary. Until we did that, we weren't perceived that highly
even by the secretary at the other end.

But seriously, I am not letting a deal go because I am irked by a practice
like this, no matter how annoying it may be.

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dpapathanasiou
" _we closed a deal after putting my friend in between the deal to act like my
secretary_ "

That's brilliant. I'm going to try that too.

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staunch
Let's say someone makes an average of 20 calls every day. Since no one answers
their phone anymore only 5 of those get picked up. That's 15 voicemails to
leave and 5 calls to take. Those 15 calls/voicemails took at least 30 minutes
probably. That's 30+ minutes per day his assistant can save him. So 2.5+ hours
of his week he can save, just by making you wait 30 seconds for his assistant
to transfer the call when you do pick up.

It doesn't seem arrogant or lame in that scenario. Now, if they make you wait
more than a minute for the called to be transferred that's not cool in my
book. They should be ready to immediately handle any calls that do get
answered.

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mattmaroon
A more appropriate way (and what a lot of VCs do when talking to entrepreneurs
pitching them) would be to have your assistant set up a call time via email,
then make the call yourself.

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staunch
I agree, that is better. It only works when you know well in advance that you
need to talk to someone though. You still have to handle all the other
unscheduled calls somehow.

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lallysingh
Text messaging.

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mattmanser
I'm sure if he got a 'Please hold for the president' he wouldn't be doing any
hanging up, some people's time is more important than his.

~~~
SamAtt
Which is sort of the point. I hate when people do this too but people started
doing it because other people put them on hold. So it's basically being
preemptively rude to someone else to keep them from being rude to you.

Whether it's effective depends on who has the power in the relationship. As
you say, if the President really did call I suspect he would wait (and if he
didn't he'd be a fool). But when someone else calls him they're probably
asking for money which means he has the power in the relationship and can hang
up.

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peter123
there should be automated service for this... esp. for customer service calls.

