How many times have you called an organisation, asked some seemingly straightforward questions of the person on the other end of the telephone (you know, those questions requiring a “Yes” or a “No” answer), only to discover they seem to be vague, evasive or know very little about anything going on within their four walls?

I’ve literally had this experience (again) just now! The man with whom I was speaking could not be relied upon to eat his lunch, much less to impart basic knowledge concerning his colleagues, the IT infrastructure at the organisation for which he worked, or how best to proceed given his lack of authority on any subject! The only thing he could suggest was that I send an email with the questions I wanted answered to a generic email address. Not helpful in building relationships, and not necessarily his fault.

Rant over, folks. The simplest way to deal with this is to call the organisation again and ask to speak to anyone other than the person you’ve just spoken with.

But let’s be clear about this; I’m not implying that unless someone is a senior figure in an organisation you can’t expect to get any sense from them. On the contrary. Many a good business relationship has begun by establishing contacts in the middle ranks and building trust from there.

What I’m saying is beware of the person that has little or no authority but would like to convince you otherwise. Moreover, don’t be afraid to call them on it if you genuinely believe they are being evasive, withholding information, speaking for a colleague (particularly one in authority), trying to get you off the phone or just not in a position to give you credible answers

Detecting non-prospects is not always easy, but if you’re wasting far too much time with non-prospects and not qualifying them early in the conversation, you will be missing out on more productive conversations that will generate leads and sales.

If ascertaining someone’s authority level is something you want to become better at doing, call +44 208 133 0702 or email shaun@phoneforbusiness.com

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