[cwright]

I am new to the job and find one of the most daunting tasks is to play the gatekeeper. I found Chrissy's article to be very helpful but would like to know some additional best practices. Who has some tried and true ways to say no? I find it easy when it is run of the mill sales calls or something I know my boss isn't interested in but my challenge is how to say no in a nice way to people with whom we want to keep doors open for in the future. The kinds of things I routinely have to say no to are speaking requests, informational interviews of job seekers referred to us by clients, meeting requests he doesn't have time for, etc.

I have the basics down, but seem to trip up when I have think fast (I am a terrible liar so excuses don't flow right off my tongue--I have to give it thought!)and want to be better prepared. If i had a short list of stock replies, I would feel more comfortable. To that end, if anyone has a fail-safe way of dealing with tele-marketers I would be grateful as well.

[Jodith]

My usual excuse is, "I'm sorry, she's really swamped for the next couple of weeks. Perhaps Ms. Jones, her associate can help you in the meantime." Once you get to know who the fall back person is for things you boss can't possibly get to, it helps quite a bit to deflect some things in other people's direction.

As to telemarketers, my reply depends on what they are selling. If it's someone who just "wants to verify information", I just very firmly say, "I'm sorry, we aren't interested in sharing our information". Then I don't say anything else until they try again and then I just repeat myself until they hang up. For products we're not interested, I just say, "I'm sorry, we're not interested" and repeat as above. If it's something that we *might* be interested in, I ask them to mail or e-mail something to me and I'll forward it to the appropriate person.

If someone calls and won't tell me what it's about, my stock reply is, "I'm sorry, he's not available, may I help you." In no uncertain terms does anyone get through to the boss without telling me what it's about first.