ONTHEUNE BUSINESSSKllLS.
CALLING FOß AN
APPOINTMENT
SiewollentelefonischaufEnglischeinenTerminvereinbaren,aberSie
kennendenGeschäftspartnerkaum?KENTAYLORgibtTipps. W"II,,'
Stage2:CreatingJ.illM
Trytoforma linkbetweenrouand}'ourbusinesspart-
ner,orbetweenyourtwOorganizations.It'sdifficultco
hangUDonsomeoncwhenyouhavecommoninreresrs,
experiencesoraCQuainrances.Thesean:asarethebasis
ofafeiend!}'businessrelationship,soyoushouIdoffer
andlookforlinks.Herearesomeexamples:
"Stefan Johansson, whoworks forourSwedish partners,
gavemeyournameassomeonetocontacl."
W
c somerimesnecd{OcaHpeoptewcdon'rknow
crwirhwhomwehavchadonlyJimiredconracr.
Maybcyauwamtomakeanappoinrmenr.or
maybeyauwanttofmdoursameinformationtramthc
otherperson.Inbothcases,yauhave[0builda re1arion-
shipwirhYOUtbusinessparmersquicklysorhatrhey
willgiveyousomeof[heuvaluabletime.
ManypeoplearenerVQusabolltmakingsuchcallsin
a fareign[anguage,He.rei5a simple,rhree-stagemethod
youcanliSt[0makethesecallseasier[Qmanage.
Stage1:Getnoticed
You needtocreatea pOSitlVl", friendly 3rlllosphcre
rightfromthestarr.Thismeansgeniusyourbusiness
parmer'snamerightandusingit[WoOtthreetimesat
[hebeginningofthecall.Youshoulda!waysknowthe
nameofthepersonyouarecalling.Eichetfindrhisout
bcforehand,orasktheswirchboardofthecompanyfor
help.Here'sanexample:
"Good rnorning, Ms Carlsson.This is BerndWohlgemuth
phoning, from Hamburg. I'm a key-accoynt manager at
Petrolinc.Thereason I'rncalling, MsCarlsson,istoask if
anyonefrornyourcompanywillattendtheGulfConference
inJanuary."
KENTAYLORisa partnerinAxiom,a communica·
tionsconsultancy in London (www.axiomskills.
COOl).andtheauthor 0150 WaystoJmproveYaur
TelephoningiJndTeJecooferendngSkills(Summer-
town).Contaet:KTayl0f"8680aol.c.om
00 YOtlcaopractisethistopieonBusinessSpotlightAudio
Stage3:Awakeninterest
Nowyouhavetokeepyourparrner'simerestsothathe
orsheconrinuestolisten.Youcanrryllsingmethods
suchasthefollowing:
a) Haveadear,shondescriptionofyourcompany
ready:
"Asyouperhapsknow,Petrolineisone 01 theworld'slead-
ingconsultantsinthepetrochemieaJfield."
b)Haveashurtexplanationofwhyyouareolling:
"We'relookingforcontactsinScandinavia,andthat'swhyI
wonderedifanyonefromyourorganizationwouldbeatthe
GulfConference."
c)HaveoneortWObenefitsreadytohelpyourpartners
undersrandwhytheyshouldgiveyoumoretime:
"Wethinkourtwocompanieswouldbenefitfromsharingour
long experiencein the petrochemical field, and that we
couldbothbenefitfromourcontactsinourdifferentpartsof
lheworld."
Thissequenceoftenworks.Ify~ufollowir,youwill
findthatforeveryeightpeoplt"youcall,twowillhang
up,fourwilllistenpolitely,andtwowillgiveYOlltheir
time.
Or:"Petrolincislookingfora partnerinScandinavia,and
oneofoursuppliersgaveusthenameofyourcompany.n
Or;HWeactuallymetatthetradefairinBeijinglastSeptem-
ber,andyougavemeyourcare!.~
Finally,wheneveranyone.rri.ms youroll,danorbe
defensive.Thcmostcommonrc-asonsfornottalk.ingto
youareeitherlackoftimeorthatyouhavereachedthe
wtongperson.Insuchcases,it'sprobablybesrsimply
tOsaysumerhingalongthelinesof:
HFine.Iunders!and.Whenwoulditbecooyenienttocallyou
back?"
Or:"Fine.Butifyouarenottherightpersontotalkto,per-
hapsyotlcouldhelpmetoidentifysomeotherpeopleyou
thinkmightbeabletohelpme." Il!
Verbindung
etw.ZUlllckwei5en
Großkundenbetreuer(in)
8eratungsunlernehmen
passen
hier:beleidigtsein
(beijmdm.leinfach
auflegen
8ekilnnte(rl
einenTerminvereinbaren
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Telefonzentrale
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ac:quaintilnce[:.'twelDt;ms]
appolntment:makean- !;'pJlDlffi;:lnt]
consultiln<:yrk:lll's,o,ll;:lnsJj
consul!antsIbll'SAlt;:lnt~l
con-nnienl:be-[bn'\'i:ni~nIJ
defensive:be-[di'fenslvJ
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switchboardf'~wltJb:t:dJ
tradefairI'lreldfc:.1
key-accountmana;;;;..~,---
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512009 BusinessSJxldigbt^49