Here is a preface to this article:

Based on our experience with printers from across the country, new business development continues to be a key objective. Fraught with roadblocks and challenges, successful development of profitable new business depends on a number of factors. They include identifying the right targets, an effective plan of attack, the discipline and skills to execute that plan and a process to measure and track your progress.

In the process of executing the plan, one of the first points of contact in a prospective customer's organization is of course the receptionist. In our surveys of buying organizations, we have found one of the roadblocks to the success of a prospecting salesperson is their treatment of that key individual (often referred to as the "gatekeeper who will not allow me access to the decisionmakers!"). Whether purposeful or inadvertent, ineffective tactics can be the ruin of an otherwise well thought out strategy or at the very least increase the length of time needed to progress