Meeting the public in person

MEETING THE PUBLIC IN PERSON

Among the most important duties a secretary performs during the
day is that of acting as a receptionist. She is frequentlycalled
upon to greet many people who wish to transact business with her
employer and her firm. In many cases the secretary may be the
caller’s first impression ofthe company and she must be sure it is a
favorable one. If your enjoy meeting, talking, listening, and
working wit people, you will probably find this phaseof your job
intensely interesting.
Receiving callers and handling appointments is one of the ways
in which you can make your boss look particularly good. Inthis
way the secretary meets the public-by means of the telephone-is
discussed in the next unit.
Receiving callers. Your employer places a great deal of impo-tance on gaining and maintaining the good will of the public.
In businnes, good will is the favorable attitude other persons
have toward the firm; the attitudeof customer, salesmen, execu-
tives, propective employees, and so on. Your employer knows that
depends in large measure on satisfied customers who areattracted
to make initial purchases and encouraged to become steady customers.
Every employee is personal representative of its firm and of
directly with al thiscustomers. Today, however, the size of
ship- Therefore, the executive must depend upon this employees to
help him in dealing with the public.
The secretary’sattitude. The secretary is probably the
employer’s most important public relations representative. She is
responsible for her boss callers while in the office.