In this day and age you simply cannot break down the secretary screen. When doing so you sound like an obvious salesman, and secretaries and receptionists will hate you, and make your life miserable.

As this recorded call demonstrates, the key word is to ‘bond’ with the secretary screen and not try to break through it like a ‘battering ram’.  And if you know the proper use of humor when encountering the receptionist over the telephone, you’ll discover that there’s really no such thing as a ‘secretary screen’ in the first place.