Do you request to "hold?"
 

If you call to speak to someone, say at a law firm, accounting firm or another professional business office, and if the receptionist informs you he/she is on the phone, do you ask to be placed on hold until they get off their call? Or do you simply leave a message?

Depends on why I'm calling. Usually, I'll leave a message, but if there's some real urgency, I'll hold and perhaps ask the receptionist to let the person I'm calling know that I'm holding.

ETA: I wouldn't wait on hold or ask that the peson I'm calling be told that I'm holding unless the person I'm calling knows me.

Telemarketers do, quite a bit. Most of them are instructed never to leave messages, and to get ahold of whoever their lead is, no matter what it takes. I usually answer the phone at my office, and unless the person has informed that they are a contractor, I assume, if they ask to be put on hold, that they are a telemarketer...so they get left on hold until I feel like dealing with them.

I do if I know they're bad about returning calls and they're on the other line.

I am with kevin on that one. If there bad at returning their calls i will ask to be put on hold....it beats 1. not getting a return call or 2. phone tag

For me, it also depends on whether "leaving a message" means the receptionist writing down "Please Call MysticCat" or whether I can leave voice-mail. If I can leave voice-mail and explain why I'm calling, what info I need, etc., then that's great. If it's going to be a written message, then I might want to hold.

I hear that! i have a better chance at voice mail then with a receptionist taking the msg because lets get real we all have worked in offices and for supervisors your msg is low priority the majority of the time

In my office it is policy to always transfer the call to whomever it is for (and our direct line numbers are not secret so it is rare one comes on the main line), and to never say if someone is in the office, on the phone, or is not in the office. Most of my assistants understand this, but they have a hard time pushing the buttons in the right order.

I always prefer to be sent directly to voicemail if possible. When another person takes a message it has the potential to be fouled up.

If I ask to hold, I always say, "This is DeltAlum, calling about, can I hold for a couple of minutes?"

The problem with voice mail is that a lot of busy people only check it a couple of times a day -- often during the half hour prior to lunch, and the final half hour of the day. If the message is urgent, that may be too late.

Depends - if it's important, and/or the other person is expecting my call, I tell them who I am and that I just need a minute or two (even if that's not the truth). If it's just a general matter, without a time frame, I'll leave a message. I hate being on hold.