It is inevitable within our career as sales professionals to come across these people every day in our working life; The Gatekeepers, these are the people with the keys to let you through to talk to the real decision makers. In other words the receptionists, personal assistants, secretaries and so on. These are the people whose job, well part of it anyway, is to stop us getting through. Please remember that last sentence the next time you come across a particularly ‘tricky’ one, it’s nothing personal, they’re just doing their job, the same as you. The usual response to that statement is thus; if it is their job to stop them from getting through to the decision maker, how are we supposed to get through to them? Well as in sales the same can be said for the gatekeeper; some are better at their job than others! It is our job to be flexible and change our style when faced with those ‘tricky’ situations. The following tips will help you improve your telephone technique and ensure you don’t trip at the first hurdle.
1. The no pressure information call
This is a particularly good technique I use if a) I don’t know the name of the decision maker or b) I am targeting small to medium sized enterprises where the managing director themselves could pick up the phone, the last thing I want to do is offend them by asking to speak to the managing director or owner of the business. They may get the feeling that I assume that they are ‘just a receptionist’, important to say at this point that I never think that, and neither should you as I’ll outline later. So try this it works around 98% of the time. Simply ring up the company and whoever answers the phone say this; “Hi, I’m hoping you might be able to help me out, I would like to send one of my brochures to the person responsible for **insert your product or service** and I was just wondering who I would make it out to”. As I said 98% of the time you will get the name of the person you will need to speak to. Depending how confident you are you could take it to the next level and ask if that person would prefer to receive your brochure through the post or by email, if they say post it’s fine, if they say email, great, not only do you have a contact name, you now have their email address as well. Whatever you do though, at this point do not ask if you can be put through to them. Simply thank the person for their time and do what you said you were going to do and send one of your brochures through to the decision maker. You are then in a position to make a follow up call a few days later armed with the name of the person you need to ask for.
2. Getting Put Through to the Decision Maker
So either you know whom you need to speak to in advance or you have carried out tip one, either way you are now armed with a contact name and you should have sent them some information albeit a brochure or marketing letter. One tip I always like to insert here is at the end of your initial email or letter containing your brochure, one of the final sentences should read I will call you shortly to see how we can improve on your current **insert product or service here**. Or something along those lines as long as you inform your prospect that you will be in contact soon, I always get a few blank stares when I tell people this, it really doesn’t matter if your prospect reads what you sent them or simply bins/deletes it, because you are going to ring them and it’s a good conversation starter but that is for another time. As for now, when you call;
- The worst thing you can do is lie to the gatekeeper. Don’t tell them you have spoken to the prospect before if in actual fact you have not. Not only will this rile the gatekeeper, but they will try and put you through to the prospect based on the lie you just told, nine times out of ten it will be found out putting you on the back foot when talking to your prospect.
- Plan, don’t script. When you script your call you inevitably write down what you are going to say, this then comes across in your voice. The gate keeper will lose interest most of the time; and then will come the time when something unexpected happens or the gatekeeper says something that your script doesn’t cover you will be tripping over your own words to try and answer them sounding quite unprofessional. Plan what you want to say but also try to work out the answers to all the questions the gate keeper is likely to ask. For example “is Mr Decision Maker expecting your call”? If you have followed tip one you don’t have to lie to get round this, your answer would simply and confidently be “yes, based on the information I provided them with”.
- Try to sound known to the prospect. It takes practise and confidence to do this effectively. However, when calling instead of saying “hello, is Mr Decision Maker available”, that sounds instantly like a sales call. Try this, when a person answers they usually tell you their name take note of their name and remember you should already know the decision makers name from tip one. Say “Hello Sarah, it’s James here from ****** is Tom in the office”? I have always stated where I am calling from in the first sentence, why? It gives the gatekeeper less to do, and should nip the interrogation process in the bud straight away, where are you calling from? What’s it regarding? And so on.
- Practise adding a downward inflexion to your voice. Most of the cold calls I ever receive or train on the callers add an upper inflexion. This turns a statement into a question, which will invite questions and objections from the gatekeeper. It also sounds unconfident, therefore not senior and more likely a sales call. Adding a downward inflexion turns a statement into an order. You will need to practise this to do so and still sound polite. “Hello Sarah, It’s James from ****** if you could let Tom know I’m on the line thank you” (going down). Always end this technique with a polite thank you.
- Don’t give too much information or attempt to sell to the gatekeeper, if you do you invite objections such as; we already have a supplier, we’re not looking for anything like that at the moment, we have no budget at the moment. Open with a statement similar to above and only answer the questions asked of you. “Is he expecting your call”? Answered above. “Will he know what it is regarding”? You can answer this with the same statement “yes, based on the information I sent through”. If they ask “what is it regarding” try not to say the information I sent to them. Try to come up with a sentence that will spark your prospects interest when repeated to them to ensure you get through.
3. The Gatekeeper Is Not Your Enemy
Just remember that the gatekeeper is just doing their job. Part of that job is managing the demands on the decision maker’s time. Seeing them as the enemy creates a psychological barrier that you have made yourself that will be difficult if not impossible to break down. If you don’t get put through first time, or they ask you to send them the information don’t fret. Do what you’re asked and start to build a rapport with the gatekeeper. Now I’m not saying here that you need to become their best friend. Simply being polite, don’t be rude if they don’t put you through. If they have told you to call back at a certain time ensure that you do to build your credibility. Remember these people are a wealth of knowledge about the decision maker and the business itself, which is why I never think of them as just a receptionist, they hear everything that is going on within the office. If you remain polite, courteous and credible the next time the decision maker is looking for suppliers in your industry they may tell them about you, or the next time you call they will tell when he is looking to change, then you will get your chance.
I hope these tips are of use to you and I know you will be able to implement them into your business right away. You may need to change your current habits, but to quote sales author Frank Rumbauskas “The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results, so stop the insanity”.
Happy Selling
James Randle – Marketing Strategist – helping you successfully grow your business through powerful sales and marketing techniques – Sames and Marketing Coach/Mentor
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