Gatekeepers Keep Screening My Calls!
Throughout your career you will be confronted by gatekeepers who have been trained to screen out sales calls, including yours.
The role of the gatekeeper is to keep the decision maker free of unnecessary tasks and time wasters. Their role is to screen the important from the unimportant. They are also trained to spot a sales person. If the gatekeeper is also this person’s assistant, they will guard incoming calls, email inbox and daily agenda. This person can control all access to your prospect except one – business or personal cell phone. Once you obtain a cell phone number (which is your ultimate goal), you no longer have to be concerned about getting past gatekeepers.
Issues experienced with gatekeepers can escalate if they are not treated with any level of respect. Too often, the gatekeeper is treated as a barricade to the important person. The nicer and friendlier you are to the individual who answers the telephone, the better your chances of success. Sound friendly, ask for their name (use it during your conversation) and give them your name. This person could end up as your ally and inform you when you’d have the best chance of catching the person, you are trying to contact.
Refrain from asking, “How are you?” That is a sure give away that you are a sales person and you are trying to contact someone in their company to sell something. Most gatekeepers are told to screen out all sales people.
Gatekeepers must sense a benefit to the person you are targeting, if they are expected to put your call through. The best way to have your call forwarded to your contact is to have the name of your contact prior to your call. The internet and social media are great resources to identify your target.
If all else fails, ask for Accounts Payable. They will always transfer your call and the individuals in Accounts Payable are normally very accommodating with providing names, direct lines and transferring your call to the appropriate person.
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