How to deal with gatekeepers

Making sales appointments over the telephone does not come naturally to everyone and one of the common frustrations is not knowing how to get past the gatekeeper in order to even speak to the person you are really trying to contact.

The image of the harridan doctors’ receptionist is something of a cliché but there is a ring of truth about it. The gatekeeper, receptionist, telephonist – call that person what you will – is there to perform a task which includes only putting through callers who he or she believes or has been told will be welcome. Such people if well trained do a brilliant job at protecting the precious time of other people whilst ensuring the most important calls and people get through to the right people as quickly as possible.

Which, of course, makes the job of tele-marketing or tele-appointing – where we are not known to that company - a little more interesting... Not knowing how to get though the gatekeeper, or even the voicemail, was the third most commonly cited sales problem in our 2008-2009 Sales Problems Survey.

I can’t claim that our training at Be More Effective will mean you get through every single gatekeeper every single time. I can promise that by adapting your method of approach your success rate will vastly improve; typically even established sales people improve their conversion rates by 100%.

Here’s how.

1. Learn the five most common gatekeeper questions and provide the majority of answers before they ask…
2. Understand the gatekeeper conversation is purely one of question and answers and if you don’t ask them a question they will ask you one…

When you are calling don’t wait to be asked “Who’s calling?” Or “What company are you from?” Or even – the killer question – “What is it regarding?” you need to have the right answers to hand any supply them FIRST.

When the receptionist picks up the phone and says “Hello this is X company; how may I help you..?” Try saying something like the following sentence, which answers most of their questions in one go:

“Hello, I’m Joe Bloggs from company XYZ Ltd. I am calling regarding ABC. Is Mr/s Blah Blah in?”

By ending your sentence with the “are they in” question they have to think ~ if the answer is yes ~ they are highly likely to say “Yes” To which you can reply “Thanks – I’ll hold…” If they are in you have a much greater chance of being put through with this approach.

Avoid asking “can I speak to…” as a good gatekeeper” will immediately say no and ask another of their pre-planned questions; like “are they expecting your call..?” By asking “is X in..?” most receptionists say what their brain thinks.

If the answer is “no” they are not in – say “OK put me through to their voice mail and I’ll leave a message”. Leave a footprint so people know you’ve been there. A well grafted value proposition, be a great advertisement by the professionalism and clarity of your message.

When you are leaving a voicemail, aim for a 20 second message, stating your reason for calling and why they should call back, phrased in a way that makes it in their interests to do so and say your phone number twice so they only have to listen to your message once to write it down.

Remember:

• It might take nine attempts before anyone calls you back
• It helps to use a planned but irregular pattern of follow-up attempts because the other person will not feel chased
• Vary your means of contact – phone calls, emails and even a postal letter. Each channel is screened differently, some more than others and each of us have different preference in terms of communication styles

If you’d like to talk further to Be More Effective about improving your conversion ratios and sales or getting past more gatekeepers, please get in touch.