Fall in Love with your Gatekeeper

Anticipation mounts, you have readied yourself, you know what you'll say when Mr. Decision Maker answers and you have a no fail pitch. The click of the receiver sends excitement down your spine, they speak, and you realize you've just connected to the dreaded Gate Keeper (insert dramatic music). Deflated, you ask for Mr. Decision Maker and a ball of anxiety grows in your stomach in anticipation of the Gate Keeper all time favorite question, "What's this regarding?" (insert dramatic music again). At this point, a picture of the Gate Keeper has formed in your mind. Her pinched sour face is glaring and lines have formed around her mouth and forehead from scowling 24 hours a day, even in her sleep. Then she says the second favorite Gate Keepers sentence, "I can take your information and if he is interested, he'll reach out." You do the classic eye roll and think "How will he be interested if I can't tell him all the good stuff?" So you wasted your prep time and after seconds the opportunity is lost.

What could you have done to increase your chance of getting past that sour gate keeper? For starters, stop referring to them as gatekeepers. I like to call them the Key Holder. After all, they do hold that golden key that opens the door to the decision maker. Your image of the key holder is very important. The term gatekeeper brings to mind a negative image like the one we just talked about. Start your call by forming a much more desirable image of this person. Your image of them should be of a person who is approachable, friendly and caring. Secondly, treat them with the respect, dignity and kindness they deserve. Remember, their job is a tough one. They were hired to be there for you when you call, and filter out the calls that are valuable to the DM from the ones that he won't want to take. They get hundreds of calls just like yours and some people are pushy and rude and others just flat waste their time. They don't know who you are or what you want. Their guard is up and why wouldn't it be? Help them relax by being friendly and genuine. You want to let the key holder know you have a valuable asset the DM will want to know about. There is an old saying in sales that says not to pitch the gatekeeper but, I am telling you that is far from true. They ask what the call is regarding for a reason so be prepared to tell them. But don't waste a bunch of their time by giving them all the details you'll give the DM, they just want to know what you have to offer and how valuable it is the the company. In other words, why should they put your call though?

The one thing people tell you in any type of sales setting is to prepare ahead of time to talk to the decision maker. But why doesn't anyone tell you to prepare for the Key Holder? You need to pitch two people on every call. The Key Holder and the Decision Maker. You are pitching the key holder for a different result than you'll pitch the DM. Prepare what you will say to the key holder first. If you don't get past there, you'll waste your time preparing for the DM. If you research the company in preparation, go ahead and try to find out the staff roles and names too. Keep a record of them and maybe you'll be lucky enough to know a little about them when one of them answers. It would be great to be able to say something like, 'Hi Gretchen, this is Joey with A Great Company, good to speak with you, I happened to see your bio on the company website and I see you have kids in soccer, looks like we have something in common. I'm calling today to speak with Mr. Decision Maker to introduce him to our A-product, its been pretty popular with other agencies like yours, is he available to talk?" Doesn't that sound much better than the conversation we had with her earlier?

You don't have to act like a life long best buddy in fact, you shouldn't, but just be approachable and friendly. If the key holder asks you a question, answer honestly. Don't every try to be sly or get around them with a lie or half truth. They can feel it in your voice. If they ask "..is this a sales call" just be honest, say "...yes, but I promise I wouldn't waste your time if I didn't think I have something of value for them." If you lie and say no or say something like its about business, you are representing yourself and your company as dishonest. The decision maker will most likely find out you lied and no one wants to work with a dishonest person or company. I recently had a key holder ask a long list of questions about our company and the product we offer. After I answered honestly, she put me right through to the DM. It turns out, they were in the market for a product, but had a list of criteria they asked her to gather before putting anyone through about it. The very first question she asked was "What is the call regarding?" I am certain things would not have turned out so well if I had not been honest. Yes, in case you're wondering, I did land the deal.

That brings me to the next reason to be kind, friendly and honest to the key holder. Sometimes, the key holder turns out to actually be the decision maker. On one call, I asked for the DM named Ryan. The man on the phone said this is Joe, I'm the office manager and Ryan is not here what do you want to talk to him about? I answered him honestly and told him the value Ryan would get out of the conversation and what my end goal was. He laughed then said, "Well, honestly, this IS Ryan, I thought you were a sales person". Did you catch that? He said he thought I was a salesperson. Well, I AM a sales person, but Ryan felt he was just talking to another business person and we proceeded to forge a deal. Remember, you never know who you've got on the other end of the line. The key holder could be anyone, a son, a cousin, a wife or husband, a good friend or the DM themselves. Now you know what I mean when I say Fall in Love with your Gate Keeper. They can make you or break you so don't give them grief, instead, give them some love.

I hope you will take at least some of what we talked about today and try applying it to your sales calls and appointment setting calls. It has taken me many years to learn these dirty little sales secrets but if you are a reader of mine, you will know them today! Thanks to all the mentors and other sales people I know for the valuable education.

Good Luck and Happy Selling.