In this video, we provide 11 gatekeeper tips and tactics that actually work. There may be some of these that you already know or don’t like, but I am confident that there are some new ideas in these that you will not see anywhere else. And all of these are extremely simple and small changes, so you can easily implement all of these without any difficulty or changing your personality or anything.
Decrease time wasted on auto-attendants
The first of the gatekeeper tips and tactics is to decrease the time wasted dealing with auto-attendant phone systems. You don’t have to worry about this gatekeeper screening or blocking you out, but you do have to worry about them wasting your time and being difficult to navigate. With that, here are a few auto-attendant tips:
- Press 0, *, or # to try to get to a human or an operator
- Save the numbers you need to press in your CRM
- Enter a random extension to get to a human
Understand the gatekeeper
The second of our gatekeeper tips and tactics is to try to understand the gatekeeper and why they are blocking you out or being difficult, and here are some of the main reasons why:
- They are trying to block out all salespeople
- They think they do not need what you sell
- They do not understand who you are
- They do not want you to waste anybody’s time
- They do not know who to send you to
Don’t sound like a salesperson
When you start understand the gatekeeper, you can see how important it is to decrease how much you look like a salesperson who is trying to sell something. Applying this to gatekeepers, when they ask why you are calling, you will want to avoid saying anything like:
Introduce yourself and your company
See if they need your product/service
Schedule an appointment or meeting
Learn about their needs
Educate the gatekeeper
For a lot of gatekeepers, it can help to educate them on who you are, why you are calling, and why it might be worth the target prospect’s time to talk with you. That might sound difficult to do in a very small window of time, but if you use our process to create your sales message, you can then use your value points, pain points, and customer example building blocks to very quickly and efficiently educate the gatekeeper.
Treat the gatekeeper like the prospect
When you face a gatekeeper who is completely blocking you out from getting to the target prospect, a great thing to do is just shift to treating the gatekeeper like the prospect you are trying to get to. And what I mean by that is that if you were to get connected with the prospect, you should ask them some questions. Well, if you can’t get to them, just start asking the gatekeeper your questions.
This does a few very helpful things. First, the gatekeeper may actually know the answers to some of your questions, and you can try to extract that information from them. The other thing that could happen is that the gatekeeper does not have the answers to your questions. And when that happens, you can use that as a justification for them letting you through by saying something like:
Oh, I see. Well, that is why it might make sense for me to talk with [name/title] as they would probably know the answer to that.
What is the best way for me to connect with them?
Display social proof
One of our gatekeeper tips and tactics that will help prevent you from getting blocked out is to display social proof. This is where you show you are already connected and involved with the organization by mentioning other people you have spoken to by saying something like:
I spoke with Tom Jones in accounting, and now I am trying to reach someone in HR.
Do you know who the best person for me to connect with is?
When the gatekeeper hears something like this, they will be much more reluctant to be difficult and completely block you out.
Mention an initiative
Another thing you could do to decrease the gatekeeper’s guardedness is to mention an initiative they have going on as your purpose for the call by saying something like:
I am calling to discuss the initiative to consolidate distribution channels.
Can you help me to get connected with the director of operations?
Similar to social proof, this can decrease how much you look like an outsider and create an impression that you are already engaged or connected with the organization.
Befriend the gatekeeper
I think we can all agree that the more friendly you are with the gatekeeper, the less resistance they will give you. And here are a couple of things you can do foster a more friendly relationship:
- Ask for their name and use it frequently while talking to them
- Smile while talking to the gatekeeper, as this will change your tonality
Present yourself as lost
Another thing you can do to foster a warmer and friendlier tone is to present yourself as being lost and needing help by saying:
Maybe you can help me with this.
Maybe you can point me in the right direction.
I am not really sure who I need to speak with.
I might need your help with this one.
Avoid the gatekeeper
Our last tip is to try to avoid having to deal with the gatekeeper altogether, and there are two things that can help with that. First, you can try to get direct dial and mobile numbers, and there are different contact and lead database services that provide those.
Another thing you can do is try to call your prospects outside of general business hours, where their phone might not be directed to a gatekeeper. For example, before 8:00 am, between 12:00 and 1:00 pm, and after 5:00 pm can be timeslots where the prospect might answer their phone instead of a gatekeeper.
We hope these gatekeeper tips and tactics provide some new ideas for your sales efforts!
