Here is a sales call example. This is a recording of a real call from one of our cold call demos, and we have posted it on YouTube with other sales call examples on the same playlist.

Finding the Prospect’s Information
In this particular sales call example, I am making a call trying to generate a lead or set an appointment for SalesScripter and calling an inside sales manager. I found the target prospect on LinkedIn and only had a main company switchboard phone number from the company’s website.

When you only have a company’s main number, it can be challenging to find your way to get the prospect’s direct dial number or extension. Probably the best situation is that the main number leads to some sort of switchboard operator from which you can either get direct dial information or get routed to the target prospect.

Sometimes, you get an auto-attendant tree that routes you in different directions and sometimes allows you to enter the prospect’s name. In this sales call example, the auto-attendant tree only routed us to departments, and our only option was to select a department, and I selected sales.

Dealing with the Gatekeeper
On most sales call examples, you will face a gatekeeper. In this sales call example, there is a gatekeeper but not your typical gatekeeper.

Usually, the gatekeeper is a receptionist, switchboard operator, or administrative assistant. On this call, since we selected to be routed to the sales department, a salesperson answered our call and then took on the role of the gatekeeper.

Sometimes when you get transferred to sales or customer service, you can get information or be transferred in the right direction. But in some ways, this type of gatekeeper can be just as or more difficult than your traditional gatekeeper.

Objection Handling
The gatekeeper through a couple of different objections at me. First, he asked who I was with and what we sold.

Whenever a gatekeeper asks you this or what the call is about, we recommend that you always answer with your value statement.

Dealing with a Dead-End
Sometimes you reach a point when dealing with gatekeepers that you know they are not going to pass you through. When you reach that point, one thing you can do is start to treat the gatekeeper like the target prospect.

By this, I mean that if you know you can’t get past the gatekeeper, just start asking the gatekeeper questions that you might ask the target prospect. You might either get valuable information or you may find a reason for the gatekeeper to let you through.

This is a good sales call example. We were reaching a point where the gatekeeper was clearly not going to let me through, so I just started asking him some of my pre-qualifying questions.