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Gatekeeper: Friend Or Foe? A 6 Point Plan To Deal With Any Gatekeeper

Guest post by: Linda Mattacks

Article Overview: You’re ready to attempt to sell to the M.A.N., your target Decision Maker in the prospect company. This is when you are likely to encounter a Gatekeeper. They come in the guise of receptionist, assistant, voicemail, secretary or PA in the office, or husband/wife/partner or answer machine in the home. Apart from the mechanical ones, they normally don’t present a problem when you are just checking the accuracy of basic information, and can even be helpful enhancing that information. It’s when you actually want to speak to your target that gatekeepers really come into their own…

Gatekeeper: Friend Or Foe? A 6 Point Plan To Deal With Any Gatekeeper

Gatekeepers are at their most dangerous when you come across them whilst canvassing for business. It’s because they are also potentially at their most vulnerable at this point.

Most see their role as primarily being to protect the hierarchy from unwanted calls. Who gets it in the neck if someone manages to get through to one of the bosses with some trumped up excuse and then proceeds to waste his time by trying to sell him something he has no interest in?

You come on the line, the gatekeeper doesn’t know you or your company, and you have never spoken with the boss before - what’s the safest option? To fob you off and get rid of you! So you need a plan:

Plan A
In the nicest possible way, ignore the Gatekeeper’s questions and find out when the Decision Maker will be able to take your call

Plan B
If that doesn’t work, outline briefly what the call is about (don’t go into detail) and give the Gatekeeper a strong enough reason to put this call through

Plan C
You come across a ‘jobsworth’ Gatekeeper:
"I’m sorry, Mr … doesn’t take sales calls. All I can suggest is that you put something in the post and if he’s interested he’ll contact you."
Male or female you’re not going to get anywhere, so what are you going to do about it? You only have two options:
****Give in and send your stunning sales letter ‘cold’ or
****Try calling at times when they may not be there - 30 minutes before or after ‘opening hours’ of business or during the lunch hour

Plan D
Sneaky, horrible, insidious Voice Mail…
Nowadays it’s not unusual for a receptionist to inform you that the extension of the person you want to speak to is on voice mail, if you’d like to leave a message…? Tricky one. Personally I’d either:
****Find out first from the receptionist whether it was this person’s habit to leave voice mail on all the time or if I’d be likely to have more luck at another time - and if so, when, or
****Politely refuse and try calling at various different times (just before business hours, lunch time and close of play are favourites)

However, if neither of these approaches gets you anywhere, you need to have a back up prepared in the form of a succinct but informative message, specifically designed to:
****Introduce yourself and your company
****Explain the reason for the call
****Generate desire
****Give a call to action
****Put over a good, positive personal image

You can then use this message with minor adjustments for the majority of prospects.

Plan E
Your call is unexpectedly answered by the Decision Maker but he tells you he’s on his way out the door and about to be late for an appointment. Are you going to try and buttonhole him now?

DEFINITELY NOT. You have the opportunity to demonstrate that you’re not an airhead salesperson; you’re an intelligent individual who understands business and commitments. You agree a date and time when you can call back – remind him of this brief conversation when you next make contact.

Plan F
Your prospects or customers could be companies of any size. Therefore you need to know how to deal with a very special breed of ‘super’ gatekeeper.

This is the PA to the Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer or President in a substantial company. She (and it usually is a female) tends to be extremely knowledgeable about the company, its business and who has ultimate responsibility for what.

Some of these Pas are right hand persons in $multi million, if not $multi billion turnover companies, so they are definitely in positions of power and authority.

So when you are seeking help from a PA at this kind of level (almost regardless of the company’s turnover) take Plan B further than before, being absolutely honest about why you are calling, what you are trying to achieve and why you believe this would be of great use and importance to her company. Listen to what the PA says and be guided by her.

All the best and I hope the plans outlined help you!

Linda

PS A brief story on Gatekeepers before you go:

When I was a teenager I lived in Canada for a few years. At that time you had to be twenty-one to enter any establishment where liquor was served (whether you intended to drink it or not) and each of these places had doormen to keep out ‘undesirables’, of whom I was obviously one.

I had identity cards but nothing that showed my age (I wasn’t that daft). So I would put on my most English accent and the guy on the door would at some stage inevitably ask for my passport to satisfy himself that I should be allowed in. I would then be extremely polite and reasonable but drone on about the mammoth problems in replacing such a document if it was lost, so of course I didn’t carry it around with me!

Normally he’d be bored almost to tears by the end of it and would just let me in, telling me to bring the passport with me next time, which, of course, I would promise to do, and thank him profusely. Next time I turned up I would smile broadly, he’d know he recognised me (but not remember why) and I was in again!

I’m not saying that what I did then was strictly right, but once inside I behaved myself and didn’t attract undue attention, nobody got into trouble and it got me past my hurdle...

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Article Tags: business hours, Gatekeeper, the Gatekeeper



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