Getting Past the Gatekeeper

You must always without fail use your full name when approaching a Gatekeeper. They are trained to ask questions and probe you to identify whether their employer would want to speak with you. Generally if a product can be tele-marketed it generally already is and quite frequently which causes several calls per day to the same company from multiple suppliers.

There a few reasons why you need to use a full name. I have found through 14 years of Telemarketing that when you use a full name it deflates the first question secretaries ask which interrupts the general pattern they are used to. Gatekeepers also follow a specific process and it is important to break it before they start with their standard questioning. In many cases the secretary will not probe any further as they do not like leaving their comfort zone or regular pattern. Once they are in question mode they don't stop until they know everything. This does not mean that they will not ask further questions however it is a good start.

When you only use your first name a number of issues arise. How many John's, Michael's and Jenny's are in the world. The history of Telemarketing as not been a good one, prospects/customers have been miss-lead and lied to and potentially lost money on information provided by telemarketers. There is zero credibility when only using your first name and zero chance of a prospect/customer tracking you down in a medium to large size business. There is an immediate defense mechanism in people when there is no reason to trust what a stranger is telling you.

You must never reveal where you are calling from in your opening statement and preferably not at all through the Gatekeeper Sales Process however if asked it is important not to alienate them so you should answer.

Gatekeepers don't always know the real objection of why their employer doesn't wish to speak with you so you cannot overcome the secretary's reason for not putting you through. The employer has commonly instructed no calls of your nature should be put through. No secretary will risk their job simply based on your objection handlers. The best method of getting through is avoiding the objection in the first place.

You must also capture the secretary's name and use it. Even though the secretary has given you their name it supports the familiarity you are portraying as they don't know if you already had their name prior to them mentioning it.

When dealing with the Gatekeeper so many telemarketers and managers feel that the utmost professional approach is the way to go. My experience has taught me that this is rarely the case. You must mirror the customer and breakdown the professional side as if you come across as the professional the gatekeeper will mirror you and focus on their professionalism. This promotes the asking of questions and their process being followed to a tea which as demonstrated earlier in this document raises a number of issues i.e. finding out what your call is regarding. When you are passionate about your service or product or the person who owns the service is listening to your call we generally go into professional mode and fail. The product or service has nothing to do with your conversation with the gatekeeper, getting past them determines if you are successful. You must always be polite and not unprofessional eg. Don't use profanity or offensive tones and language.

Telemarketing is not all doom and gloom and deception. If you learn the art of Rapport Building your success rate will sky rocket. There is no better tool to breakdown the fact that you are imposing yourself on the Gatekeeper and attempted to get to their employer.

Gatekeepers receive multiple calls a day sometimes an hour. There would be nothing more frustrating than dealing with Telemarketing calls when you have other duties to perform. The second a Gatekeeper identifies you're calling to Sell or Promote something they become defensive as it is there job on the line.

It is vital to identify something familiar to the Gatekeeper within the first few seconds of the call. You can do this by looking at the general population, what does every person like?

You may use the weekend as a rapport building statement however this is not enough. You may start with your introduction following a polite how are you? It is difficult for Gatekeepers not to respond with return how are you?

You may be a customer or important person to their employer. When they do this you can say "it's Hump Day, Wednesday is already here and the week is all downhill from here. This works extremely well as they generally giggle and they are receiving a call that is very different to the majority that they receive. It is always much nicer when an enthusiastic, friendly and funny voice is on the line as opposed to a dry boring informative voice.

You must engage the Gatekeeper, follow on with "I think I'll be having a couple of red wines tonight it has been a long week. Are you ready for a few reds when you get home tonight?" If they don't drink red wine ask them what there poison is. The more too and fro you can do with them the more of a relationship you form. If their first impression of you is a good one you will receive an automatic trust from them.

If the Gatekeeper continues to converse don't be afraid to keep going. Never cut them off and ensure you finish the conversation. Don't drag it out, control the call but pick your moment. The moment is generally the first whole one to two second gap without speaking when neither person has asked a question. Your next question should be the Gatekeeper close.

You must have an implication that the decision maker is familiar with you but never lie. You can do this by sounding familiar with the Decision Maker

Eg. You can ask if the person (by first name only) is at his/her desk or ask if "that trouble maker (by first name) is floating around the office".

This provides a connotation of familiarity especially if they are the owner or manager as the personality build of these individuals requires people skills, an aspect of flair and generally trouble making as they can get away with more and it is often used when attempting to motivate.

If the person isn't available you must always strengthen your next call. Ask when they think he/she would be available and the best time to call. Don't ask them to tell them you called because they will feel the need to ask further questions as they will have to physically speak with their employer and they know that they will ask what it is regarding. The next time you call they will know your calling to sell or promote something and won't put you through.

Always leave on a good note when the Decision Maker is not available. Remember Gatekeepers have a job to do to and it is not personal.

Hi Jenny, Joe Smith here, how are you?

Good thanks - how are you?

Its' Hump Day, Wednesday is already here and the week is all downhill now. I've got to say I am in need of a couple of red wines tonight? How about yourself?

Oh, I don't think I would ever say no to a red

A women after my own heart, I am a Cab Merlot man myself, let me guess you are a Shiraz girl aren't you?

You know I don't mind Shiraz but to be honest I like most reds.

Excellent to hear, say is Joe at his desk?

The person who answers the phone is the first person that makes contact with you. It is rare that this is the decision maker however they sit between you and the decision maker so it is important that you win them over immediately. It is not always necessary to advise them where you are from but it is important to tell them who you are if you volunteer information they may not feel the need to probe any further. If they answer with their name - use it e.g.
%u2015ABC Co, this is Jenny%u2016. Respond with - Ben Blanch here Jenny? Is Joe in his office ?%u2016
NB: you have given Jenny the impression that; Joe knows who you are

- If Jenny is busy or an average receptionist she will blind transfer you (meaning she won't introduce you to Joe) she will just transfer the call. If Jenny is a fair receptionist she will probe, do not dance around her questions nor give too much information simply answer her questions.

- If she asks where your calling from, tell her The Business Name, don't go into what it is regarding unless she asks.

- If she does ask, tell her %u2015 There have been some major changes to infrastructure in her street (name the street) and that you need to discuss what these changes mean to the business with Joe or the decision maker.

If you don't know the decision makers name you will need to build more rapport with the person who answers the phone. Once you have introduced yourself ask how the person is
e.g. Ben Blanch here Jenny, how are you today?

You are baiting Jenny to answer back with a return - how are you? This is called involuntary reciprocation.
If she does ask how you are reply with 'I am fantastic thank you for asking!'
(avoid the over-the-top excited telemarketing voice, it is important that you say this as naturally as possible)

Followed by

It's Monday - the weekend has passed but I'm looking forward to the next one coming.
It's Tuesday - Monday is out of the way and it's clear sailing from here on
It's Wednesday - They call it hump day - it's all down hill from here
It's Thursday - Only one day to go
It's Friday - we are almost over for the week, can't be unhappy about that.

Once you have built some rapport with the receptionist or whoever answers the phone you can gather information regarding the decision maker. Ask him/her who they are putting you through to. This can be done using the following;
Jenny, I am hoping to speak to the person who handles information regarding your phone accounts. Can I ask you - who you would normally put me through to? Are they available at the moment?

Or

I need to attention some information regarding infrastructure to whoever handles your telephone contracts, can I ask their name? Would they be there at the moment for a 30 second chat?

This document is the Gatekeeper Process only. Some aspects of this process are similar to the decision maker process however many key areas differ. Using this exact approach on a decision maker will probably not work as you need to be 100% upfront and credible to expect a sale without any or little buyer remorse.

If you use these techniques when dealing with Gatekeepers you will succeed in your cold calling efforts. You must always remain flexible with all approaches as no one approach will work on every prospect. We have chosen this process as it has an extremely high success rate.

This document has been written as an internal training document and also made available to the business world as an EBook due to its proven success rate.

Like anything that we do we must follow a process.
Whether you are a doctor who needs to follow a process to perform their duties e.g. Introduce, Build Rapport, Ask Questions, Diagnose and Treat or an pilot who needs to draw up a flight plan, organize fuel, start the plane, raise landing gear on take-off, lower landing gear on decent and land the plane we must all follow a process or we will generally fail.
Can you imagine a pilot or doctor not doing these things?
Cold Calling and Sales are the same, if you miss a step for whatever reason you will fail more often then not. You may not crash a plane or miss diagnose however your employer may terminate you if you are not successful which can be just as tragic depending on your lifestyle.
Do whatever it takes to motivate yourself to follow each step, keep in mind the consequences if you don't follow the steps and work out which is worse, following the process or not being employed.
There is only one answer you should conclude.
Good Luck and happy selling!