Episode 05: Getting Around the Gatekeeper

There are so many different aspects to sales, and everything is important.  At a very high level, here are the steps:

1. Triaging accounts and figuring out all the background and history, and then identifying your A, B, and C accounts in order of priority. 

2. Finding out the right contact within each account

3. Getting in touch with that person and establishing contact

4. Meeting with them

5. Identifying a need

6. Presenting your product

7. Finding out specifics so you can put together a good quote

8. Follow up

9. Hopefully the sale

That’s really simplifying things of course, and over the course of this podcast, I plan to get into excruciating detail about each step, and how sometimes the steps can take years and you might end up veering off the path temporarily.

But for today, I want to focus on Step 2, finding the right contact.

Sometimes, companies will buy a list of names.  For example, they will pay a company to give them a list of all the CNOs for their assigned hospital.  Or the purchasing director, or whatever.  I’ve had this done for me several times, and I find that it is almost always a total waste of time. 

It sounds like such a great idea.  On a silver platter, all wrapped up in a nice little bow are hundreds of names of the right contacts, and all you have to do is email them.

But I found that only about 20-30% are correct, no matter how much they promise they are accurate and up to date.

So you waste all this time emailing people that aren’t there anymore.  Or even worse, you try to call and introduce yourself, and the person answering the phone informs you, in a very disgusted voice, that person no longer works there and hasn’t for years.  And now you’re scrambling to save face.  Now you’re starting out with people thinking you’re an idiot that hasn’t done her homework.

So, I really, really recommend you just do this homework yourself.  It can seem daunting, but if done correctly, it really doesn’t take that long, and you will know your contacts are accurate.

Before I get into specifics, this brings up another point I want to discuss.  Discuss Call Centers

Okay, now that we’ve established that you really need to be the one who calls to find the contact, AND the one who makes the first call to that contact, let’s talk about how to find the right person.

Let’s talk about gatekeepers.

Gatekeepers are sometimes vilified, but they’re really just trying to do their job, just like you are.  And unfortunately, there are a lot of really annoying salespeople out there, and a lot of people who DO use call centers, and so gatekeepers do their best to keep people away.

So, first of all, if you’re calling into the C Suite, the best thing to do is call after hours.  Or on holidays because the blocker is gone during these times, so the person you’re trying to reach might just answer their own phone.

If you’re not calling C Suite, but you know the position of the person, for example the manager of Labor and Delivery, you can’t just call the main line and ask for the manger of L&D.  They will send you right to HR.  At first you’re going to be confused.  I remember the first time this happened to me, I was confused and thought it was a mistake, but their job is to block people like you.

But they informed me that it wasn’t a mistake, and that I had to go through HR, and couldn’t talk to the manager of L&D.

Instead, you have to disarm the person. Call and ask for the office of L&D. Then, explain that you want to send materials to the manager and ask who you should send to. Nine times out of ten, they’ll not only give you the name, but will spell it for you.

Then hang up, and ask the main operator for the Susan Smith, manager of L&D, and they’ll transfer you directly there.

But be ready, because occasionally, the person answering the phone in L&D will transfer you right there.  When I hired someone to do calls for me and at first he was only gathering names, and panicked when they sent him to the person and he wasn’t ready.  That’s the ideal scenario actually, when they transfer you right to the person because it saves a lot of time.

If you’re not calling a hospital, it’s a little trickier.  For example, for me, when I prospect for my training business, I usually need either the Sales Director or the Education person.  First, I would get on LinkedIn, and use the advanced search feature to try to find the name of the person I need to talk to.  If I’m able to find it, I call the main number and ask for that person.  Sometimes they’ll transfer, sometimes give the name, sometimes they’ll block you.

If you can’t find it on LinkedIn, you’ve got to try the main number.  Explain that you’re trying to send information to the sales manager and ask who to send to.  Hopefully they’ll give you the name.

So, that wraps up this second part of The Fine Art of Cold Calling.  I hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot. This is truly just scratching the surface of the skills I can teach you and your team. I can now do my training virtually, so please reach out if you’re interested in getting more information about that for your sales team. You can find out more about that in the video below.

Relevant Links

• MMS Consulting (My Consulting company)

• Contact me by email

• Connect with me on LinkedIn

• My Youtube Channel