Once you have identified the person that you would like to contact, the next challenge you’re going to face is the gatekeeper. Now the gatekeeper is someone that refuses to put you through to the person that you need to contact. This will typically be the receptionist and the reason being is because they receive many, many cold calls a day with absolutely no solutions offered. There’s no need that’s been identified, which makes it incredibly painful for people to manage these calls on a daily basis.

So I want you to remember that we are warm calling here. There’s a big difference, but unfortunately the gatekeeper cannot tell which one is a warm call and which one is a cold call. Here are some handy tips to overcome these challenges moving forward.

The first tip is to always provide a name. If you provide a name to the gatekeeper this will automatically prove that you are not a cold caller. Should this approach fail, it’s important that we do not give up. Through the inital validation process, I would hope that we have more than one contact name that we should be targeting whether that’s in purchasing, engineering, sales, technical or elsewhere. So should you hit an objection – call back and try another contact. And remember, 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact. The soft sell is the best sell. Be respectful, be persistant, and success will follow. 

Tip number two is not to focus on the purchasing team. Before the purchasing team receives a project, it would have gone through technical and engineering groups. Most of the design and stipulations have already been set out by the engineering team. And what’s incredible is very few people actually target these departments. We should be trying to differentiate ourselves from our competition at every opportunity. So let’s think bigger, let’s think wider, let’s look at the technical teams, and even the management teams – because you never know where the opportunity might come from. The chances of your success are much greater if you’re focusing on more than one area within the target company. If you reach a roadblock at one department, you may find an open door in another. So, if you tell your story far and wide, and show the ability to solution their needs to as many people as possible, your chances of success will be much greater. 

Tip number three is to overcome the electronic gatekeeper. Often when you call a company, there’s no live person at the other end of the phone. What you’ll hear is “Please press 1 for sales, 2 for purchasing, 3 for engineering” etc. Again, most will press 2 for purchasing because they believe that’s where their best chances lie. Your best chance of reaching a live person is sales – but maybe that’s not far enough. Yes, you may be able to gain some information from the sales team, but our best connections are made in the engineering department. So if you face an electronic gatekeeper, avoid pressing 2 for purchasing. Instead, aim for the engineering team. They have immediate needs to be solutioned, and may even welcome the assist. 

Remember: Be persistant, be respecful, and success will follow.