Gatekeepers: How to turn them into Valuable Sales Allies!

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As a salesperson, you are no doubt going to run into gatekeepers on a regular basis. Whether it be an office secretary, a personal assistant, or a simple phone operator, it is important to realize that they hold all of the power in the conversation. While the person you are trying to get a hold of has all of the purchasing power, the gatekeeper has the power to determine whether or not you get the opportunity to speak with your person of interest at all!

When I was first starting in sales, I called on a company with the most obnoxious gatekeeper. This person clearly did not want me to speak to my person of interest. As such, he kept answering all of my questions with disinterested, one-word answers. It was clear that I would go nowhere if I kept using my normal tactics with this gatekeeper.

Instead of continuously trying to get him to give the boss the phone, I let him know about my interest in the company and how the services that I would provide would benefit the company. I want to save their company valuable time and money. I can save them precious hours of labor time and hundreds of thousands of dollars in various costs. So, why would his boss not want to know that?

You have to pitch two people: the gatekeeper first, and the buyer second. You need to convince the gatekeeper that the buyer would want to speak with your about your service or product. In my case, the gatekeeper was so dead set on not listening to me that I had to do the one thing that would make it impossible for him to hang up on me: I went to the company in person.

While I was there, I tried to get a meeting with my person of interest, but the gatekeeper was still insistent that I couldn't meet with the person of interest. I ended up giving the gatekeeper a full-on pitch about my company's services. I broke it down to him that I knew my product could save the company tons of money and that it was crucial that I speak with the proper person. I would do whatever it takes and I'd go through whatever channels I would need to in order to speak to the proper person.

I ended up impressing the gatekeeper enough that he actually broke their protocol and gave me the person's extension so that I wouldn't have to go through him anymore. He even gave me some tips on how to sell them. I ended up writing up half a million dollars of business with that company! I would never have done so if I didn't put in the effort to convince the gatekeeper. It was actually two sales: one to the gatekeeper, and one to the actual buyer.

So, what other advice would you give people regarding gatekeepers? Do you try to bypass them or turn them into sales allies? Any particular tactics? Please comment below!