Archive for category Cold Calling
19 Ways to Never Get Past the Gatekeeper on a Cold Call
Posted by Mike Faherty in Cold Calling on November 21, 2011
Don't be this guy!
I thought I would start today’s blog on ways to never get past the gatekeeper when cold calling with a sports analogy.
If the process of selling was a basketball game, moving beyond the gatekeeper is akin to the inbound play. The offense can’t move the ball or score until they can effectively pass the ball into the field of play and maintain possession. Although I make the point below that the gatekeeper is NOT THE ENEMY, they are in effect playing defense and your role is to find a way past the defense to engage the decision maker.
Below is a list of 19 strategies for getting past the gatekeeper that are virtually guaranteed not to work long term.
- Don’t deceive – Telling the gatekeeper a lie may get you past the gatekeeper, but you will never sell them anything. You remove credibility and you can’t start a successful business relationship with a lie. If you define success as having a conversation with the prospect, then you might feel like deceiving the gatekeeper to get access to the decision maker is a success. However, if success is a landing a new loyal client, this approach is not recommended.
- Don’t be a jerk – Talking down to a gatekeeper is not a winning strategy either. At times they will let you past them, but what do you think they say to their boss when you get off the phone with him/her? Do you think you are good enough to get someone to buy from you after offending their most trusted employee? I don’t think so.
- Don’t say you know the prospect when you don’t – If you don’t know the prospect, don’t tell the gatekeeper that you do. If you didn’t meet him at a trade show last quarter or if you didn’t play golf with her recently don’t say that you did.
- Don’t tell the gatekeeper you have an appointment when you don’t – The gatekeeper is often the keeper of the prospect’s calendar. This is a rookie move and is impossible to recover from.
- Don’t bull rush the gatekeeper – I define bull rush as not giving the gatekeeper an opportunity to object and using a tone of self-importance. It might include something like, “Just put me through now.”
- Don’t be intimidated – If you sound like you shouldn’t be speaking to the prospect, you never will. Just be confident that you have something of real value to say to the prospect.
- Don’t be sneaky – Fishing around and not telling the gatekeeper who you are or what company you are with when asked falls into this category.
- Don’t forget their name – Using the gatekeeper’s name once or twice during your short conversation will help you build rapport and will do wonders for your second call if you are not able to get through on your first attempt.
- Don’t be stressed – Just relax. The gatekeeper can sense when you are nervous, and if you are nervous to speak to the gatekeeper, they will never let you through to speak to their boss.
- Don’t read a script – Reading is a dead-end approach. Practice your opening line and then role-play with your boss/spouse/colleagues how you will respond to the 3-4 most common objections you expect to hear from the gatekeeper.
- Don’t wing it – Have a goal for every call you make. Know exactly what you want to accomplish with every conversation you attempt to have. It is too hard to get people on the phone these days to not capitalize on each conversation.
- Don’t treat them like the enemy – The gatekeeper is not the enemy. They are simply doing their job. Don’t give them any reason to not connect you with the prospect. Treat them with respect and give them credit for their position.
- Don’t sound like a sales rep – Decision makers talk with one another at an “eye-to-eye” level. Sound relaxed, confident and friendly. If you sound like your rent is counting on getting through, the gatekeeper will sense it and shut you down.
- Don’t stop listening, just because they are the gatekeeper – Pay attention to everything the gatekeeper says. They often will pass along clues and bits of information that can be useful when you do speak to your prospect or decision maker.
- Don’t sell to the gatekeeper – You might need to explain your reason for calling, but don’t “pitch to the gatekeeper.” If they ask for more information after your short explanation of the reason for your call you might counter by asking them to explain how they are involved in the decision making process. I call this charging for information. Don’t give information away without asking for information in return.
- Don’t underestimate the gatekeeper’s influence – In smaller companies people wear lots of different hats. In large organizations gatekeepers can carry tremendous influence over an executive’s time and priorities. Don’t assume the gatekeeper is not involved in the decision. Treat them with respect and you will never have a “Pretty Woman” moment.
- Don’t get too personal – You want to build rapport, but some sales people go too far and waste valuable selling time building relationships with gatekeepers. Keep your eye on the prize.
- Don’t give up – Gatekeepers are a part of the fabric of sales. There is not a silver bullet for moving beyond the gatekeeper, but a successful sales person must remain committed to prospecting if they are to have any significant long-term success.
- Don’t burn the bridge – Burning the bridge with a gatekeeper is a fatal mistake. At small companies gatekeepers get promoted to decision making positions and at large companies gatekeepers move to support different executives. Worse yet, gatekeepers are often promoted along with the executives that they support. Burning a bridge with a gatekeeper could lock you out of a potential client for years.
For some additional reading on Gatekeepers, please check out the following articles. One published by me recently and the other by one of my personal favorite sales experts Anthony Iannarino.
From Mike Faherty – 3 Ways to Make Gatekeepers Love You
From Anthony Iannarino – The Gatekeeper
Click here to download our Free White Paper, 5 Secrets for Cold Call Success
3 Ways to Make Gatekeepers Love You
Posted by Mike Faherty in Cold Calling on November 9, 2011
The Keys to Moving Beyond the Gatekeeper
The question I get asked the most about cold calling by professional sales people is for strategies to get past gatekeepers. It is a tricky task that can frustrate even the most successful sales people. However, if growing your business is the goal, then you will have to find more new clients. That means you will have to pick up the phone and make cold calls, thus conversations with gatekeepers will be inevitable.
The first thing to remember about gatekeepers is that they are people too. They are not just a barrier that has to be overcome at all costs. This attitude will backfire eventually and makes for a frustrating day on the phones.
So, the question then becomes how to move beyond the gatekeeper and speak with your prospective client.
#1 – Treat them like the expert
Talk to the gatekeeper like you would any influencer to the decision process to buy your solution. Don’t underestimate their knowledge and input into the major decisions your target prospect makes. Give them credit for their role in the process and assume it is a major role.
#2 – Appeal to their sense of wanting to help
I always start a conversation with a gatekeeper with some variation of, “I bet you can help me out…” people want to be helpful and gatekeepers have usually earned their position in part because of their resourcefulness. Appeal to this talent and you might find them being an advocate for you and not an adversary.
#3 – A little humor never hurt anyone
Nothing breaks down barriers like a smile or laughter. A little humor can humanize you to a gatekeeper and quickly separate you from all the “drones” and “script-readers” the gatekeeper has to deal with every day. I am not talking about telling them a “knock-knock joke,” but maybe you make a funny observation about the awkwardness of this “dance” the two of you are engaged in or you comment on how grateful you are to speak to a live person and not a machine.
WARNING: If no one has ever accused you of being funny, this might not be the best time to break-out your comedy material… stick to the first 2 strategies and you will be fine!
What strategies do you use to get beyond the gatekeeper?
Smile Your Way to More Sales
Posted by Mike Faherty in Cold Calling, Sales Strategies on September 19, 2011
If you have ever gone through customer service training in a call center environment you have undoubtedly been trained to “smile with your voice.” The first time I heard this expression, I was the guy in the back of the training room that started laughing. (This has been me on several occasions).
Early in my career, I worked for a company that felt so strongly about “smiling with your voice” that management purchased desktop mirrors for everyone’s desk emblazoned in big red letters with the phrase, “Customers Can Hear You Smile!” I remember thinking it was juvenile and more than just a little silly, and to be honest it was a little silly.
Here is the funny part of the story, even though I received that little desktop mirror over 15 years ago, it has sat on every desk I have worked at ever since. As my career has developed and I have had the opportunity to lead larger sales organizations and now as the Founder and President of ProSales Connection, an outsourced sales and marketing company, I continue to reserve a prominent place on my desk for the “silly” mirror.
In reality, its message is 100% true; customers CAN hear you smile. I believe strongly that if you can smile while speaking on the phone with customers, prospects, business partners, even your mother… anyone, the tone of the call is improved and your effectiveness is dramatically increased. As I train and mentor sales people, this lesson is always a foundational element. We all have learned that communication is mostly non-verbal. This fact is significant when communicating over the phone. Over the phone, there is obviously no opportunity to communicate visually, so all we are left with is our words we choose, the tone and quality of our voice and the pace in which we speak.
I have NO scientific study to back up my claims, but it is my experience that when sales people smile during their calls; customers are friendlier, prospects stay on the phone longer, business partners have more trust and your mother doesn’t ask you, “Honey, is there something wrong?” These are all good things!
So run, don’t walk down to the neighborhood drugstore and drop a couple bucks on a small mirror for your desk. It is a great reminder to smile when you speak on the phone and watch how this reminder will improve your day and your sales results.
How Many Cold Calls per Hour Should I Make?
Posted by Mike Faherty in Cold Calling on July 6, 2011
One of the questions we hear most often is, “How many cold calls per hour should I make.” Of course, like most sales process questions there is no simple answer. But, “It depends” never seems to satisfy the enquirer.
Before you can find your answer, you really have to ask yourself a few additional questions.
- What is the objective of my call
- What is the quality of my list
- Will I be using a CRM (hope so)
- Are the calls cold (never been contacted) or warm (is this attempt number 2+)
- Will there be any addition sales related activities required (quotes, order processing, appointment scheduling)
To demonstrate how to calculate the number of cold calls per hour, let’s begin by making some assumptions.
- Objective: To book a meeting
- List Quality: Average (You have a Company name, Point of Contact, and phone number)
- CRM: Yes
- Cold Calls: This is the first attempt for this list
- Sales Administration: Meetings will need to be scheduled
When you are making first attempt cold calls, we recommend that you spend a couple minutes to research the company you are calling by looking at their website or doing a quick Google search on the company name. You can get bogged down and absorbed in this activity if you are not careful. I suggest you spend no more than 2 minutes per record on this type of activity and another 1 minute making a quick note in your CRM about what you have learned about the prospect. This will save you from having to look the company up again on your second attempt.
Average Cold Call Prep Time = 3 minutes
When your objective is to book a meeting and you are making your first attempt at a contact your average call time will be very short. You will spend a lot of time in “voicemail land” or being directed to other points of contact by a gatekeeper. These calls will usually average about 1 minute over the course of a day. So, if you assume there will be only a few live contacts/conversations your average talk time per call will be about 1.5 minutes.
Average Talk Time/Call = 1.5 minutes
After each call you should learn something about your prospect that will “warm up” your next call. You should allow at least another 1 minute to disposition your first attempt in your CRM application and capture any additional information such as; the title from the prospect’s voicemail, assistant/gatekeeper’s name, best option on the automatic response system, back-up person’s name, cell phone number, vacation or office schedule, etc.
Average Cold Call Disposition Time = 1 minute
Finally, let’s assume that you book 2 meetings per day as a result of your efforts and that it takes about 8 minutes to have the conversation with the prospect and to send out the meeting invitations. If you work an 8 hour day and your entire day is dedicated to cold calling, this activity will average 2 minutes per hour.
Scheduling Meetings = 2 minutes
In summary, when we include pre-call research, the actual call, and post-call CRM updates you should allow on average 7.5 minutes for each cold call. Sixty minutes divided by 7.5 minutes equals 8 calls per hour.
60 minutes/7.5 minutes per call = 8 cold calls per hour
In our experience, a diligent inside sales person making their first pass through a new list will be able to easily achieve 8-10 calls per hour.
The cold calls per hour will increase as the list becomes warmer and more refined over the next few calls allowing a good inside sales person to average 10-12 calls per hour while effectively maintaining and updating information in your CRM application.
Therefore, when asked how many cold calls per hour should an inside sales person be able to make, a fair and reasonable response is generally 10 calls per hour.
Pop Quiz: What Are the 5 Best Lead Generation Strategies?
Posted by Mike Faherty in Cold Calling, Sales Strategies on June 24, 2011
Some marketing firms would have you believe that they know the secret to finding your business shiny new clients. The truth is – there are no secrets involved in generating new quality leads for a business. There are only 5 ways to reliably and consistently generate business to business leads. In my experience, a business or sales person that consistently executes on all (or at least most) of these strategies will be successful in the long run.
The Only 5 Ways to Generate Quality Leads:
1. Referrals - A referral is obviously the best possible lead you can get. Referrals are backbone of any successful business and must be cultivated with care. These leads speak to your ability to deliver results to your customers and the quality of your service. However, they are limited and often there are not enough referrals to meet the growth objectives for the business.
2. Networking - Networking is a powerful lead generation strategy. By putting yourself in situations where you are able to interact with prospects in a meaningful way, you can uncover new opportunities and new connections. The downside is you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince and if you are like me, networking events can make me uncomfortable.
3. Partnerships - One of my favorite lead generation sources is partnerships. When the right partner relationship is created it should be mutually beneficial. You need to be prepared to invest time and potentially other resources into a partnership while you develop the relationship. This can take time, but when done right, this lead generation strategy can produce great results.
4. Content Marketing - This is one of the newest lead generation strategies to emerge in the last decade and is by far the most efficient strategy a business can employee. With content marketing or inbound marketing, the work rests in the development of a winning strategy and the skilled execution of the campaign. In a nutshell, the goal of content marketing is to generate useful and compelling content that will demonstrate your business’s expertise. This content, when published and promoted correctly will drive traffic to your website where you will convert this traffic to leads with carefully planned conversion points.
5. Cold Calling - The tried and true cold call is still one of the best lead generation tools available to a sales team. A professional cold call is personally delivered and uniquely interactive. A cold call gives you an opportunity to build rapport, learn about your prospect and agree to next steps in the engagement process. It is immediate, targeted and when done well can be an essential to a sales person’s/business’s long term success.
You will be tempted to argue that there are other ways to generate leads for a business. And of course there surely are some other common strategies, like advertising of course. However, I would argue that in today’s world, traditional media advertising is best used to either build your brand or offer your sales people the air cover needed to compete in a competitive market. Traditional advertising can also drive engagement into your content marketing engine. Use your advertising dollars to drive opt in activity so you can nurture the relationship along and be top of mind when your prospect is ready to make a purchase.
So the question you are no doubt asking yourself right now is, “Is my business taking advantage of each of these 5 lead generation strategies?” Don’t worry if your answer is “No!” Just create a plan and get started today!
Strength of Message – One of the Keys to a Successful Cold Call Campaign
Posted by Mike Faherty in Cold Calling on October 13, 2010
In a previous entry, I outlined the 3 keys to a successful cold call campaign. To review, successful cold call or lead generation campaigns can be traced back to 3 critical campaign pillars.
- List Quality
- Strength of Message
- Effective Delivery
In my first entry on this subject I focused on the importance of a quality list for a campaign to be successful. Today I will concentrate on the second pillar, Strength of Message. Once you know that you are targeting the correct contacts and the data is complete your next hurdle is to make sure your message will resonate with your target contacts.
Strength of Message
The best sales person in the world who is calling the most qualified list will still fail if he/she doesn’t deliver a message that resonates with the prospect.
What’s In It For Me? (WIIFM)
Frame your product or service’s value in terms of the benefit your prospect will enjoy with a decision to do business with you. The more personal you can make the value the better. Look for ways to focus your value on how it will impact the individual you are speaking with, not just the organization they represent. This can be harder than you think. When I introduce this concept to sales people I am always surprised at how their first attempts often yield a self-centered message. These are smart sales people who understand why a customer-centric message will work better, yet they still struggle. Speaking to prospects in terms that are beneficial to their business and their personal responsibilities is worth extra effort.
Here are a couple examples to illustrate the point.
Sales Rep Centric Statement –
I would like to show you how our product saves you time and money.
This statement is framed in terms of what the sales rep wants to do, yet it is almost standard issue cold call material for sales people across all industries.
Customer Centric Statement –
Clients like XYZ and ABC have told us they experience issues with XXX. Using our products, they have been able to eliminate this problem.
This version centers on a likely business problem and how the prospect can solve it by using our help. It is about them and their challenges, not what we want.
There are also some other components to a strong message that are helpful.
- Reference – The sooner you can mention the name of another business that trusts you as a provider/partner the better. This creates immediate credibility with a prospect and can buy you more time to share you message.
- Use Data – Use objective data points to underline and reinforce your claims. These could include customer satisfaction ratings, % productivity increases, revenue increases or cost reduction figures. The more detailed the better.
- Situational Intelligence – Know something about your prospect’s business or industry and weave this into the conversation early. It will show you are an experienced professional and that you have done your homework. This will also allow you to build rapport with your contact.
In summary, the strength of message will focus on the prospect’s needs and show that you understand their business and that you come to them as a credible and knowledgeable resource. No one can make cold calling more fun, but the more successful your campaign is the more tolerable the activity.
Until next time…
Mike Faherty
ProSales Connection
The 3 Keys to a Successful Cold Call Campaign
Posted by Mike Faherty in Cold Calling on September 1, 2009
There is nothing that sales people hate to do more than make cold calls. Even the very best sales people who make this activity a regular and scheduled part of their work week just tolerate it because they have learned over time it is their best way to fill the sales pipeline with new, quality prospects to work.
Over the years we have learned that the best way to get people excited about making cold calls is to ensure that the calls are productive and yield real results. Successful cold call or lead generation campaign can be traced back to 3 critical campaign pillars.
• List Quality
• Strength of Message
• Effective Delivery
Any weakness in one of the above pillars and the campaign’s success can be in jeopardy. At ProSales Connection, we spend a great deal of time before we launch a lead generation campaign making sure we are happy with each of these areas before we go live.
In this Blog, I want to focus on the first of the three pillars.
List Quality
Regardless of how strong your businesses message is or how skilled your sales people are at articulating the message, if a sales person is speaking to the wrong contact or wrong type of businesses the campaign won’t be successful. This is a fundamental component. With that being said, the prospect list is rarely 100% wrong. It is a usually a grey area.
Wrong Direction
Often the marketing department extrapolates data points from the existing customer database and make some assumptions about where the marketing focus needs to be. This is, in general, a sound approach. However, it can lead you astray if the data is not carefully analyzed and input from the sales department is not used to get a “reality check” on the assumptions and conclusion from the research.
For example, if a company looks at their revenue by vertical market and discover that 25% of revenue last year was from the Health Care market. It would be easy to conclude that this is a hot market for your business. You might be surprised when after the lead generation campaign fails that this 25% of your revenue was generated by 1-2 customers that had “one-off” projects that were unique to their businesses. It was not an industry wide need, but rather a unique business challenge at a specific client.
This sent your sales team off on a wild goose chase for business that was not repeatable and therefore an inefficient use of your sales people’s time and energy.
Poor Quality
The second biggest risk to a lead generation campaign, as it relates to the list quality, is the actual completeness or accuracy of the data given to your sales team to work from.
If the contacts given to the sales force are missing data like names, titles, phone numbers, business name or industry description it can grind productivity to a halt. A sales person making cold calls needs to find a rhythm to be productive. That means the data needs to be easily delivered in a systematic way (a CRM solution is best) and the data needs to be complete and accurate. As soon as a sales person has to break their rhythm to poke around a website for 10 minutes looking for a phone number or name the productivity drops and the return on your marketing investment is diminished.
In summary, make sure the list you give to your sales people for any cold call or lead generation campaign is targeted at the right prospects based on careful market research and ensure that you are sourcing the data from a reliable source where quality is paramount. Avoid the temptation to same money on the list and transfer the cost to the sales team with ineffective calls and lost time correcting/collecting data.
Until next time…
Mike Faherty
ProSales Connection
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