Finding my guy...

12 years ago

Rus thank you for opening the vault of your glorious wisdom on all things gatekeeper.

She is such a shadowy figure to many of us but after reading your post, she is no longer to be feared

[ 1 ] Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6375804].message }}

Huskerdarren

12 years ago

Good post Rus. I always cringe when I see advice about how to trick the gatekeeper.

Most gatekeepers are ladies and responding to them with kindness and sincerity is a much better approach. Very few will return your kindness with nastiness. Some will, but very few. I like how you phrased those questions.

[ 1 ] Thanks
1 reply

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6375896].message }}

Rus Sells

12 years ago

Originally Posted by mojo1

Rus thank you for opening the vault of your glorious wisdom on all things gatekeeper.

She is such a shadowy figure to many of us but after reading your post, she is no longer to be feared

Originally Posted by Huskerdarren

Good post Rus. I always cringe when I see advice about how to trick the gatekeeper.

Most gatekeepers are ladies and responding to them with kindness and sincerity is a much better approach. Very few will return your kindness with nastiness. Some will, but very few. I like how you phrased those questions.

Yups, I thought I'd share that after seeing so many gatekeeper threads.

The other important factor is not wasting your time or theirs. That's what I mean by "finding my guy".

Thanks

Signature

Review Sentry

Dotcomcodex

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6377941].message }}

rolltide

12 years ago

Great post Rus! I always learn from your post.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Make $150 everytime someone backs up their computer!
http://goo.gl/07M6K

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6378018].message }}

Rus Sells 12 years ago

Thanks! I know I should probably post more but I'm always busy and usually only have time to reply to other peoples posts.

Originally Posted by rolltide

Great post Rus! I always learn from your post.
- Thanks
Signature

Review Sentry
Dotcomcodex
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6378961].message }}

ginnysclub1

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Rus Sells

I recently had a meeting with a friend of mine that is in the oil business, he's been in this space for many years and the training he's provided in his industry has resulted in many new successful companies being formed.

I was asking about his sales process to find out where improvements could be made. As it turns out there are some restrictions on how companies like his can advertise online, print, etc. etc.

I quickly realized that nothing if anything we traditionally do for our small business clients so we just started chatting.

Most of his client getting is through telemarketing. The minimum he accepts is 25k in something called pooled investing. He regularly gets 100k and is also dealing with investors who invest millions at a time.

He makes 25% on all the amount of the investment so even the minimum deals he's making some decent bank. He lives in a penthouse so yeah. haha

At one point he had a telemarketing room where all they did was give a very short pitch to qualify people. He had a two step process and any one who made it past the screening pitch from the telemarketer would be passed to him for closing. He paid the telemarketers 5% of his 25% for each investment made.

If the telemarketer got just 2 deals a week at the minimum investment of 25k they make 600 a week in commissions and he was also paying them 400 weekly base. Not to shabby at all and sometimes the investment amount was way over the minimum.

He kept saying, I'm just looking for my guy. That's it, I could not care about any one that's not my guy. He blows the rest off never to really be heard from again.

My guy being the person who's interested and has the 25K minimum.

He said females didn't do so well because the men would say they have 25k when they didn't and we laughed because that made perfect sense. LOL

I've seen lots of post's about how to get passed gatekeepers and the point is you need to stop trying to get passed gatekeepers.

Just look for my guy.

Instead of insisting on speaking to the owner first or whomever makes marketing decisions, qualify them through the gate keeper first.

Ask questions like.

Has your boss expressed interest in re-designing the company website?

Has your boss asked to you do find anything online about marketing his company better on the internet?

You looking for that guy...that one person who says, why as a matter of fact YES! How coincidental that you called!

Now you've made the gatekeeper a part of the solution and you are going to get special treatment from there on in.

Don't waste your time with those who don't respond correctly, just move on and find that guy.

I love it.

Thanks

Signature

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6379645].message }}

emarion1114

12 years ago

Nice post. I learn from this. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6383248].message }}

somacorellc

12 years ago

That's pretty much how I operate. After a while you start feeling bad for local business owners because probably half of them have no clue the kind of decisions their gatekeepers are making for them. I hear all the time "we're not interested in a website" or "we don't advertise" (the most common, actually).

The thing is, I can just picture the business owner sitting in the back room thinking "how the hell am I going to compete when Google keep changing all this stuff?"

And they'll never know I called because the gatekeeper was told back in 2005 not to pass any calls like mine along.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

Web Design Columbia SC

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6384458].message }}

Jason Kanigan

12 years ago

Originally Posted by somacorellc

That's pretty much how I operate. After a while you start feeling bad for local business owners because probably half of them have no clue the kind of decisions their gatekeepers are making for them. I hear all the time "we're not interested in a website" or "we don't advertise" (the most common, actually).

The thing is, I can just picture the business owner sitting in the back room thinking "how the hell am I going to compete when Google keep changing all this stuff?"

And they'll never know I called because the gatekeeper was told back in 2005 not to pass any calls like mine along.

Mike, are you seriously getting blocked by gatekeepers? That Little Unsure technique should get you past them. Or treating them as if they are the decision maker.

But anyhow as you know that is NOT rejection. If no conversation happened, it isn't rejection.

Also, I don't think business owners even know there have been updates to how Google works. They're busy with their own problems.

Thanks

Signature

>> How To Grow Your Online Business [FREE Training Video, No Opt-In, from 10+ Year Vet]

>> For Agency Founders: The Fast Shortcut To Selling SEO, Leadgen, Webdesign & Other Services

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6384702].message }}

mjbmedia

12 years ago

OK, heres the thing, this example the investor guy is looking for specific parameters to be met, if someone doesnt have the spare cash then theyre not his guy , thats a black and white question.
But we are looking for business owners who want more clients, they all want that. They may not want to admit it straight away, they may not know how the hell its gonna occur, but if you take a 'no' in our situation and never go back, who knows what you're missing out on, the business owner is highly likely to say 'yes' to someone offering similar to you, hell thats why some will pay out 000's for Yellow Pages still while saying 'no' to online solutions, but at some stage they will say 'yes' to online solutions , it may be the 2nd time you approach them, it may be the 10th time (and these can be automated) , but if you never approach them again, its a definite that one of your competitors will win their business.

That may not seem like the end of the world, until this business we missed out on grows massively producing 6 figure paychecks AND 000's of referals to our competitor, all because they weren't our guy.

Look im not knocking the OP no way, never, I like Russ and value his posts , but would any of you honestly market any of your clients businesses this way, one strike and forget that lead forever, in the investor scenario people either have the ££££ or they dont, in our scenario they often need educating , hand holding, nurturing to then realise WOW Im loving this , lets do it, theyll still be investing in their futures, they just may not need the $25k straight up .

I agree with the principle of not spending ages on one lead who isnt getting it when theres another 100 to make contact with today, but if that lead ever did get it who knows how theyd reward their educator, and its simple to automate that part of the follow up

Thanks

Signature

Mike

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6385103].message }}

Rus Sells

12 years ago

I'd much rather find out as soon as possible if theirs a legit interest and if they have and want to spend money. Of course its not as black and white as my investor friend but the principle can be applied to any industry with a little gray area.

But the point is the gate keep issue.

People are having trouble getting past the gatekeeper and instead of trying to figure it out they can just approach it a little differently.

And of course we wouldn't suggest this type of marketing for our clients that's a whole different ball game.