Cold Calling Gatekeeper Problem

Be vague.

"I thought I'd give you guys a call and let you know there's significant room for improvement concerning your online presence. It seems to me that your competitors such as company a and company b are stealing the leads right from under your nose....PAUSE....who do you think would be the best person to discuss this with?"

Ask for the person by name... they ask who is calling... give your first name.. if they ask what its regarding, about the website. It will work 9 out of 10 times. Really.. that simple.

At that point... if they say they have someone doing it already... say, well they aren't doing good enough.

If they say they already rank well, let them know they are losing leads, which means losing money. If you don't care about that, that's okay I can go on to the next number on my list, but I don't know of many successful business owners that are okay with their competitors getting what could be their own leads.

This is why I pretty much refuse to speak to gatekeepers. I only call mobile phones if possible. If I am forced to talk to a gatekeeper, I always use Iamnameless strategy. If I don't know the owners name, then I'm generally screwed and will 95% of the time get 'we are OK with that, thanks'.

So aggravating hearing 'no' from someone who has no clue whether the boss needs it or not.

thanks for the tips guys. I will try create something that incorporates the best bits from the advice i have been given. Ill come back with the results.

Do you have to find leads by cold-calling? Or can you start off starting conversations with email, then with building rapport with insightful conversations before you either schedule Skype conversations or call the person directly, bypassing the gatekeeper?

I'm by no means an expert TM (telemarketer) yet but I've had some success with calling and getting past gatekeepers. I simply combine my direct marketing, copywriting, and face2face selling experience as well put myself in people's shoes what will work on me or tick me off, may not always work but it has worked pretty good so far.

Anyway, here's what I do... (GK is gatekepeer)...

Me: Hello. Is this P Company?
GK: Yes it is. Who is this (or how can I help you)?
Me: My name is Name Here. I'm a "Solutions Man" with XYZ company. This is a business call (I don't pause for a response here--I say this is a business call because I WANT them to know I'm prospecting and not disappoint them that this isn't possible new business or whatever. I found your address, phone number, whatever (this way or that, it helps to mention where I find them proves I didn't just buy a SPAM list or scrape them and I'm a due diligence kind of person also I like to mention only respectable sources, I could say I found them in an online directory and it could work but I haven't test that yet--anyway the former is what I like to think and every time I say it, I get some form of affirmation that they know that source and acknowledge I did my homework--at this point I pause a little in case they want to affirm my status as an "allowed call", sometimes I don't, depends on my flow or mood at the time.

Then I go on to WHY I'm calling (some will disagree, but that's what I do. It works for me--I keep this part quick/brief/to-the-point and interesting even for a GK, it's her/his company too in a way, if it's losing money/whatever other useful thing, then he/she would/will likely care cos that could mean "someone" gets laid off eventually--this is a joke but could be true for all I know

Anyway after I've told them why I'm calling, I then ask for who would be best to talk to about that issue I just laid out so beautifully I don't always get past all GK's or non-DM's (decision makers) but it has worked well enough in terms of percentages, I've had to talk to GK's only a handful of times since I somehow I'm lucky enough to get the DM on my first try with most of my calls so far.

Anyway by no means is any of this an expert TM's opinion, just my own personal experience so far. Hope it helps somewhat.

Cheers

Agree with you on not using a script. Use it as a guide instead. When you are get rejections, offer to send them information then follow up after a couple of days. Include in your email that things that you have observed about their website. There are times that they are too busy to talk that's why they just say they do not need your service.

It is your goal to make them understand that what you offer is something that they need. Once you achieve this, you will feel good.

Scripts are obvious and will get you shut off in a jiffy. Gatekeepers are masters of detecting scripts because they hear them every hour of everyday! So unless you've perfected your script and you don't sound unnatural in any way, don't use one.

Natural and friendly is the way through a gatekeeper. No matter how you dislike speaking with them.