Client insists on me going through gatekeeper, just before closing...

The reality is that you were ready to close, not him. A couple of things stand out for me. You say you pitched and set up a phone interview. Then you set up a face to face appointment. Seems like it's reverse but that's not what caused your problem.

Clearly you assumed that he was going to sign on the dotted line, and that was your only reason for going there. He obviously had other ideas. Did he ever say "come on in and I'll sign?"

It sounds as if you may have developed a cordial relationship on the phone, but that's no reason to not fully qualify him before you show up. As simple as making it clear to him what you expect when you get there. Had you asked him if he was ready to pull the trigger he may have told you that you haven't gone through all the steps he needs to make a decision.

It's not unusual for a business owner to include a trusted employee in certain purchasing decisions. Your thread title says Gatekeeper, and this doesn't seem to be the situation you encountered.

You could call the owner back and ask what happened, why the change.

Could be illuminating.

"Hi John, I thought we were going to meet in person and was looking forward to it. When I got there, it seemed things had changed. Now I don't mind meeting with someone else, but could you share with me: Why the change? I'd really appreciate it."

That is what we call a "one legger" in the face to face world... it means only one of the decision makers is present, or the proper one isnt, and you are most likely going to be picked, and brushed off... There is no way his manager can present your offer to him like you do. His manager isnt interested in spending more money, because he already has his own budget agendas usually.

I would flat out tell him, I only make appointments with decision makers. And if he declined, then I would move on to the next number. The key to not being desperate is to have a stack of appointments that are qualified. Keeping your pipeline stuffed so that you dont have to waste time with people who are less than desirable to meet with, and you have more than enough interested people to meet with at any given time. Thats why we advise that prospecting is more important to focus on than selling. Good prospects are halfway in the bag already.

The key to having that is staying on the phone until you have that stack of appointments.

Dont hang your hopes on people who "hem haw", just set more appointments with people who clearly are interested in doing business.

Dont run questionable appointments. Thats my advice. Just let him know you would rather do it at a time when you could meet with him personally.

He is afraid he will say yes, and so he has a guard dog doing his dirty work. If he is interested enough, he will want to meet you himself. There are exceptions, but generally if he isnt interested enough in his business to meet you, then dont run it.

If I had a telemarketer who sent me a manager who was not qualified to make a decision and write a check, I would tell him "This is wood" and it would not count toward his appointment setting quota, unless the owner clearly told him that the manager was the decision maker, could write a check, and the appointment setter had spoken directly to the manager ahead of time confirming that there was interest.

I would ask the owner right on the phone, "can you forward me to the manager real quick so I can ask a few questions ahead of time?" and qualify him.

In your case, I would leave my business card and say, I will try back when the owner is here, or "I will go ahead and give him a call and reschedule".

Excellent Responses, Guys.
Thank you Jason, John, and David.

You basically nailed it.

What's interesting is the entire conversation started with the owner in the first place. I didn't have to pass through anyone in the call.

Essentially I told the manager that I expected to meet with the owner (by name) and he insisted that everything would go through him, not the owner.

I asked why. His response was that the owner tends to send everything through him, and also the owner's mother was sick, which could be true. I tested him to make sure that's actually the case (Didn't want him thinking I was born yesterday), and he verified that it is.


I told him I'd be in touch and left it at that for now.....Calling him back is still a possibility.

Think it was wise to let it go? Though I felt I could have pushed a little more to close, I figured pitching through the manager would skew the message.

Any further input is of course appreciated.

So when they put you in front of the person you needed to sell you decided to bailed?

And it's their fault?

Rule 1: Unless the company is small the owner will delegate marketing (and most other tasks).
Rule 2: Even when the final decision falls to the owner the person you need to sell is the employee (manager) in charge of what you are selling.

I will never understand why people don't understand that real companies are ran by employees not owners. A good owner hires the right people to handle things instead of doing it all themselves. Learn to find and sell the right person. Don't waste time chasing the owner as he won't be the one you need to talk to.

These are not "gatekeepers" they are employees hired to handle these things. The owner considers them relative experts which is why they are in charge of handling these things in place of the owner. If you treat them like they don't matter you will not close the business. Even receptions are not really "gatekeepers" if you know how to talk to them. They will help you find the right person to pitch.

It's always good to qualify them upfront as well, asking them if they are the sole decision-maker or who else is in on the process, so you know to set a time where everyone can attend.

This is disrespect and placing no value on you or your offer. First, you are not a salesperson, you are a business owner whose time is just as valuable as his time is. You don't have to bow or curtsy to him.

I would not present my offer to an underling just because some other underling says I should, especially when the appointment was made with the understanding I would be meeting with the owner/decision maker.

You may want to follow up with the owner at some point, but I wouldn't bother. If he is this disrespectful in the beginning, he will probably end up being a nightmare client. Move on to clients who will respect you and value your time.

I think David and Aaron hit the nail on the head, in more ways than one.

First, it seems that you assumed you had a sale that actually wasn't a sale.

That is ok, we have all done it. After you get more experience you will be able to tell when someone is serious or not.

Second, you are assuming that the owner is going to have the final say.

There are alot of business owners who are passive owners/investors and let their employees/managers/executive team run the show

There are also alot of owners who let their managers make the decisions because they themselves are not experts in those areas, and their managers are. That's why they hired them.

Also there are those owners who sad to say are probably lazy, or incompetent, and don't do any work, or are too afraid to have the final say (ever see kitchen nightmares?)

So don't assume that just because a person is the business owner that they are going to have the final say.

Finally, that manager could be the business owner's right hand man and someone who's opinion the owner trusts 100%

And is there to give the business owner a different perspective on things.

What if the business wasn't 100% sold on your idea, and you pitched the manager and the manager pushed the owner the rest of the way until you got the deal?

Instead of looking at the manager as a "gatekeeper" or "obstacle" you could have turned them into an "Ally" a "cheerleader" for your cause.

This is exemplary of the reason WHY you must learn to pre-qualify HARD up front.

Because, as someone mentioned earlier. Many a times in the B2B world, you have decision-makers, check-writers, and multiple influencers.

Sometimes you have to pitch the influencers AS WELL AS the decision-makers.

IE -- if you sell a laundering service to a restaurant. You have the decision-maker (owner), and multiple influencers (wait help, managers).

DMs make decisions in different ways.

Bottom line, your job is to figure out HOW those decisions are made as early as possible, and to pitch accordingly.

Tangentally, this is why I love working with either (a) small businesses with the owner who is actually reachable, and (b), with direct-to-consumer, B2C, situations.

One-call closes are regularly viable, because the decision-maker, check-writer, and influencer are usually the same person or couple, and your income-generating opportunity is double, sometimes triple, as you don't have multiple call-back scenarios like this example.

FWIW -- chalk it up to experience. We've all done it. Just make sure to correct it by asking the tough, qualifying questions up-front.

You MUST protect your time as a salesperson.

"Is there anyone else who's involved in making decisions like these? Anyone you'd typically want in the conversation with us?"

Even I forget to ask this one (and get burned by it) once in awhile.

If they lie and pretend to be the sole decisionmaker--though even owners tend to bounce things off their significant other--and later you discover more people are involved in the decision making process, then you will have learned something about the personality fit of this individual.

Everyone wants to be the Type-A decision maker type. Few truly are.

I reckon you did the right thing: no great thinking about it, and 'out the door.' That client is looking for someone he can dither about with. No one needs those customers. Not ever.

In wanting to see flyers etc....

"You obviously want to see those for a reason, can I ask WHY?"

"I know your boss liked what I have, but what do you need to be happy with
so we can close this deal, and start getting it all working for you?"

"I'm happy to go thru everything, but what did your boss say about what I had to offer. What was he excited about....What was he nervous about?"

"Ah, you've got to report back to your boss. Ok, thats cool. Lets imagine for a moment, I'm him, what are you going to tell me that you like about whats on offer, and what it will take to make the deal a definite."

Hope that gets you thinking...

Regards


Fraser

Thank you, Gentlemen.