It’s been said that “character” is what you do when no one is looking. Personally, I’d define “Selling Character” as how you treat people who can’t buy from you. I was reminded of this just this morning, as I went to an appointment. As is my habit, I walked up to the receptionist and said, “Good morning. I’m Troy Harrison and I have a 9 A.M. appointment with XXXXX.” The receptionist looked at me, smiled, and said, “Now, that’s refreshing!”
I asked what she meant by that, and she said, “Well, you gave me all the information that I needed. I didn’t have to play twenty questions with you.” That’s interesting, isn’t it? As she dialed my contact’s office, discovered that he wasn’t in, and then began to page him over the intercom, my contact walked up. I thanked the receptionist and the sales call began. A lot happened in about 45 seconds, and it’s worth talking about.
Salespeople – and sales trainers – have talked about ways to ‘schmooze the gatekeeper” for decades. Most of those methods make for good water-cooler stories, or they market the sales trainer well….but few of them work better than what I did. Why?
Because I treated her like a person. That’s it. And in doing so, I became memorable (because few people do it) and she was willing to go the extra mile to find my contact (which she was doing when he walked up). And it wasn’t that difficult. All I did was this:
“Good morning.” A common greeting.
“I’m Troy Harrison,” so she knew who I was, and she could tell my contact who was there to see him.
“I have a 9 A.M. appointment with XXXXX.” I let her know who my contact was, that he was expecting me (and it wasn’t a walk in cold call), and that my appointment was at 9 A.M. (since I got there at 8:50, she knew that there was a bit of a time cushion).
Notice what I didn’t do? I didn’t bring donuts, or flowers, or cookies, or other treats. Those are core to the old ‘schmoozing the gatekeeper’ approach – and many receptionists and secretaries find them demeaning and insincere. How do I know? Because they’ve told me. “Don’t get me wrong, I eat the cookies and I like them,” one told me, “but I’m insulted by the unspoken quid pro quo. It’s like a sleazy guy on a date.”
The truth is that making a positive impression on the so-called “Gatekeepers” isn’t difficult. Respect, consideration, and treating them like people go a long way.
What about on the phone? When it comes to phone calls, I find that there are two types of receptionists – the quick-moving receptionist (dish the call off to the appropriate extension as quickly as possible) and those who do “keep the gate,” and try to be guardians of the manager’s time.
It’s pretty easy to find out which. Making a prospecting call using my Data Driven Prospecting model, you simply call and ask for the appropriate contact – “May I speak with Bob Smith, please?” If the receptionist is the quick-moving type, the next ring will be Bob’s extension.
On the other hand, the receptionist might be a “gatekeeping” type. Here’s the rule for dealing with this type of receptionist: Do not make her pull teeth to get the information she wants! If she asks, “Can I tell him who you’re with,” or “What this is regarding,” or whatever she asks – give her a complete answer.
“Well, I’m Troy Harrison. I’m a sales development expert, and I’m calling because I’ve been doing some research on the company, and I think I can help Bob make a lot of money for the company.” Or, if Bob is someone I met at a speaking engagment, I might say, “I met Bob at the recent XXX conference in Las Vegas, where he attended one of my programs. I’m following up because I might be able to help Bob grow the company.” For the “gatekeeper,” context is important.
It’s tempting to act like you’re on a witness stand, and only answer what’s asked. “And who are you with?” “What is this regarding?” Etc. If you do this, you’ll seem very evasive and your chances of actually talking to the person go down by the second.
Of course, in the real world, the most common gatekeeper is voice mail. We’ll talk about that in an upcoming article.
