BitWide

Turning a Gatekeeper into a Champion

If you’ve ever come across a toll booth while driving and your first line of thought hasn't been “I’m putting pedal to the metal and barging right through!” Then plenty of sales representatives could learn a lot from you. Gatekeepers are anyone you’re redirected to in an outreach attempt to a specific person. So a receptionist or an executive assistant.

A common mistake is that gatekeepers are rendered down to obstacles you need to overcome so you can pitch to your intended target. Which doesn’t consider the human element and the fact the gatekeeper can be turned into a champion for your cause. It’s within their interests to save their boss time and money and they’re going to get a share of the credit for bringing you to the boss if you have genuine value to offer them. Now they’ve heard about how such and such can save the boss twenty five hours a day and unheard of cost-saving too many times to count.

A specific but-not-to-specific appeal is the way to go. So the gatekeeper has the opportunity to fill in the blanks with their firm’s own problems rather than trying to assess, as they’ll have a strong understanding of what their company needs just as much as their boss.