Three Tips For Getting Through
How many times have you heard that you gotta get past the gatekeeper and
get to the decision-maker to make the sale? Countless books and sales trainers
have talked about this for years. Much of this advice was written for a world
without voicemail.
Today's flatter organization has fewer administrative assistants for management,
which means fewer live gatekeepers to screen our phone calls. The delegation
of authority has also resulted in decision-makers being found at lower levels
in the business than ever before. More and more decision- makers now use voicemail
as their primary or even exclusive gatekeeping and screening tool.
Today I am going to discuss a few sales tips for getting through to your
target in the world of voicemail hell. The first rule as always in sales is
to be prepared, so you should have ready two or three major pains and visions
that your product solves or enables. Make sure you have prepared at least
one strong pain that your prospect is likely to identify with (pain elimination
is a stronger motivator for most people than vision creation).
TIP#1 - Call At Weird Hours
People who screen their calls normally during the 8am to 6pm business hours
will often pickup the phone if a call comes in at 6am or 8:30pm and they are
working at their desk. With some of the insane hours people work these days,
this can be very effective. They will pickup the phone generally thinking
that the only person who would call at 8:30pm at night is their spouse or
a friend. Who could possibly know that they are at the office at that sick
hour? Try calling anytime after 6pm, and up until 8pm or 9pm when you really
need to reach this person. If they are that important to the business, and
that hard to reach, chances are that they work very late, very early, or both.
Getting the direct extension number of a Director or VP in a medium to large
size company can seem like an impossible task. Some top people will have a
direct extension that the receptionists won't give out. Instead, the best
you get is a general department extension like 555-2000 (where there actually
is a gatekeeper). Other times you get only the gatekeeper's voicemail (now
you are really stuck in voicemail hell).
TIP #2 - The Wrong Extension Trick
Call another extension at the company randomly, say 555-2198 and ask for
your target. You more than likely will get a person who is not experienced
in taking outside phone calls. When the receiver of your call says you got
the wrong extension, tell them that you have been getting passed around to
the wrong extensions, the wrong people, the wrong voicemails, and that you
are really frustrated - sound really distraught. Tell them you must return
this call, but that you lost the direct number or that it was garbled on your
voicemail. Ask them if they can tell you the direct number to dial so that
you don't get passed around by receptionists into the wrong voicemails anymore.
The key here is to sound distraught. You want them to feel a little sorry
for you, so that they will want to help you. People like to help others in
need. Armed with the direct extension number for your decision-maker, see
Tip #1.
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Sales
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