Gatekeepers at Businesses

[Crabcake Johnny]

Somarco - none of it works and everyone knows it. Trying to act like you're friends with the owner? Lol:

"Can I ask who's calling?

"Yeah, it's just Jimbo here! I just need to tell ole Scott something before I head out of the office."

That's garbage taught be unethical sleezeball 26 year old D-bag managers so their "team" can produce as much as possible.

Oh...and it doesn't work.

 

[Death Cab For Tootie]

Tootie, What do you say when you get the decision maker? How do you set the appointment?

DCFT: "Good morning/afternoon Bob, This is DCFT, is it a good time to talk?"

Bob: "What's this in regards to?"

D: "Well, do you mind if I take 30 seconds to tell you why I'm calling? Then, you can choose to continue the conversation or not. Fair enough?"

B: "Fine."

D: "Bob, I'm a life insurance agent here in the city who helps business owners who are concerned about falling profits and revenues. With that said, would you be opposed to me stopping by for 15 minutes to introduce myself face to face and show you a bit about the kind of work I do?"

Pretty simple stuff, and it's effective as long as you implicitly ask for the appointment.

 

[Guest]

"I'm calling to find out if he would be interested in quotes on the newest health insurance plans in MD."

"I'll have to take your number and have him get back to you."

"Not a problem - it's 410....."

Try this when the GK asks for your number.

"Instead of calling, let me send you a one-pager on what I do and my VALUE PROPOSITION (always use those two words... they are deal-makers.) Why not give me YOUR email address, I'll send it to you and YOU can decide if it is worth forwarding on to Mr. Owner... or better yet I can send it direct to both of you?" (Should be direcltyLY but adverbs often don't have the same impact and "emphasis" when spoken and sometimes avoid them if possible in speech.)

I send a short email and one of my flyers (I have a bunch of them) and it "sets me up" or a call-back...:

"Judy, I'm calling Mr. Owner about the flyer I sent yesterday."

[If you really want to be devious (I'm not recommending it but it often works) you follow with "I got a call from someone which was garbled on ATT's Centrex answering system... does that happen to you often? (no pause)... but it sounded like the caller said your office." I write a lot of law offices so I'm not surprised if it was you folks who called."]

The following advice is from what John calls the "dinosaur" age (and I'm the lead dinosaur around this venue!) but if you can sell or befriend the GK, you eventually WILL get through to Mr or Ms. Big... or at least get their email so you can deal directly to get the appt.

Another thing I sometimes dangle in front of the GK is something like "... and another reason I'm calling is that in my PRACTICE (connotation of an advisor, not salesman) I come across a lot of [people/businesses/organization] who ask me if I can refer them to a [doctor, contractor, lawyer, computer geek, janitor service, CPA,... whatever] and I need to know if Mr. Big is looking for added [business, projects, patients, clients, contributions, cash flow, etc..]"

I've been focusing more on annuities and life these days and I find that the old aphorism is truer these days than ever... "Help people get what they want/need and they will get what you want/need."

If you "stage" all of your B2B or cold-phoning to that concept, it will help.

As for the guy who uses the "cure for cancer" concept, I think that has value, but it has to be tempered by the fact that "No one cares how much you know... until they know how much you care." I often use that in my pitch to the GK. "Judy, have you ever heard the saying... No one knows...etc. I think it's true." (Silence. Let GK respond.)

One observation: I think that telemarketers (TMs) have such a low productivity factor because they DON'T "care"... most of them simply can't convey on the phone the same kind of client concern that a good agent has... and can (or should be able to!) project. With TMs it's all about the numbers, not the people.

The best method to learn how to do good "cold-phone" or in-person B2B... is practice, practice, practice... role play with your wife/husband/partner or another agent or just to yourself.

Try this. Buy some foam earplugs, put them in and take an hour walk each day alone in the park FOR A WEEK and OUT LOAD talk to yourself as if you were on the phone. (The plugs will allow you to talk very low (so they don't arrest you as a nut-case talking to himself!) and really hear yourself as you will sound when holding a phone to your ear!)

Try it with different responses or approaches. Do your intro and pitch over and over again... not to memorize it... but to feel comfortable with the words as you speak them, trying different intonations and combination.

Make believe you are calling a doctor, then a lawyer, then a computer company, then a retail store, etc. Do it OUT LOUD so you can hear yourself talk. THAT IS THE KEY. Never, never, never write any of this down. You can't pitch from a script. It all must be in your head and your heart. You need to be so well practiced that no matter what the GK (or Mr. Big) throws at you, you have a practiced response. Scripts will kill you.

Take a drama class at your local college or extension. Selling is often acting.

Finally, you don't have to be "perfect" at this. You only have to be "OK at it." Most salespeople are terrible at it so if you are just "OK" you will still do quite well.

I'm really good at this... but I've been selling my knowledge and skills for the past 30 years... programming computers, doing office automation, project management, software "repair", network guru, policy wonk... and selling financial services is no different. That's why I like the "I cure cancer" concept... (I tend to call it the "I'm really Krishna" approach) but it has to be "communicated" in perhaps the same way Krishna made his sale.

If some of you guys spent an hour or two reading the
Introduction to Bhagavad Gita
or
Bhagavad Gita As It Is Original by Prabhupada

and learning how Krishna convinced Arjuna on how and why he should live a different life you would learn a bit about selling an intangible... as well as a lot of other "stuff" that might help you achieve a good life-work balance.

If Krishna is not your thing, get one of the New Testament bibles where all of Jesus' words are in red ink. Just read those, skip the rest. Do you want to be as convincing as a Krishna or a Jesus... READ how they did it. (Like this is rocket science?)

[editorial]
Many of you guys look down or disparage others (like me) who struggled through college (and later grad school) but still "made the grade" and got a degree. Most of what you guys don't understand is that what you really take away form college and will use in later life is HOW to learn as WHAT to lean. The discipline is also a "life lesson."

You may write a really crappy 15 page paper on some topic... but you got through it and finished it on time... and were graded on it. You don't get that leaving high school and going to work at Wal-Mart and then stumbling into sales as an agent.

Most people in sales fail because they never built a solid intellectual foundation for being successful.

Sales is more than just talking... it is the ability to present a clear and cogent argument that what you have is what they need, especially when at first they don't want it.

I tell young people to go to college and take every damn course under the sun they can fit into a schedule... even if they fail it... and to come out as eclectic as they can be. No one cares about your GPA the day after you graduate. They care about your ability to talk and write and what you either know.. or can B.S.

I tell them that throughout their life they need to continue to read all the sections of the New York Times or Newsweek... and yeah... the art and music and science sections, because if they do they will be hugely successful in sales.

Why? When you are comfortable talking to anyone about anything (as I can) you simply can't lose in this business, I don't care if you sell the absolute worst product on the planet!

And I don't care if you are the worlds greatest expert on annuities or life insurance plan-design. If I don't like you or I don't feel comfortable talking with you (because I think you are dumb-ass if you never heard of Bach or Warhol or Teller or Locke or Krishna, or Becket, or Rotten, or Stevens, or Lennon, or .... the list is endless...) I'm not going to buy from you.
[/editorial]

Sorry for the long Sunday rant but I was in the mood. I had about fifteen minute before my first, current, and very expensive wife called me for breakfast so I thought I'd jot down a few things. (As Mark Twain is reputed to have written to a friend "I would have made this letter shorter but I didn't have the time."

As always when you read my electronic fish-wrap... YMMV.

Al
InsuranceSolutions123 Agency

 

[jmhopkins40]

What do I say to gate keepers?

As little as possible. I'm not trying to make the gatekeeper a client (for now), I'm trying to make the owner a client. When you have an attitude of 'you have to get through or your ass is grass', you will get put through. In other words, when you believe, you will be believed. I take an approach very similar to Full Throttle's:

DCFT: "I'd like to speak with Bob."

Receptionist: "Bob who?"

D: "Bob Owner."

R: "Who should I say is calling?"

D: "Death Cab."

R: "Death Cab who?"

D: (with a bit of annoyance) "Death Cab For Tootie."

R: "Where are you calling from?"

D: "My office."

R: "No, what firm?"

D: "My firm."

R: "What is this in regards to?"

D: "He'll know when I speak to him."

R: "Hold please."

The mentality you need to have when cold calling is:

1. You have the financial cure for cancer.
2. Mr./Mrs. Big is deathly ill, they just don't know it yet.
3. Mr./Mrs. Big will welcome the cure if you make them understand they are sick.
4. You are calling your best friend, so why wouldn't you give them the cure for cancer?
5. You cannot fail when you cold call, the person on the other hand has failed to meet your criteria for becoming a client.

It's real simple, but not easy. These are techniques that you must practice all the time because they are predicated on an attitude of utmost confidence. If you can't get these lines out without stammering, studdering, or pausing, you're dead. However, I am a testament to these techniques working. Since I've learned them, my calling success ratios have gone through the roof - now I get 3 appointments from 40 dials verses vs. 3 appointments per 100 dials.

our girls love to get calls from guys like you.....they keep u on the phone 3-5 min, WASTE UR TIME, then shut you down, have a cup of coffee and we all have a big laugh.

thanks for that post, we enjoyed it tuff guy

 

[Death Cab For Tootie]

Hate to break it to you, pal, but that exchange doesn't take much longer than 30-60 seconds. Hardly a waste of time in my opinion, but I get through to a lot more decision makers than trying to explain to Ms. Krispy Kreme what I do for a living.

 

[somarco]

trying to explain to Ms. Krispy Kreme what I do for a living.

Does this contempt, and elitist attitude come through in dealing with others?

My guess is it does.

Are you old enough to shave yet?

 

[Death Cab For Tootie]

If I'm targeting the owner of the business, why am I going to waste my time explaining to the receptionist what I do?

And FTR, I have been shaving for almost two years tyvm. My mom taught me how to shave my upper lip just like hers.

 

[somarco]

If I'm targeting the owner of the business, why am I going to waste my time explaining to the receptionist what I do?

A receptionist could very well be low hanging fruit. While you are hoping to land the whale you could very easily pick up other business along the way.

But there is no reason to expect a big game hunter to fool with the easy stuff.

FWIW, I have bagged a few elephants over the years including one that paid me over $250,000 over a 6 year period. But most of the money I have made has come from serving the masses, especially those in niche markets.

No reason to learn from me, or others who have been down the same path before you. We obviously have nothing of value to offer.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Bob just nailed it right on the head. I wrote not only a lot of secretaries but others in the office as she passed around my info.

Surprising how many admin girls or secretaries aren't exactly in love with the way their boss runs the office.

I'd hear a lot of "oh, HE has insurance but none of us do." Boom, instant deal.

So acting like as a** not only won't land the owner but there's now a zero chance on getting the secretary or rest of the office.

 

[Amber Scherloz]

I will have similar lines but I usually set an appointment first before going to the place. So, I'll tell the gatekeeper that I Mr. Owner is expecting me, I have an appointment with him.