gatekeeper – Ed Warner-Enterprise Software Sales

Gatekeepers:

Every organization has them, though that is not their primary purpose. They can be the scourge of the planet or your best friend. Which would you prefer? Regardless of what a sales manager says or expects, it isn’t always possible to call the decision maker direct. That doesn’t mean you will never talk to them, just that you are not starting with them.

Gatekeepers or non-decision making entities can actually help you. Learning how to deal with them is paramount in gaining access to the real decision makers. This is the sister article to Reaching the Decision Makers published a few weeks ago. So how do you start when encountering a gatekeeper?

Ask questions having an answer(s) only the decision maker can answer (or a high likelihood). This allows them to direct you to someone who does know the answer. If they pause, or show a hesitation in wanting to let you know, ask if they could suggest someone.

Ask what functional units your product might impact. Now ask for that person’s name.

Use your past experience and suggest that similar past projects always involved the CIO or CFO. By doing this, you can ask, “Are you sure the CIO or CFO (or whomever is applicable) will not need to see this”?

Gatekeepers have the duty to guard the castle thereby protecting the company. Some take this responsibility particularly personal and will do what is necessary to swat everyone that tries to enter. The problem with this is they really do a lot of harm. The jury is still out on if the harm is more than the good. Sales people have two reactions to the gatekeepers; love ’em, hate ’em. Those that hate ’em are the ones that are not successful in winning their support.

When you first encounter a gatekeeper, they usually ask the typical, who you are and what you want. Most will ask you to send some “documentation or some brochures”. To get past this, simply say “I would love to but we do not have the standard type of documentation you typically receive from other companies. If Mr. CxO is interested in saving XYZ% off his bottom line expenses, then I would be happy to discuss this with him and follow up with custom documentation.”

This immediately compels them to pass this on, make the appointment or put you through right then. It also does not pigeon-hole you as a vendor or salesperson; you are bringing value. This is where you start to build yourself as a trusted business partner. If there is any push back, ask if they think the XYZ% is compelling to them. How can they say no? They can, but the logic of doing so escapes me.

In closing, there are basically two types of gatekeepers, the one that is charged with keeping everyone out, and the other has the discretion to pass value-producing propositions through. You can be fairly certain of the type you have run into by asking the above question. One last item you might try if there seems to be an interest on the part of the gatekeeper, just not the willingness to pass you on. Ccntinue the conversation with the gatekeeper. Educate them on the value of your solution. They can actually pre-sell the idea in your stead.

If you find this useful, Contact Me or please leave a comment. If you have a Twitter account and found this article useful, it would be much appreciated if you would retweet this at the beginning of the article!

Happy Selling!

Ed Warner

Reaching the Decision Maker

How many of you can honestly say you are able to reach the decision maker in any company? Many can, but for those that struggle, this article is for you!

This article touches two areas: Decision Makers, and Pain Issues. I will also show some effective tactics to use that will help reach your ultimate goal, the Decision Maker. In an upcoming article, I will discuss the Gatekeepers in a company.

Pain:

I mentioned pain issues in the previous paragraph so let’s start there and work backwards. In today’s economy, unless you have a compelling solution to a business’ pain points, you have no right to call on that business. You must earn that right. Think about that for a moment. This is exactly how you will be viewed until you establish creditability. This link shows a diagram that pinpoints the moment in an organization when change happens.

There are three elements of pain common in any organization:

Every organization has it
Every organization wants to remove it
Every organization down plays the severity

So how do you or I earn that right to call upon that business? You do so by pre-planning your call with sufficient facts and knowledge of that company’s business structure. This is the very reason I (strongly) advocate having a plan.

So how do you or I gain the insight to a business? Some think just having a plan is the magic bullet; it’s not, rather it is part of a sales process you should be following. I have used the following without exception to gain the necessary insight to a company:

Call the company’s competitors and ask your questions of them

This does two things. First, you get to practice on someone live that isn’t your target. The last thing you want to happen is to blow your chance at your target. Second, you might just generate an interest with this company wanting to gain a competitive advantage. You could easily be on your way to selling to two companies!

The Decision Maker:

Regardless of the organization, someone IS the decision maker. This can include more than one so remember one of the first things you need to ascertain is the buying process. Revealing this early on gives you time to plan your strategy. But remember one important item: There may (and usually is) an unnamed party that can veto the entire process.

There are generally two ways you reach the decision maker; first contact or being directed to them through working your way through the organization. If nothing else, remember this: high-level direct contact has the highest success rate than starting at the lower lever. If you start lower, you have for all intent and purposes, created a ceiling for yourself that is hard to break through. The lesson here is to start high.

With that said, once reaching the decision maker you generally have about 20-30 seconds to make your case before their mind has placed you on the friend-or-foe list. The higher up you are is inversely proportional to the amount of time you have to speak. This is the moment that all your planning, practice, and facts had better be second nature to you when you begin to speak.

Lastly, if you are called by a lower-level person in an organization, it doesn’t mean you need or if should call him back first. Rather, if you have contacts there try them first, and then call the low-level person back. Or, if this client is strategic enough, have a member of your executive management make the call to a higher level while you in tandem call the low-level person back. This accomplishes two things. First, your executive management calling is a peer-to-peer call. This call will have a greater chance of success. Second, you have satisfied the low-level person’s request for a call-back while your management sets up a possible meeting.

Whatever the method used to reach the decision maker, your tactics used should never be viewed as condescending, manipulative, or arrogant. You are seeking a trust level, nothing more at this point.

Happy Selling!

Ed Warner