Working in sales would be infinitely more manageable if you could get the gatekeeper to work for you instead of against you. But how do you start that process? In today’s episode of The Sales Evangelist, Donald is joined by Taskdrive’s general manager Daniel Viduya to discuss making the gatekeeper an advocate through lead research.
Sales isn’t Lord of the Rings.
- While there can be a Gandalf “You shall not pass” situation when talking to a gatekeeper, there are ways to make them your advocate.
- Daniel’s advice: Don’t bro me until you know me; meaning you have no business talking about people in the company until you understand the company itself
- When convincing a gatekeeper to let you pass, personal information or questions about the decision-maker will not help you.
- Instead of talking about personal information, talk about the account itself and the problems they experience as a whole. See what difference you can make.
Demonstrate that you want to help and can provide solutions for that company’s specific problem.
- It’s about knowing the business and how you can help the business. The gatekeeper wants to see how you can help the business because the gatekeeper is working for the company, not necessarily for the decision-maker.
- The goal is to measure how quickly you could even get through the first stage of your cold call. And if you can’t do that, then there’s something that has to be fixed.
- And more often than not, people will tend to hang up on you if they don’t understand your cold call’s true intent and purpose.
How can you find information to start the right dialogue with the gatekeeper?
- If you have a resource that can find this information for you consistently and constantly, day by day, then your SDR can simply rely on one thing that this resource can give.
- It’s about efficiency. And while multitasking is good, there are times when the prospect simply wants, needs, and deserves your full attention.
- There are several ways to save time while finding the information necessary to demonstrate knowledge to the gatekeeper. You could use an outsource provider, find someone inside your company, or even hire a freelancer. Your solution depends on your needs and your situation.
- The specific information you should find always depends on the target company itself. It could be recent team growth, acquisitions, new funding, or even a merger.
Daniel’s final takeaway? Bring out what’s best to help your SDRs be efficient. Limit admin tasks and have them focus on what they do best. To get in touch with Daniel, connect with him on LinkedIn or visit Testdrive.com to access Daniel’s playbooks for better business.
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Audio provided by Free SFX and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.