Cold to Committed Page 5
Hiring spike
If a company is going through a sudden increase in hiring, it can indicate momentum. With an uptick in momentum and the desire to hire a lot of people, there is also a lot of focus on taking action and making internal improvements. This is a trigger event that you can use to reach out and show how your product or service can help the company achieve better results.
CONCLUSION
Building a pipeline can be tedious, especially if you lack the tools necessary to make this process much faster. It can often feel like you are spending a lot of energy for a seemingly small result. My strong recommendation is when things are going well, you need to double down on efforts to fuel your success in the future. What do I mean by this? Sales tends to be cyclical—some months are great, others horrible. However, the best salespeople are the most consistent. So, how do they accomplish this? By being consistent in their effort.
It is so easy to let off the gas when you hit quota early. So, here’s my question for you...when you hit quota a week before the end of the month, what will you do? Will you keep your energy up and focus on feeding your pipeline with new accounts? Or, will you start taking days off, or having long, off-topic conversations with your coworkers during peak calling times? It is so important that you keep prospecting, keep pushing forward, this is how you build and keep momentum. That momentum will make you a lot of money and propel your career in sales. Stay on the gas, don’t let up and get “comfortable.”
Maintaining your pipeline is mandatory; you want to keep it healthy. Feed it new accounts, enrich those accounts, and stay in tune with trigger events. Being a great prospector is about discipline. It’s about sticking to your process, even when you want to take a break from the busy work. In sales there is hunting and gathering; this chapter was about gathering. The next step?
Grab your spear. It’s time to hunt!
The importance of authority and
how to get past the gatekeeper
In this chapter we are going to cover the importance of authority and your ability to deal with the many different personalities you will interact with in your quest for sales success.
When I began my career in sales I started as an SDR at a large tech company, I was wide-eyed and excited for the future. You might be experiencing this now; you are about to start at a great company with good benefits and are ready to pound the phones and make something of your life. Here is the best advice I can give you before diving into actual skill sets:
Act with Authority!
Before you dial that first number, you must understand a very powerful aspect of cold calling—authority. Authority can be the difference between repeatedly having to call back because the decision maker is “busy” and speaking with them on the first call.
What exactly does it mean to have authority? It means having confidence when you speak, knowing that you are calling to bring value, not just to try and sell them something. Authority is also being educated about your target customers’ industry and the problems they face.
Authority comes from your tone of voice and rate of speech. Everyone who talks to salespeople often can tell if they are good or not within the first few seconds. If the person you are talking to you senses that you are weak, you have already lost.
I learned the importance of authority very early in my sales career. The new territory assignments were up and I could hear sighs of relief around me because my colleagues didn’t get assigned their most feared territory—New York City. Guess who didn’t get to sigh with relief? This guy. I was so nervous. Everyone said that people in New York City were rude and the territory was very difficult to sell into. Remember when we spoke about not letting negativity get into your head? This is pretty much why.
Want to know the truth about New York City, the Big Apple? There are some whip-smart business owners there who don’t want to waste time on people who cant help them grow their business. They don’t have patience for sales people who lack confidence in themselves or their product or service. Thriving in this territory requires authority and having that authority over the phone made me a better SDR. It will make you one too.
Every time you pick up the phone, speak with authority!
It does take practice. Below are some tips that I have found helpful in sounding more confident.
Tip #1: Belonging
Tell yourself that you belong there. Have you ever heard those stories of people who get into restricted areas just because they had so much confidence that no one stopped them? Remind yourself often that you are not bothering anyone with your call, that you belong on the phone with the decision maker. This will help you sound more confident and speak with purpose.
Tip #2: Stand up!
If you find yourself sounding weak over the phone, then stand up when you’re talking. If you’re like most people, standing will make you feel more powerful and that will translate over the phone.
Tip #3: Stop using soft language.
This one can be challenging because we are all programed to use words that make us sound weak, kinda, maybe, sort of, like, um…just to name a few. Listen to your call recordings and find out what you say that comes across as low confidence and write them down. Put these words on a sticky note and stick it to your monitor as a constant reminder to stop saying those words. You will start to become more aware during your calls and you’ll be able to reduce your use of words that make you come across as someone with low confidence.
Tip #4: Speak with confidence
No matter who you’re speaking to, speak with confidence. This will require a constant effort to change the way you speak naturally. If you have trouble speaking with authority when on a call, force yourself to speak with confidence and authority everywhere you go. Go on, tell that Chipotle employee that you want guacamole! In all seriousness, this will help you get comfortable speaking with authority. If you want to come across confident and authoritative over the phone, act as if you are a confident and authoritative person.
The Gatekeeper…“Enemy” of the Salesperson
The gatekeeper is the dreaded enemy of the salesperson. Your goal will always be to talk to the decision maker or stakeholder at a company. The gatekeeper is the person who will do everything in his or her power to stop you from doing that.
It’s a classic power struggle and this interaction alone will eat some great salespeople alive. Getting past a gatekeeper takes practice, authority, and even a bit of misdirection. At a high level, your main objective, when speaking with a gatekeeper, is to control the call. All gatekeepers have their own script that they use to handle a cold caller. They will ask you questions and you will answer those questions, but you most likely won’t speak with the decision maker.
You will run into a lot of different gatekeeper personalities throughout your career in sales. Getting past the gatekeeper is not always going to be easy, but dealing with them is part of the gig. Be confident. Keep calling. The more calls you make, the more confidence you will have. Never stop calling because you encounter too many gatekeepers. Every dial makes you a better SDR, a better salesperson.
Getting past the gatekeeper
A gatekeeper is the first line of defense the decision maker has. They rely on them to stop people who call asking for them with the intention of pitching a product or service. Your goal is to get through the gatekeeper and to the decision maker as quickly as possible. The goal of the gatekeeper is to stop you. In this section, you will learn how to interact with the gatekeepers, how to get through them, and what to do when they give you trouble.
The first thing that you must understand about gatekeepers is that they speak to cold callers multiple times a day. They know what someone cold calling sounds like and oftentimes default to “can I take a message?” If your goal was to leave a message, this would be great, but your actual goal is to book a meeting with the decision maker. Knowing what gatekeepers expect to he
ar when speaking with a cold caller will allow you to sound different, which can throw them off.
Your objective is to have a short conversation with the gatekeeper giving them as little information as possible. Before we go into the script, let’s talk about the different types of gatekeepers you will run into. There are three main types—the college student, the lifer, and the office manager. Each comes with their own nuances.
The College Student
This type of gatekeeper is exactly what the title suggests, a young person who answers the phone for the business. These people are in no way professionals when it comes to screening cold calls, so this makes them the easiest gatekeeper to get through. Think of yourself when you were in college, and the jobs you had. Odds are you were trying to do a good job and please everyone; you didn’t want to make a mistake. The advantage you have when dealing with this kind of gatekeeper is having confidence and speaking with authority because it has the greatest impact on them.
The Lifer
The next type of gatekeeper is similar to the college student except that they have more years under their belt:. I call these gatekeepers The Lifer. They are more likely to interrupt your script than the college student is. Having authority is important but with this kind of gatekeeper you may want to build some rapport as well. A playful joke goes a long way with The Lifer, because you want to relate to them. If you have ever been in the service industry, you know what it’s like to feel underappreciated. Appreciating The Lifer is often the key to getting through to the decision maker. Just don’t go too far off script. If you can’t get through to the decision maker, remember that The Lifer tends to know a lot about the processes within their company. They also may not be as secretive as The Office Manager, so they can be a great resource for finding out information about the decision maker and the business itself.
The Office Manager
This Office Manager gatekeeper will be the most challenging one to get past. I call this type of gatekeeper The Office Manager, because even if that isn’t their official role, it’s what they feel they are. This type of gatekeeper has no problem trying to bully you off the phone once they sniff that you are cold calling. They may even ask you what you are trying to talk with the decision maker about, only to follow up with “I handle that.” Trust me, many do not “handle that.” Later in this chapter we will cover a few strategies that you can use to get through this kind of gatekeeper.
One thing to always keep in mind—most offices have more than one gatekeeper. If you keep running into The Office Manager and they won’t let you through, try calling back at different times. The College Student may be the one to pick up and let you through to the decision maker.
Your gatekeeper script
Every salesperson has a script, one that they use on a cold call, and throughout the sales process. One area that tends to get overlooked is the interaction with the gatekeeper. This is because it seems easy on the surface—ask for the decision maker; if they aren’t available call back. Having a gatekeeper script you stick to is very important. The interaction with the gatekeeper is short and there are less variables to consider. Because of this it’s easy to get a sense of how most gatekeeper conversations go and write a script to optimize for that conversation.
The first part of the script is your introduction and this alone can get you through the gatekeeper and to the decision maker. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity, there is a reason for every word.
You: Hi there. I’m looking for Jim! [pause] It’s Kyle.
This intro is all about the delivery, so you need to practice. You need be upbeat and sound like you’re the decision maker’s friend, “Hey, I’m looking for Jim!” You will notice [Pause] as the next part of this intro. You want to leave a one to two second pause right after the first part. The reason is the gatekeeper is programmed to ask “may I ask who is calling” when someone calls wanting to speak with the decision maker. By giving a pause before saying your name you are giving the gatekeeper time to process who you are asking for and trigger their programed response, which is to ask your name. As their brain tells them to ask your name you are giving them your name, throwing them off a bit and forcing them to pivot quickly.
Often times the gatekeeper will not be able to pivot and they will ask you your name, the one you just gave them. This may cause the gatekeeper to feel a bit embarrassed, much like saying “you too” when the ticket vendor says “enjoy your movie!” That embarrassment can lead to the gatekeeper transferring you to the decision maker instead of asking you more questions. Dare I call it gatekeeper judo? I dare.
Now, what if your intro doesn’t get you right through to the decision maker? In this scenario you will have to navigate the gatekeeper’s script. Read the dialog below between a gatekeeper and an untrained SDR trying to speak with the decision maker, Jim.
SDR: Hello, I’d like to speak with Jim
Gatekeeper: May I ask whose calling?
SDR: My name is Devon
Gatekeeper: What’s this regarding?
SDR: Your call center software. It’s my understanding that Jim handles that.
Gatekeeper: Yes. He’s in a meeting right now. I can send you to his voicemail.
SDR: That would be great.
Now that gatekeeper deserves a promotion! What you read above illustrates what the gatekeeper is trying to accomplish every time. In the next section we are going to talk about how you can control the call, break the above conversation flow, and increase your chances of getting passed to the gatekeeper and to the decision maker.
Getting the gatekeeper off their script
Your best chance of getting passed any gatekeeper is to force them to break away from their usual script. In the majority of cases, if a gatekeeper transfers you to the decision maker, it’s because they made a mistake. The gatekeeper can’t make a mistake if they are following the script that they use every time someone calls. You need to control the conversation and the best way to do this is by asking questions. If you ask questions, you’re in control of the conversation and you are forcing them to react to you.
Effective Gatekeeper Handling Techniques
There are three main techniques to taking a gatekeeper off their script—the interrupt, the back pedal, and talking over their head. The effectiveness of these techniques varies based on what kind of gatekeeper you are speaking to.
The interrupt
What you are doing with this technique is responding to their scripted question with a close ended question that they will naturally respond to. Once you get the response to that question, you interrupt the gatekeeper so they can’t get to their next scripted question. Your interruption gives the gatekeeper some context that makes them assume that this might be more important than a cold call call. Let’s take a look at an example.
Gatekeeper: May I ask who is calling?
SDR: It’s Kyle; is Jim with a client? [Close ended question]
Gatekeeper: Yes, where... [We got our answer and cut them off before their next scripted question]
SDR: Shoot, I missed him. That’s my fault. I should have called earlier, Lets see…. When’s a better time for me to call back?” [This gives the impression that you are busy executive, not a cold caller, which will compel the gatekeeper to answer honestly]
The dialog above requires good delivery. You need to sound disappointed in yourself for missing Jim. You also need to make it sound like you’re looking at your calendar when you say “let’s see....” You are setting yourself apart from the 99% of cold calls this gatekeeper screens. Because this conversation has gone so different from the norm, the gatekeeper is more likely to give you a callback time. Get the gatekeeper’s name and call back at the time they gave you. Address the gatekeeper by name and they will remember you and may put you right through to the decision maker..
The back pedal
This technique is for when you ne
ed to reverse the gatekeeper’s initial perspective of you. If you get the feeling that you have irritated the gatekeeper, you want to do your best to build empathy to correct the situation. Showing that you are human and make mistakes can turn a call around. Take a look below.
Gatekeeper: May I ask who’s calling?
SDR: It’s Kyle. Is Jim with a client?
Gatekeeper: Yes, where...
SDR: Shoot, I missed him. That’s my fault. I should have called earlier. Let’s see…. When’s a better time for me to call back?”
Gatekeeper: You interrupted me. I was asking you what company you’re calling from. [The gatekeeper is frustrated with us]
SDR: I’m so sorry. I’m calling from ABC Company. I’m embarrassed because I had a note to call Jim back at 1 and I’m running behind. What time would you suggest giving him a call back? [People don’t want other people to feel embarrassed and we are hoping by saying this and following up with some context we come across less like a cold caller and more like someone who is a bit flustered because they are running behind]
This technique works well on The Lifer and even better on The College Student. The Office Manager may not entertain your request for empathy, so this might not be the right way to go with them.
Talking over their head
If you’re speaking with a gatekeeper who is asking too many questions and want you to speak with them instead of the decision maker, you can use this technique. Talking over their head simply means asking the gatekeeper a question that they will not be able to answer. This will show the gatekeeper that the purpose of your call is more in depth than they can handle. When the gatekeeper doesn’t understand what you’re talking about, they will assume it’s important and may transfer you to the decision maker. Take a look at the interaction below.