5. Understand the Gatekeeper
Assigned the objective to keep salespeople out
Trained to identify salespeople
Get in trouble when salespeople get passed them
Naturally in adversarial role
Job is often hectic and not a lot of fun
6. Do Not Sound Like a Salesperson
Trying to Sell Something
7. Try to Enlist Their Help
• Maybe you can help me with this.
• Maybe you can point me in the right direction.
• I am not really sure who I need to speak with.
• I might need your help with this one.
10. VALUE POINTS
• Increase the revenue generated through their
website
• improve website conversion rates
• Increase website traffic
TARGET BUYER
Small businesses
PRODUCT
Web design services
FEATURES
• Design and build websites
• Graphic design
• Copywriting
PAIN POINTS
• Need to generate more revenue through the website
• Website visitors are not converting to customers
• There is a need to increase website traffic
PAIN QUESTIONS
• How important is it to get more revenue out of your
website traffic?
• How important is it for you to improve your website
conversion rates?
• Do you need to increase website traffic and visitors?
CURRENT STATE
• Do you currently have a website?
• Are you currently working with a web design agency?
• What CMS platform is your website built on?
• Do you have internal web design resources?
• When does your current agreement expire?
• How many different websites do you currently have?
• When was the last time you refreshed your website?
• How much traffic are you currently getting to your website?
• When was the last time you considered redoing your website?
DIFFERENTIATION
• We only work with
accountants
• We use AI to develop the
optimum website layout
• We guarantee results
COMPANY FACTS
• Won design awards 5 years
• In business for 30 years
• Woman owned business
NAME DROP
NAME DROP
• We worked with an accounting firm and they needed to
generate more leads online.
• To solve this we helped them to redesign their website.
• This helped to them to convert more traffic into leads.
• This ultimately helped them to increase the amount of
revenue they were generating through their website.
12. Actually, let me take a step back and let you know why I am calling. The reason for my
call is that we help small businesses to:
• Increase the revenue generated through their website
• improve website conversion rates
• Increase website traffic
I don’t know if you all want to improve those areas and that is why I am calling. Do you
know who the best person for me to talk with is?
VALUE
POINTS
PAIN POINTS
PAIN
QUESTIONS
CURRENT
STATE
NAME DROP
PRODUCT
INTRO
CLOSE
Treat the Gatekeeper Like the Prospect
13. VALUE
POINTS
PAIN POINTS
PAIN
QUESTIONS
CURRENT
STATE
NAME DROP
PRODUCT
INTRO
CLOSE
Actually, let me take a step back and let you know why I am calling. A lot of
businesses that we work with are having issues with:
• Need to generate more revenue through the website
• Website visitors are not converting to customers
• There is a need to increase website traffic
I don’t know if you all are concerned about those areas, and that is why I am calling. Do
you know who the best person for me to talk with is? Do you know how concerned
[Target Prospect] is about these areas?
Treat the Gatekeeper Like the Prospect
14. VALUE
POINTS
PAIN POINTS
PAIN
QUESTIONS
CURRENT
STATE
NAME DROP
PRODUCT
INTRO
CLOSE
Actually, let me take a step back and let you know why I am calling.
• We worked with an accounting firm and they needed to generate more leads online.
• To solve this we helped them to redesign their website.
• This helped to them to convert more traffic into leads.
• This ultimately helped them to increase the amount of revenue they were generating
through their website.
I don’t know if we can help you in the same way, and that is why I was calling. Do you
know who the best person for me to talk with is?
Treat the Gatekeeper Like the Prospect
15. OK. Well, maybe you know the answer to this.
• How important is it to get more revenue out of your website traffic?
• How important is it for you to improve your website conversion rates?
• Do you need to increase website traffic and visitors?
Treat the Gatekeeper Like the Prospect
VALUE
POINTS
PAIN POINTS
PAIN
QUESTIONS
CURRENT
STATE
NAME DROP
PRODUCT
INTRO
CLOSE
16. OK. Well, maybe you know the answer to this.
• Do you currently have a website?
• Are you currently working with a web design agency?
• What CMS platform is your website built on?
• Do you have internal web design resources?
• When does your current agreement expire?
• How many different websites do you currently have?
• When was the last time you refreshed your website?
• How much traffic are you currently getting to your website?
• When was the last time you considered redoing your website?
VALUE
POINTS
PAIN POINTS
PAIN
QUESTIONS
CURRENT
STATE
NAME DROP
PRODUCT
INTRO
CLOSE
Treat the Gatekeeper Like the Prospect
17. Display Social Proof
I spoke with Tom Jones in accounting, and
now I am trying to reach someone in HR.
Do you know who the best person for me to
connect with is?
18. Mention an Initiative
I am calling to discuss the initiative to
consolidate distribution channels.
Can you help me to get connected with the
director of operations?
20. I understand the situation you are in. You get calls all day from
salespeople, and it is your job to not let a bothersome salesperson
through.
I can tell you that I am not one of those annoying salespeople. I will
be very respectful of [Target Prospect]’s time, and there is a very
good chance that we can have a very productive conversation
because we help [Target Buyer Type] to:
• Value Point 1
• Value Point 2
• Value Point 3
What is the best way for me to connect with [Target Prospect]?
Share That You
Understand Them
21. Avoid the Gatekeeper Altogether
• 7:00 am to 8:00 am
• 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
• 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Good Hours to Avoid Gatekeeper
23. • What is this in regards to?
• Is this a sales call?
• We are not interested.
• We are not making any changes.
• We already use somebody for that.
• We do not need that right now.
• Send me your information.
24. The reason for my call is that we help small businesses to:
• Increase the revenue generated through their website
• improve website conversion rates
• Increase website traffic
What is this in regards to?
Is this a sales call?
VALUE
POINTS
PAIN POINTS
PAIN
QUESTIONS
CURRENT
STATE
NAME DROP
PRODUCT
INTRO
CLOSE
25. I understand. If I could ask you real quick:
• How important is it to get more revenue out of your website traffic?
• How important is it for you to improve your website conversion rates?
• Do you need to increase website traffic and visitors?
We are not interested.
We are not making any changes.
We already use someone right now.
VALUE
POINTS
PAIN POINTS
PAIN
QUESTIONS
CURRENT
STATE
NAME DROP
PRODUCT
INTRO
CLOSE
26. I understand. If I could ask you real quick:
• Do you currently have a website?
• Are you currently working with a web design agency?
• What CMS platform is your website built on?
• Do you have internal web design resources?
• When does your current agreement expire?
• How many different websites do you currently have?
• When was the last time you refreshed your website?
• How much traffic are you currently getting to your website?
• When was the last time you considered redoing your website?
VALUE
POINTS
PAIN POINTS
PAIN
QUESTIONS
CURRENT
STATE
NAME DROP
PRODUCT
INTRO
CLOSE
We are not interested.
We are not making any changes.
We already use someone right now.
27. VALUE
POINTS
PAIN POINTS
PAIN
QUESTIONS
CURRENT
STATE
NAME DROP
PRODUCT
INTRO
CLOSE
I understand. A lot of businesses that we work with are having issues with:
• Need to generate more revenue through the website
• Website visitors are not converting to customers
• There is a need to increase website traffic
Are you concerned about any of those?
We are not interested.
We are not making any changes.
We already use someone right now.
28. Sure, I can do that. So that I know what best to send you, could ask you real quick:
• How important is it to get more revenue out of your website traffic?
• How important is it for you to improve your website conversion rates?
• Do you need to increase website traffic and visitors?
VALUE
POINTS
PAIN POINTS
PAIN
QUESTIONS
CURRENT
STATE
NAME DROP
PRODUCT
INTRO
CLOSE
Can you send me your information.
30. • Limited organization knowledge
• Often less experience and skills
• Subjective screening
• Chaotic work environment
• Deep organizational knowledge
• Often very experienced and sophisticated
• Objective screening
• Less chaos
Front-Desk Receptionist Executive Assistant
2 Types of Gatekeepers
32. • It has nothing to do with you
• They are rejecting your company and product
• They are just dong their job
• Their job is very difficult and unpleasant
Don’t Take it Personally
33. Key Takeaways
• Understand the gatekeeper
• Don’t sound like a salesperson
• Treat the gatekeeper like the prospect
• Deflect objections to keep the call going
• Don’t let the gatekeeper get to you
Before we go any further, let’s clearly discuss what objections are.
Objections are a prospect’s best weapon when they answer your cold call. They are statements or questions that the prospect will throw at you and they are like mini stops signs that the prospect will hold up. They use to try to take a control of the call and take it in a direction of their choosing. And if they begin to feel like you are selling something when they are not looking to buy, they will want try to end the call and will use objections to get there as soon as possible.
Now let’s take a look at common objections and ones that you are just about guaranteed to run up against.
I am busy right now. Who are you with?
What is this in regards to?
I am not interested.
Just send me some information.
We already use somebody.
We are not looking to make a change right now.
We do not have any budge to spend.
Those are eight objections that consistently come up. You could maybe tweak those for your situation, and add a couple that are specific to your products, you would have a complete list of objections to be prepared for. As part of this training, we will explain these one at a time and show you how to get around them.
This last step that we will discuss is what will be needed to achieve mastery in this area and this is to reflect back on cold calls after they end. Right after a call ends, spend a few seconds to identify what objections the prospect had. Think about how you responded and if your responses were effective at keeping the call going.
This is basically a learning and fine tuning step and we are trying to identify if the response that we gave was not effective, would there be one that would have been better.
From there, we can work to update the objections map. It could be the case that the objections we faced were not on there and we need to get them on there. Or may we need to tweak our responses to ones that might work a little better.
Remember, these objections are going to come up again and again. And by reflecting back, we can improve moving forward.