310 - How To Get Past The Gatekeeper!

0:00Let's talk about how to get past the gatekeeper. That is something that just about everybody who starts this business acquisition program struggles with. So let's talk about that. First, there's a couple of resources that would be helpful to you. One is there's a book called Selling to Vito, V-I-T-O. Vito stands for Very Important Top Officer. And I just ended up having a call with someone who called about the VIP Mastermind. And he said that the free material helped him. The online suggestions for conversation starters helped him. But he also heard that I recommended reading Selling to Vito, which really changed his ability to talk to people and get through gatekeepers.

0:49So what is a gatekeeper? It's exactly what it sounds like. Mostly for business owners or executive, a gatekeeper is where the calls go to. and then a gatekeeper decides, am I going to let that call go through to the person I'm keeping the gate for or am I going to turn that person away? And I had a mentee who worked as a gatekeeper for a very large bank and it was all C-suite people. So I said to her, that's interesting. You could probably teach us some things. So who gets through the gate? And she said, oh, that's interesting. Tone of voice, confidence, brevity, and genuinely wanting my help.

1:41Now, they don't start off sounding like a salesperson. A lot of persons end up making the calls and they say, hi, this is Bruce Whipple from ABC Company. And it sounds like I'm trying to sell something. So the more you can sound confident and in a lot of times like you are already knowing this person, particularly if you're talking to prospects, you know, hi, good morning, could you connect me to Jim, please? And that sounds like I know Jim. Now, some gatekeepers will put you in. Better gatekeepers will ask you some questions. and if you are dealing with really big hitters then understand that those gatekeepers have usually been there for a long time and they're not going to be the gatekeeper for very long if they don't do a good job in guarding the gate so things like when they ask what's this in reference to and if you were to say well it's personal you know there are gatekeepers that have been gatekeepers for 20 years, 30 years.

2:47There's probably not too much that they're not privy to, and that will turn that person off. One of the things that I found really helpful to me, particularly with prospects, is when the phone got answered, I'd say, I don't know if you can help me, but I was hoping you might be able to answer a question for me. Almost always, they will say, I don't know if I can help you either, but what's your question? And then I'd say, you know, I wanted to get a letter to whoever it was, or what's the best way to reach whoever I'm trying to reach, et cetera, et cetera. And so that sounded confident. It was brief.

3:29Tone of voice was, I hope, good. And most of the time that worked. but you can't stumble around ask the person how's the weather there today how are you feeling today how are you doing today when they're sitting there wondering what does this person want I'm busy so remember those four points certainly brevity tone of voice confidence and genuinely asking for help And if you go through and you read Selling DeVito, I would highly encourage you to, especially for big hitters, spend the time to learn who their personal assistant is. You can do that sometimes in Google. Put the person's name in and put personal assistant, executive assistant, assistant next to it.

4:20And you can also usually do that in LinkedIn. in. But I would highly encourage you to not treat that person like a secretary. Remember those four things. Remember that the people who genuinely ask for help typically get through, and try to manage your emotions so that you're not too nervous when you call. That will hurt your confidence clearly. So I hope that helps. There are ways to get by the gatekeeper. You're going to be nervous in the beginning. You're not going to be that great in the beginning, but you're going to find that in time you will get much more comfortable. And if you truly believe that what you are calling about is something that would benefit the other person, and you should feel that way, then you have a much, much better chance of getting through.

5:16So put those into action. The best way you're going to do calling and getting better is just to do it. You know, I think that following up on a letter is better than just a cold call for especially big hitters. And if I were going to send a letter, which I've done a lot of times, I'd want to find the personal or executive assistant, call them, say, I would like to send a letter to Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so. Would it be okay if I sent that to you? And I'd frequently say, and if you want to read it, I'm fine with that. And then I'd like to be able to follow up with you if that's okay. Yes, that's okay.

5:57One of the things that I did way back when, and it was a hard lesson to learn, was I was trying to get Tom Moynihan, the founder of Domino's Pizza, for my board. And so I found out who his gatekeeper was. Let's say her name was Jane. I called Jane and I said, would it be okay if I sent a letter to Mr. Moynihan? She said, okay. And would you be able to give it to him? Yes. Okay, great. So I typed a letter up. This was probably 30 years ago, 25, 30 years ago. So typed it up, looked at it, proofread it, gave it to two or three other people to proofread it, put it on good stationery, FedExed it to his office in Ann Arbor to Jane, his gatekeeper, or whatever her real name was.

6:49And then I saw that it got delivered. I followed up, and I called Jane and said, More than one letter's been lost in a mailroom. I just wanted to be sure it found its way to you. She said, Yes. Did you have an opportunity to show it to Mr. Moynihan? yes. And I said, when would it be possible for me to have a discussion with him? And she said, never. And I said, never. And she said, yes. In the second to last paragraph, you had a widow, what's called a widow's and orphan. Really easy to do. Today's programs make it easier, but that's no excuse. I should not have done it. And a widow and orphan is usually at the end of a sentence, it'll be a word like the, and then you begin the next sentence with the in a sentence.

7:34So you got a the, the. And what he said was, and she told me what he said. He said, if this is his attention to detail, this is the honeymoon period, so I don't need to talk to this guy. And that was a hard lesson to learn, but boy, did I learn a lesson. So I proofread well. when things are sent to me, I'm amazed how often there are mistakes. You only have one chance to make that first impression, so make sure that it's a good impression. Okay, that's enough to get you started. Take action. If you're looking for conversation starters, they're over at brucewhipple.com. There's a series of conversation starters that will help you.

8:18If you want to go there directly, It's just brucewhipple.com forward slash free course. But knowing what to do, knowing the steps, and then taking action. If you want to know the secret sauce, that is it.