Make Your Sales Approaches Count: How to Deal With Gatekeepers
by Andrew Gibbins on 18-Aug-2020 11:00:00
If you own a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME), you may still be handling sales yourself, particularly if you haven't been in business long. That means you'll almost certainly have run into ‘gatekeepers’. These are the people who protect key decision makers by deflecting your sales calls or emails, often front of house, reception, or customer service staff. So, how can you get past them so that you can seal the deal? Here are five tactics you can use.
1) Do your Research
Make sure you know who you need to speak to before making your approach. This will reduce the number of gatekeepers that you need to speak to and increase the likelihood that your message will be heard. You may be able to find decision makers' direct line numbers or email addresses on LinkedIn, so you won't need to speak to any gatekeepers at all.
2) Adjust your Perspective
View gatekeepers as potential allies rather than obstacles. They are busy people with a job to do and aren’t intentionally being difficult. Someone who works closely with a decision maker is likely to have their ear, and will have the interests of the business at heart. Therefore, if you can make their job easier, and persuade a gatekeeper that your product or service will save their business time or money, they may pitch your company to the decision maker themselves. The recommendation reflects well on them and you gain a new lead.
3) Get to the Point
Gatekeepers probably spend a lot of time answering B2B calls, so keep your initial communications short and simple. Be genial and professional, but don’t waste their time with lengthy small talk and ice breakers. You’ll build a better genuine rapport by being efficient and helpful. For example, if you're speaking to your prospect on the phone or face-to-face, try using the elevator pitch technique. This means delivering a persuasive pitch of around 30 to 60 seconds (the time that it would take to complete a short ride in a lift) which outlines your product or service's key features and the value that using it will bring.
4) Take Another Route
Look for ways to reach your target decision makers without encountering gatekeepers. Try contacting them on LinkedIn, or at a real-world or virtual event. Utilise inbound marketing techniques, such as content marketing, search engine optimisation and social media marketing, to bring interested business owners and decision makers directly to your door.
5) Stand Out From the Crowd
Be creative with your sales and marketing communications. While anything that you try needs to be relevant to your key message, creating a buzz could give you the competitive edge. If you show prospective clients that you can think outside the box and are creative and responsive to their current needs, they'll know that you can provide them with innovative solutions to their problems.
Find Out More
If you're concerned that you don't have the time or skills to make the sales you need, don't worry. You can hire a business growth agency and leave the hard work of lead generation and content strategy to them. At JDR, we can even automate many of your processes so you won't be overwhelmed by tedious chores, and can tailor your marketing materials to appeal to the people you need to get in front of. Get in touch now to find out more.
Image source: Unsplash
- Inbound Marketing (SEO, PPC, Social Media, Video) (804)
- Strategy (348)
- Marketing Automation & Email Marketing (180)
- Sales & CRM (176)
- Website Design (156)
- Business Growth (145)
- Hubspot (123)
- Lead Generation (107)
- Google Adwords (97)
- Content Marketing (90)
- News (46)
- Case Studies (43)
- Conversion (43)
- Ecommerce (36)
- Webinars (30)
- SEO (22)
- Events (19)
- Video (17)
- LinkedIn Advertising (15)
- Video Selling (15)
- AI (13)
- Software training (13)
- Niche business marketing (11)
- The Digital Prosperity Podcast (10)
- Facebook Advertising (6)
- August 2025 (12)
- July 2025 (14)
- June 2025 (5)
- May 2025 (19)
- April 2025 (15)
- March 2025 (13)
- February 2025 (13)
- January 2025 (8)
- December 2024 (2)
- November 2024 (4)
- October 2024 (21)
- September 2024 (4)
- August 2024 (8)
- July 2024 (14)
- June 2024 (16)
- May 2024 (25)
- April 2024 (15)
- March 2024 (18)
- February 2024 (5)
- January 2024 (10)
- December 2023 (6)
- November 2023 (10)
- October 2023 (13)
- September 2023 (12)
- August 2023 (14)
- July 2023 (13)
- June 2023 (14)
- May 2023 (15)
- April 2023 (13)
- March 2023 (14)
- February 2023 (13)
- January 2023 (15)
- December 2022 (13)
- November 2022 (6)
- October 2022 (8)
- September 2022 (22)
- August 2022 (15)
- July 2022 (13)
- June 2022 (16)
- May 2022 (14)
- April 2022 (16)
- March 2022 (17)
- February 2022 (11)
- January 2022 (8)
- December 2021 (6)
- November 2021 (7)
- October 2021 (11)
- September 2021 (10)
- August 2021 (7)
- July 2021 (7)
- June 2021 (4)
- May 2021 (4)
- April 2021 (1)
- March 2021 (3)
- February 2021 (5)
- January 2021 (4)
- December 2020 (7)
- November 2020 (6)
- October 2020 (5)
- September 2020 (9)
- August 2020 (18)
- July 2020 (17)
- June 2020 (17)
- May 2020 (10)
- April 2020 (21)
- March 2020 (24)
- February 2020 (21)
- January 2020 (12)
- December 2019 (23)
- November 2019 (12)
- October 2019 (14)
- September 2019 (16)
- August 2019 (15)
- July 2019 (13)
- June 2019 (6)
- May 2019 (8)
- April 2019 (4)
- March 2019 (2)
- February 2019 (2)
- January 2019 (2)
- December 2018 (3)
- November 2018 (24)
- September 2018 (11)
- August 2018 (9)
- June 2018 (3)
- May 2018 (6)
- April 2018 (14)
- March 2018 (12)
- February 2018 (16)
- January 2018 (15)
- December 2017 (15)
- November 2017 (18)
- October 2017 (23)
- September 2017 (19)
- August 2017 (28)
- July 2017 (27)
- June 2017 (25)
- May 2017 (18)
- April 2017 (17)
- March 2017 (16)
- February 2017 (17)
- January 2017 (14)
- December 2016 (21)
- November 2016 (27)
- October 2016 (25)
- September 2016 (16)
- August 2016 (20)
- July 2016 (19)
- June 2016 (14)
- May 2016 (20)
- April 2016 (24)
- March 2016 (22)
- February 2016 (28)
- January 2016 (27)
- December 2015 (28)
- November 2015 (19)
- October 2015 (9)
- September 2015 (12)
- August 2015 (5)
- July 2015 (1)
- June 2015 (10)
- May 2015 (3)
- April 2015 (11)
- March 2015 (14)
- February 2015 (15)
- January 2015 (12)
- December 2014 (2)
- November 2014 (23)
- October 2014 (2)
- September 2014 (2)
- August 2014 (2)
- July 2014 (2)
- June 2014 (7)
- May 2014 (14)
- April 2014 (14)
- March 2014 (7)
- February 2014 (2)
- January 2014 (7)
- December 2013 (9)
- November 2013 (14)
- October 2013 (17)
- September 2013 (3)
- August 2013 (6)
- July 2013 (8)
- June 2013 (4)
- May 2013 (3)
- April 2013 (6)
- March 2013 (6)
- February 2013 (7)
- January 2013 (5)
- December 2012 (3)
- November 2012 (2)
- September 2012 (1)
Subscribe by email
You May Also Like
These Related Blogs

Why Your Competitors Are Outperforming You On Google – And How To Fix The Issue
It's infuriating when, despite your best efforts at online marketing, your closest competitor's website consistently ranks higher than yours in the se …

Social Media For Restaurants: Using Facebook To Get More Customers
Social media platforms such as Facebook are fantastic sources of leads for small businesses. Companies from independent bookshops, to electrical contr …

No Email Marketing List? Here’s How To Build One From Scratch
Email marketing is an excellent way of communicating with prospects. It doesn't get in the way of their schedules, it can be picked up whenever it's c …