If you are going to be successful in business-to-business sales, you must first learn how to recognize a clever and sophisticated gatekeeper screen. Then you must learn how to negotiate the screen successfully to get through to the decision maker.
Here is one simple yet highly effective technique to help you get pass a hard screen. Use this and increase your contact rates today!
Don’t sound too professional
The gatekeeper’s job is to block unwanted or unnecessary calls from reaching the decision maker (DM). This usually refers to sales people making cold or warm calls. Gatekeepers train to recognize all kinds of sales people, from the undertrained, smile and dial telemarketer, to the high-level stockbroker.
Therefore, the first step to getting pass the screen is not to sound like a sales person. Your voice and tone needs to reflect that of a normal, boring, everyday business call from an associate, friend or client.
How to NOT sound like a sales person
The main key to sounding more like a regular acceptable caller and less like a sales person is to make mistakes. You cannot be perfect.
As a sales person, you practice your presentation and even learn how to rehearse your answers to objections. Then, after speaking to hundreds of prospective customers, you know exactly what you are going to say. Your speaking pattern becomes flawless, you speak faster and without a stutter or a misspoken word. In addition, you sound very sure of yourself, confident and sharp.
Be the opposite
To get pass more gatekeeper screens, sound like the opposite of the professional sales person. Speak slower, stammer and stutter a bit. Do not sound very confident or interested. You do not want to sound like making telephone calls is part of what you do for a living. In fact, you want the GK to think that you sound so bad, that there is no way you could do this for a living.
The less professional and sharp you sound, the less of a threat you are. The less of a threat you are, the more likely you are to get pass the gatekeeper screen and through to the decision maker.
Sean McPheat is the managing director and founder of MTD Sales Training. MTD Have trained over 30,000 staff worldwide. Sean is regarded as a leading authority in the world of selling and has been featured on CNN, BBC, and ITV. Check his free weekly tips and his MTD sales blog for more advice.
