The ‘gatekeeper’ is any person between you and the contact in the company that you are calling: any member of staff, an under manager, a receptionist, a secretary, a personal assistant, his wife etc. Depending on how well you have researched your telephone list you will get a certain level of response.

When you call a prospective customer you can be sure of one thing: you are not the first person to call them today to sell something. If your product/service is of a general nature, say cleaning services, you will have to be an excellent communicator to reach the decision maker. However, if you are selling batteries to a car supplier you have a good starting point.

Always assume that the gatekeeper is an important individual in the company: you will never succeed in reaching your target if you fail to offer respect to this person. That said, keep your initial introduction short. Say to the gatekeeper, ‘Hello, Bob Williams please’. By keeping it short you are displaying a degree of closeness to the target, and you give the gatekeeper nothing to work with. The gatekeeper will probably ask for your company name, and if very good, whether your call is expected.

Give your company name and say that you are following up your letter of last week: because you have sent a mail-shot to these people, well I hope you have! If you are told that the target is unavailable ask when they will be available, ‘would you do me a favour and tell me the best time to call’. You now ‘know’ this person (the gatekeeper) and your next call will be ‘remember me, you said I should...’

Article Index

1. Telephone Sales and Appointments
2. The Gatekeeper
3. Telemarketing Tips and Links
4. Books and Further Reading on Telemarketing and Telesales