I was giving a cold-calling training yesterday and my participant told me that her boss wants her to come up with two scripts….one for talking to a GATEKEEPER and the other for talking to the DECISION MAKER.
Oh, those words he is using! Gatekeeper? Decision Maker? Seriously?
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Let’s talk about Star Wars for a second.
Remember those Storm Troopers – dressed from head to toe in armor and tinted face masks? (If you don’t I’ve included a picture).
Know why they dressed them this way? Well, I might not really know why, but what I’ve HEARD is so that the audience didn’t HUMANIZE them. So, it was OK to kill them. No one would feel a shred of conscience about rooting for the Rebellion to take them all out! Dead!
Now look.
What does this have to do with my revulsion to the words GATEKEEPER and DECISION MAKER?
Yup! It takes the HUMAN out of the mix. So, NOW, when you are talking with one of these people, you sound like a GREAT BIG DORK, because the foul language you are using automatically puts you at cross purposes with the HUMAN on the other end of the phone.
See, if you call the person who can connect you to the person you really want to reach, and you call them the gatekeeper….right away you start strategizing ways to get past this nasty person. Kind of like trying to get past the bouncer at a popular club. And, all of your efforts sound disingenuous and HUMANS can smell the stink of disingenuous from about a mile away!
DECISION MAKER is a little more subtle, but it still conjures up images of a person who is going to pass judgment on high about whether you are going to meet your goals or not. It’s brutal!
So, what language could you use instead?
Well, for starters, you MIGHT get interested in their name. I’m just sayin’. Then, you might get interested in the role that person plays in the company and why they would even want to talk to you.
If you can’t figure out why they would want to talk to you, then I suggest you don’t pick up the phone in the first place. You will just embarrass everyone in the process (YOU, mostly).
The people who answer the phone are your best friends. They KNOW what the company is up to and they know how to get your call through to the right person … if they care enough to. And, keep in mind, they are interested in doing a good job! They want to do the right thing. Those people have a big fat sniffer for someone who is trying to GET PAST them. Wouldn’t you?
The people who make the decisions are your access to a green light. Right?
So, NOW what do you see?
All of the people you talk to in your sales process care about something. If you are relating to them as the enemy, they will do their best to keep you out … and out you shall be!
Your job is to leave everyone you speak with feeling that you added value to their day and, even better, feel like a ROCK STAR because they talked to you.
This is where “cold-calling” becomes fun!
You now are someone that EVERYONE wants to talk to because you care about what makes them successful.
It takes relating to a human being on the other side of the call and making their day.
Now, YOU get to be a DAY-MAKER (instead of a nasty ol’ salesperson) and THEY get to be ROCK STARS!
Think you can do it?
Love ’em ALL UP!
The Irreverent Sales Girl