Introduction to Sales - Part 5: Getting Past the Gatekeeper

A friend of mine is starting a commission only sales job and he asked me to help him with getting started. So I thought I would share my insights to him and ask for any feedback from the people out there. This series of posts will focus on an introduction to selling and how to get started from a zero base with no previous experience.

What exactly is a gatekeeper? And how do you go about getting past one?

Ultimately the people in a business capable of buying your product or service are fairly high up the food chain. Managers and directors are either assigned budgets on which they have a discretionary spend or have the authority to approach the procurement team for purchase orders.

If you can show the value of what your selling to the right person, then they will weigh up whether or not to spend the money they have available to them on your product or service, or if it could be better utilised elsewhere.

As for CEOs and Owners, ultimately money they spend on your products is money that interferes directly with how much they earn. So they are the only people who can make very top level decisions.

As a result there is no point in selling to a receptions, secretary or assistant because no matter how good or useful your product is it won't benefit them. Yet they stand between you and a conversation with the decision maker to show them why they should buy from you. They are "the gatekeeper".

In my mind there are 5 methods for getting past the gatekeeper that should be utilised in this order:

1. Have the decision maker approach you for your services
2. Get introduced through a mutual 3rd party
3. Have the direct contact details of the decision maker
4. Have the gatekeeper help you out and position you in a positive way to the decision maker
5. Convince the gatekeeper that you're someone important, so much so that it would jeopardise their job to make you wait

1-2 are a little advanced for an introduction to sales and I'm certainly not experienced enough with them to advise anyone. They involve marketing, networking and developing a personal brand. Option 3 can be purchased, can be acquired through networking or you can use 4-5 to obtain it. Most of the time when you enter a new market 4-5 are your best options.

For a good introduction to getting around the gatekeeper try my blog-post on the Top 4 Methods I've Heard for Getting Past the Gatekeeper.


Read Part 4 (The Sales Call)

Read Part 6 (Always Be Closing)