40:1 Getting past the gatekeeper

Getting past the gatekeeper

Welcome to the Agency Trailblazer Podcast, I am your host Lee and in this episode we discover ways to get past the gatekeeper in order to connect with the decision makers… but… with a twist!

Before we continue, I’d like to thank Cloudways for sponsoring this episode. Cloudways are the Managed Cloud Hosting service we trust with our mission critical projects. You can find out more on trailblazer.fm/cloudways.

The battle of the gatekeeper is often the most fought by agency owners. When trying to connect with small to medium enterprises, you will often be greeted by an overzealous assistants or team members who tend to be super protective of their managers time and will often become the blocker to further communication.

We consider this a good thing in our agency. Gatekeepers are often in place to protect senior management’s time in order for them to be more effective. If a company has taken the time to setup an internal communications process, they may be more likely to work with your project workflows. Connecting direct with a stressed out MD is often the first sign (at least for me) that we might run into a few issues along the way.

In this episode, I’d like to share how we ensure we have positive conversations with gatekeepers, influencers and of course ensure we get connected with the decision makers at the right time.

In order to keep this simple I am going to take you through our standard workflow:

• Identify the right gatekeeper/influencer
• Connect with them
• Develop rapport
• Seek their input
• Get their support
• Ask for the introduction

Oh and stay tuned as despite the title of this episode, there is a twist at the end!

The workflow

TLDR; We are a relational organisation and soon realised tips tricks and scripts were not going to get us past gatekeepers or key influencers. Instead we needed to develop a working relationship with them direct and have them facilitate the connection at the right time.

The internet is full of information with tips, tricks, hacks and scripts for the perfect sales call. We feel uncomfortable manipulating others with techniques and instead have developed a relational model.

We connect, build relationships then decide together if there is something worth exploring. If not, we’ve extended our network, and if so we have a potential opportunity.

How we connect with them is also important as a cold call is not always the right method. Lets therefore look at how we first identify the right gatekeeper.

Identify the right gatekeeper / influencer

When we want to connect with an organisation we would love to work with, we first identify who the key people are within the business. We do this with a combination of a basic company search and checking out Linkedin.

In our agency, we’ve identified that event marketers are the ideal person to connect with. They are regularly connecting with clients and suppliers, thus are much more accessible than those higher up. They also use the sorts of tools we are looking to present to them and are more qualified to help us and influence the key decision makers.

Therefore review your client avatars and how their company is structured. Review how you’ve converted customers in the past and who the different touch points were. This will help you identify key people within the organisation who can be far more effective gatekeepers or influencers and in the long run will become your internal champion as they introduce you to the key decision makers later on.

TLDR; Identify who the right person to connect with is. They will not be too senior but will have valuable insight and influence within the organisation.

Connect with them

Now that we’ve identified who the perfect person to connect with is, we review ways we can connect with them and get on their radar. We use various methods including:

• Networking meetings
• Visiting events
• Social media
• Telephone
• Email

Our preferred methods would be connecting at a networking meeting or at an event we know they will be at. An in-person connection feels much more natural and it allows us to ask questions and get to know the gatekeeper.

As it’s currently 2021 and in-person is currently “out of vogue” we would probably look to connect at an online event or failing that on social media. This gets our names and brand on their radar before we follow up with a telephone call. Connecting for us means engaging with some of their content or answering a question they have placed in a group.

A telephone call would naturally follow our initial touch points, or failing that an email to arrange a conversation.

As we are a multi person agency, some of our team are very talented at engaging directly through social media or via a cold call. Therefore each of us gravitate to what we work with best and potential contacts are distributed accordingly.

TLDR; In short, review the best ways to connect with your ideal gatekeepers then ensure the best representative in your company is assigned to the relevant method of contact.

Develop rapport

When we connect, we want to develop some rapport. We understand our gatekeeper is time poor so we ensure we’ve done our homework and can connect quickly over a commonality.

We first check if we have any common connections online or offline. We also look at what they have posted recently on social media so we can get an understanding of what is important to them. In our industry, Event Marketers are every often featured within industry magazines and awards, so running searches to see if they’ve contributed anything recently is always helpful information.

Developing rapport would depend on the means of communication and your feel for them as a personality from what you have gleaned.

For example this could be a funny comment on social media, acknowledging an award they received or commenting on some content they have recently put out.

We’ve found this helps demonstrate that we are interested in the person we are connecting with and that we see them as a peer. Someone to connect with and engage with.

TLDR; Find commonalities with the gatekeeper, then when you connect be sure to demonstrate your interest in them.

Seek their input

Upon building a little rapport, look engage them in conversation seeking their opinion on something key to problems they may be experiencing.

We might ask the Event Manager for their opinion on how likely a particular offering of ours might be received by them and their team.

For example: “We’d love to work with XYZ Company, and I was wondering how you think your team would react to our sponsor onboarding software that automates data collection and sponsor communications. We’ve seen how many emails it takes to get sponsors on board and we’d love to help ”.

By discussing this with them direct, we are showing that we value their input, opinion and insight. Rather than just looking for someone “more important” than them, we are involving them direct.

If there is milage in the conversation we might then seek to provide a demonstration with them and any team members they invite.

TLDR; Seek their input on your solution for a problem or aspiration they may have. This shows we value their input and continues to build the relationship.

Get their support

By now you should have clocked that rather than “getting past” or “by-passing” the gatekeeper, we are in fact building a relationship with them direct in order to get their buy-in and support.

People so often look to trick gatekeepers into passing them up the chain of command. They don’t recognise that the gatekeeper is often the person with the most valuable insight, and the one best suited to make an introduction at the right time.

Therefore we treat the gatekeepers as key influencers, we treat them with respect, we value their input and get their support.

TLDR; The gatekeeper is most likely your key influencer and not someone to be bypassed. Get them on side before the next stage.

Ask for the introduction

If all has gone well, we should have connected with the gatekeeper, worked with them as a key influencer, won their trust and support and be ready to talk to the decision makers within their organisation.

Over the course of a few connections with our gatekeeper we should have a clear understanding of how our product or service would fit into their organisation, their key pain points and how we can solve them. Importantly we have hopefully won the “buy-in” of the gatekeeper as they will be a valuable representative in our ongoing communications with the organisation.

At this point we ask if the they would be willing to introduce us to the key decision makers in order for us to discuss how we might work together. It’s important to us that the gatekeeper is a part of those conversations with the chain of command as they have the relevant rapport with us, an understanding of our product/service and insight into how their company works.

We’ve very often gone from engaging with an event marketer to meeting the founder of an organisation seated with the original gatekeeper we connected with. We are able to speak value into the organisation and have an internal champion supporting us.

Whilst things don’t always turn into a sale, we do at least end up with a valuable relationship within a large organisation. Staff turnover within the events industry is quite high, so it would be unusual to receive a call from that original gatekeeper a year later as now the decision maker of another organisation!

TLDR; Ask the gatekeeper if they will introduce you to the right people in order to see how you might work together. Keeping the gatekeeper involved in the ongoing conversation can be very valuable.

In a nutshell

So as we wrap up, the moral of the story is: Don’t bypass the gatekeeper! Find the right one and work with them in order to solve the problems their organisation has and to get in front of the right people!

What was your biggest takeaway from this episode? Head on over to trailblazer.fm/316 and let us know!

If we don’t see you in the comments, let’s see you in next weeks episode!