Expert insights. Personalized for you.
Cold calling the CEO is difficult, but not impossible — if you know how to structure your pitch and how to get past gatekeepers. I’ve seen it in almost every new rep: fear of the owner, fear of the gatekeeper, fear of the 2nd gatekeeper (the dreaded executive assistant), and reluctance to even approach the challenge. “I think it’s really unusual, and that’s why we’re really selling more enterprise software than Oracle or SAP.” MORE
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to a system of computers, software, machines and processes that simulate certain aspects of human intelligence such as image perception, voice recognition and reasoning. Content Management System (CMS) is a computer program or software application used to create, modify, store and manage digital content. Dialer is a computer software, application or electronic device that automates the process of making phone calls. Gatekeeper. MORE
CRM (customer relationship management): Software that allows companies to keep track of their potential and existing customers at whichever stage they may assume in the sales cycle. We usually have to go through a gatekeeper to reach them. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. MORE
What if sales reps can really harness the full potential of the pricy software tools we thought would turn us into sales superstars? Sales engagement software empowers reps to accommodate the modern buyer, meet them at their desired touchpoints, at the time and manner they so wish. MORE
Author: Sabrina Ferraioli When you try to call business executives, you’re up against some substantial hurdles — gatekeepers, voicemail, caller ID and their not-a-minute-to-spare schedules. For example: “3D2B recently helped an enterprise software company generate 17,000 qualified leads. MORE
This means the absence of gatekeeper types, which increases the odds that key players will pick up their own phones. Mike Scher is CEO of FRONTLINE Selling , creators of Staccato, the leading B2B software suite that accelerates revenue by helping sales professionals create more high-quality opportunities, consistently hit quota and close more deals. MORE
While those numbers are impressive, it takes more than buying software to get there. ConnectAndSell will get you past gatekeepers and phone trees, but if you skip pre-call research you’ll find yourself faltering in those crucial first seconds. The average ConnectAndSell client gets somewhere around seven connects and one scheduled meeting per hour. The teams at ExecVision and Vorsight have been using ConnectAndSell for a number of years. MORE
I completely mishandled the gatekeeper (it was no wonder I rarely got through). To illustrate this, just last week I was asked to be a guest coach with a company called ExecVision (a call recording software company) on a webinar called, “Call Camp.” MORE
Sales calls the wrong people or reaches a gatekeeper, where they will ultimately get turned away or begin the tedious process of calling up the chain. Business leaders understand that data is the critical heart of growth and expansion. MORE
After playing with the client’s accounting software for a fun few hours I managed to get a list of their top 100 accounts by revenue for the last year. But that person was not the head of marketing – more of a gatekeeper. A story from my consulting work. MORE
Sales automation is driven by selling tools like customer portals, ecommerce websites, sales configurators and guided selling software. They don’t have to remember limitations or special pricing models; the software does it for them. This means no more blind-dialing thousands of telephone numbers trying to get around gatekeepers and sadistic admins and more time for exploring up- and cross-selling possibilities. Sales is a changing game. MORE
These symptoms can be triggered by arriving at their desk, putting on their headset, or opening the dialer software. Over-reliance on email can turn the buzz of your sales floor into the clack-clack-clack of keyboards you’d normally find where your software development team sits. For example, a gatekeeper saying the prospect is busy could be worth 1 point, but a ‘no’ to the meeting directly from the prospect could earn 3 points. Dial dread. MORE
Always know what you will say if a gatekeeper answers or you get the person’s voicemail. Make sure your CRM / Sales Engagement software is open and ready. If you fail to properly prepare, you are setting yourself up for failure. This doesn’t just apply to prospecting but everything you do. Prospecting is already a tough task; it’s only made tougher when you fail to prepare. Below are 10 steps you need to follow to ensure you’re prepared to prospect. MORE
The post Cold calling tips and tricks for dealing with the toughest gatekeepers appeared first on RingDNA Inside Sales Software & Enterprise Telephony for Salesforce. There’s an ongoing debate about whether or not cold calling is dead. Regardless of what you’ve read or heard elsewhere, the truth is cold calling is alive and well. A recent study revealed that 71% […]. MORE
The most direct benefit of proposal software is automation, allowing you to reduce manually intensive tasks and focus on producing better sales proposals in less time. According to the survey, 63% of sales teams are improving productivity with the time management benefits of proposal software. MORE
IT Sales Strategy: Software, SaaS & Hardware Sales. Martin: The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White: Lessons in Business and Leadership for the Executive Team. I was recently interviewed by blogger Matthew Schwartz about the C-Level Sales Psychology: ZoomInfo: When trying to reach C-level buyers, there seems to be an increasing number of gatekeepers in the purchasing process, from “fans” to “champions.” Heavy Hitter Sales Blog. Recent Posts. MORE
Appeal to Gatekeepers and Influencers. If you could only talk to Unilever’s Chief HR Officer, she’d undoubtedly see the magic in your performance appraisal software — reaching her will just take running the gauntlet of caller ID, email filters, assistants, and junior employees. MORE
I work for contactSPACE, cloud-based call centre software that helps inside sales teams conduct better outreach. As a part of the learning process, it can be worth providing some basic scripts which new reps can use to make it past gatekeepers or introduce what you’re selling. MORE
You’ve ended up being trapped by the gatekeeper. Many software and hi tech equipment manufacturers have a no bid policy for ‘blue bird’ RFIs and RFPs (i.e. Why successful sales people walk away. MORE
Something like: “Hi Barbara, Mike Brooks here with HMS software. Tired of your emails not getting returned? If you’re a sales rep who is sending emails and waiting….and MORE
On the other hand, the automation of business processes that comes with the introduction of certain software enables us to free our human mind for more creative tasks that no AI can yet solve. Great chatbot software options abound on 3rd party review sites like G2 , TrustRadius , and Gartner. MORE
How to get past gatekeepers. The best way to get past a gatekeeper like this is to reframe how you approach the call. They’re not gatekeepers or obstacles to overcome, they’re potential allies who can help champion your product within their company. MORE
They’re used to getting what they want, and what they want is for you to customize your software to their needs. The gatekeeper. Gatekeepers are living, breathing objections and, in many cases, they’re the first roadblock you’ll face. MORE
Optionally, if you have conversation intelligence software, request coaching on the call. Gatekeeper. Connected – Gatekeeper or Future Follow Up. Gatekeeper (Admin, S/B, Other Person). When you marry the disposition with call recording insights, you can answer things like: What percentage of our calls are resulting in meaningful interactions with real buyers compared with gatekeepers or non-buyers? MORE
Is an individual stakeholder a decision-maker, a key recommender, a champion, an organizer, an evaluator, an influencer, a user or a gatekeeper? Our software improves the productivity of your average R&D user by 10 minutes a day. Gatekeepers. MORE
I was onsite training in Montreal , Canada last week—a software company, hi everyone! and one of the sales reps brought up today’s quote as we were reviewing calls during the training. MORE
One of our founders, Jonathan Kim , spent his early days at Hubspot and so our team is fully immersed in the content-driven, freemium, product-led world of new-age software sales. There’s a growing juxtaposition in software sales. A highly enabled salesperson-gatekeeper is the answer. MORE
Talk to any software vendor, and they can’t wait to show you their cool software. Problem is, buyers don’t actually buy software. They buy what your software does for them—how it saves time, decreases costs, engages customers, tracks referrals, etc. MORE
However, the more links you include, the greater the odds that your email will not make its way into the prospect’s inbox due to the virtual gatekeepers of email: firewalls and spam filters. MORE
Sales reps aiming to displace the current provider were stuck dialing into dead-end corporate switchboard phone numbers, getting stonewalled by gatekeepers, never to reach their buyer’s voicemail box—let alone pitch their product to a decision-maker. Cutting gatekeepers out of the equation ensures that each touch point is effectively directed toward sales conversion. Sales reps usually lack the software tools necessary to conduct, gather, and enter research efficiently. MORE
In many ways, this makes prospecting easier -- but the budgets, stakeholders, and gatekeepers you encounter throughout the sales cycle can make finding the right B2B leads that much more important. MORE
Introducing yourself with some background knowledge of the organization increases your chances of getting through a gatekeeper to key decision makers. Sales Enablement Showpad b2b sales prospecting tools sales prospect sales prospecting sales prospecting methods sales prospecting software sales prospecting techniques sales prospecting tools sales prospects successful prospecting in salesLet’s face it; prospecting isn’t the most fun part of selling. MORE
In addition to knowing how to gather all of your sales performance data via sophisticated CRM software, you must know what to do with the information. Perhaps the problem is the length of response time to web inquirers, or maybe it is that you are having a problem with gatekeeper screens. MORE
Hey Kristi, I really liked the way you asked that customer why finding a software with XYZ security feature was important to them. When I do reach them, I’m having difficulty scheduling a demo of our software with the decision-makers. MORE
C-Suite executives are well guarded by gatekeepers. These gatekeepers are trained to keep the sales & marketing folks away from reaching the C-Suite executives. Software to Find C-Suite Executives. The software also helps you to find C-Level executives contact information. MORE
The gatekeepers of these communication channels are also becoming increasingly averse to content they deem irrelevant to their users. In 2019, we expect that software providers will start to remedy this problem. 2019 is officially upon us. MORE
Introducing yourself with some background knowledge of the organization increases your chances of getting through a gatekeeper to key decision makers. Sales Enablement Showpad b2b sales prospecting tools sales prospect sales prospecting sales prospecting methods sales prospecting software sales prospecting techniques sales prospecting tools sales prospects successful prospecting in salesLet’s face it; prospecting isn’t the most fun part of selling. MORE
To buck this trend and in recognition that there's typically only one name on the purchase order, I'm advocating the most counter-intuitive 'get past the gatekeeper' strategy of all time! Project management software like Jira or Workboard can be leveraged for real-time approvals.) MORE
RingDNA
FEBRUARY 20, 2019
The post Cold calling tips and tricks for dealing with the toughest gatekeepers appeared first on RingDNA Inside Sales Software & Enterprise Telephony for Salesforce. There’s an ongoing debate about whether or not cold calling is dead. Regardless of what you’ve read or heard elsewhere, the truth is cold calling is alive and well. A recent study revealed that 71% […].
Showpad
FEBRUARY 14, 2019
Introducing yourself with some background knowledge of the organization increases your chances of getting through a gatekeeper to key decision makers. Sales Enablement Showpad b2b sales prospecting tools sales prospect sales prospecting sales prospecting methods sales prospecting software sales prospecting techniques sales prospecting tools sales prospects successful prospecting in salesLet’s face it; prospecting isn’t the most fun part of selling.
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Cincom Smart Selling
OCTOBER 4, 2016
Sales automation is driven by selling tools like customer portals, ecommerce websites, sales configurators and guided selling software. They don’t have to remember limitations or special pricing models; the software does it for them. This means no more blind-dialing thousands of telephone numbers trying to get around gatekeepers and sadistic admins and more time for exploring up- and cross-selling possibilities. Sales is a changing game.
Showpad
FEBRUARY 14, 2019
Introducing yourself with some background knowledge of the organization increases your chances of getting through a gatekeeper to key decision makers. Sales Enablement Showpad b2b sales prospecting tools sales prospect sales prospecting sales prospecting methods sales prospecting software sales prospecting techniques sales prospecting tools sales prospects successful prospecting in salesLet’s face it; prospecting isn’t the most fun part of selling.
Mr. Inside Sales
JULY 1, 2019
Something like: “Hi Barbara, Mike Brooks here with HMS software. Tired of your emails not getting returned? If you’re a sales rep who is sending emails and waiting….and
eGrabber
NOVEMBER 27, 2019
C-Suite executives are well guarded by gatekeepers. These gatekeepers are trained to keep the sales & marketing folks away from reaching the C-Suite executives. Software to Find C-Suite Executives. The software also helps you to find C-Level executives contact information.
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Hubspot Sales
JANUARY 8, 2020
The most direct benefit of proposal software is automation, allowing you to reduce manually intensive tasks and focus on producing better sales proposals in less time. According to the survey, 63% of sales teams are improving productivity with the time management benefits of proposal software.
Keith Rosen
OCTOBER 7, 2010
However, the more links you include, the greater the odds that your email will not make its way into the prospect’s inbox due to the virtual gatekeepers of email: firewalls and spam filters.
Sales and Marketing Management
SEPTEMBER 17, 2018
Author: Sabrina Ferraioli When you try to call business executives, you’re up against some substantial hurdles — gatekeepers, voicemail, caller ID and their not-a-minute-to-spare schedules. For example: “3D2B recently helped an enterprise software company generate 17,000 qualified leads.
The Sales Hunter
JUNE 25, 2019
Always know what you will say if a gatekeeper answers or you get the person’s voicemail. Make sure your CRM / Sales Engagement software is open and ready. If you fail to properly prepare, you are setting yourself up for failure. This doesn’t just apply to prospecting but everything you do. Prospecting is already a tough task; it’s only made tougher when you fail to prepare. Below are 10 steps you need to follow to ensure you’re prepared to prospect.
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Highspot
DECEMBER 19, 2019
Appeal to Gatekeepers and Influencers. If you could only talk to Unilever’s Chief HR Officer, she’d undoubtedly see the magic in your performance appraisal software — reaching her will just take running the gauntlet of caller ID, email filters, assistants, and junior employees.
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No More Cold Calling
JUNE 7, 2018
Talk to any software vendor, and they can’t wait to show you their cool software. Problem is, buyers don’t actually buy software. They buy what your software does for them—how it saves time, decreases costs, engages customers, tracks referrals, etc.
Close.io
MAY 1, 2019
They’re used to getting what they want, and what they want is for you to customize your software to their needs. The gatekeeper. Gatekeepers are living, breathing objections and, in many cases, they’re the first roadblock you’ll face.
Sales 2.0
OCTOBER 28, 2012
After playing with the client’s accounting software for a fun few hours I managed to get a list of their top 100 accounts by revenue for the last year. But that person was not the head of marketing – more of a gatekeeper. A story from my consulting work.
Sales and Marketing Management
DECEMBER 11, 2017
This means the absence of gatekeeper types, which increases the odds that key players will pick up their own phones. Mike Scher is CEO of FRONTLINE Selling , creators of Staccato, the leading B2B software suite that accelerates revenue by helping sales professionals create more high-quality opportunities, consistently hit quota and close more deals.
DiscoverOrg Sales
MARCH 30, 2017
Sales reps aiming to displace the current provider were stuck dialing into dead-end corporate switchboard phone numbers, getting stonewalled by gatekeepers, never to reach their buyer’s voicemail box—let alone pitch their product to a decision-maker. Cutting gatekeepers out of the equation ensures that each touch point is effectively directed toward sales conversion. Sales reps usually lack the software tools necessary to conduct, gather, and enter research efficiently.
Mr. Inside Sales
FEBRUARY 25, 2018
I completely mishandled the gatekeeper (it was no wonder I rarely got through). To illustrate this, just last week I was asked to be a guest coach with a company called ExecVision (a call recording software company) on a webinar called, “Call Camp.”
Sales Hacker
SEPTEMBER 24, 2018
What if sales reps can really harness the full potential of the pricy software tools we thought would turn us into sales superstars? Sales engagement software empowers reps to accommodate the modern buyer, meet them at their desired touchpoints, at the time and manner they so wish.
ExecVision
JUNE 13, 2019
Optionally, if you have conversation intelligence software, request coaching on the call. Gatekeeper. Connected – Gatekeeper or Future Follow Up. Gatekeeper (Admin, S/B, Other Person). When you marry the disposition with call recording insights, you can answer things like: What percentage of our calls are resulting in meaningful interactions with real buyers compared with gatekeepers or non-buyers?
Sales Hacker
NOVEMBER 30, 2018
You’ve ended up being trapped by the gatekeeper. Many software and hi tech equipment manufacturers have a no bid policy for ‘blue bird’ RFIs and RFPs (i.e. Why successful sales people walk away.
MTD Sales Training
NOVEMBER 23, 2011
In addition to knowing how to gather all of your sales performance data via sophisticated CRM software, you must know what to do with the information. Perhaps the problem is the length of response time to web inquirers, or maybe it is that you are having a problem with gatekeeper screens.
Hubspot Sales
AUGUST 11, 2019
In many ways, this makes prospecting easier -- but the budgets, stakeholders, and gatekeepers you encounter throughout the sales cycle can make finding the right B2B leads that much more important.
DiscoverOrg Sales
MAY 7, 2019
Sales calls the wrong people or reaches a gatekeeper, where they will ultimately get turned away or begin the tedious process of calling up the chain. Business leaders understand that data is the critical heart of growth and expansion.
InsideSales.com
OCTOBER 23, 2019
Cold calling the CEO is difficult, but not impossible — if you know how to structure your pitch and how to get past gatekeepers. I’ve seen it in almost every new rep: fear of the owner, fear of the gatekeeper, fear of the 2nd gatekeeper (the dreaded executive assistant), and reluctance to even approach the challenge. “I think it’s really unusual, and that’s why we’re really selling more enterprise software than Oracle or SAP.”
Sales Hacker
MAY 15, 2018
One of our founders, Jonathan Kim , spent his early days at Hubspot and so our team is fully immersed in the content-driven, freemium, product-led world of new-age software sales. There’s a growing juxtaposition in software sales. A highly enabled salesperson-gatekeeper is the answer.
LeveragePoint
SEPTEMBER 21, 2018
Is an individual stakeholder a decision-maker, a key recommender, a champion, an organizer, an evaluator, an influencer, a user or a gatekeeper? Our software improves the productivity of your average R&D user by 10 minutes a day. Gatekeepers.
Hubspot Sales
APRIL 14, 2019
I work for contactSPACE, cloud-based call centre software that helps inside sales teams conduct better outreach. As a part of the learning process, it can be worth providing some basic scripts which new reps can use to make it past gatekeepers or introduce what you’re selling.
PandaDoc
JANUARY 14, 2019
The gatekeepers of these communication channels are also becoming increasingly averse to content they deem irrelevant to their users. In 2019, we expect that software providers will start to remedy this problem. 2019 is officially upon us.
ExecVision
APRIL 25, 2018
While those numbers are impressive, it takes more than buying software to get there. ConnectAndSell will get you past gatekeepers and phone trees, but if you skip pre-call research you’ll find yourself faltering in those crucial first seconds. The average ConnectAndSell client gets somewhere around seven connects and one scheduled meeting per hour. The teams at ExecVision and Vorsight have been using ConnectAndSell for a number of years.
Cience
JULY 25, 2019
On the other hand, the automation of business processes that comes with the introduction of certain software enables us to free our human mind for more creative tasks that no AI can yet solve. Great chatbot software options abound on 3rd party review sites like G2 , TrustRadius , and Gartner.
Sales Hacker
AUGUST 28, 2019
Hey Kristi, I really liked the way you asked that customer why finding a software with XYZ security feature was important to them. When I do reach them, I’m having difficulty scheduling a demo of our software with the decision-makers.
Hubspot Sales
OCTOBER 5, 2017
CRM (customer relationship management): Software that allows companies to keep track of their potential and existing customers at whichever stage they may assume in the sales cycle. We usually have to go through a gatekeeper to reach them. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.
HeavyHitter Sales
JUNE 1, 2010
IT Sales Strategy: Software, SaaS & Hardware Sales. Martin: The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White: Lessons in Business and Leadership for the Executive Team. I was recently interviewed by blogger Matthew Schwartz about the C-Level Sales Psychology: ZoomInfo: When trying to reach C-level buyers, there seems to be an increasing number of gatekeepers in the purchasing process, from “fans” to “champions.” Heavy Hitter Sales Blog. Recent Posts.
Tony Hughes
FEBRUARY 22, 2018
To buck this trend and in recognition that there's typically only one name on the purchase order, I'm advocating the most counter-intuitive 'get past the gatekeeper' strategy of all time! Project management software like Jira or Workboard can be leveraged for real-time approvals.)
Sales Hacker
NOVEMBER 15, 2017
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to a system of computers, software, machines and processes that simulate certain aspects of human intelligence such as image perception, voice recognition and reasoning. Content Management System (CMS) is a computer program or software application used to create, modify, store and manage digital content. Dialer is a computer software, application or electronic device that automates the process of making phone calls. Gatekeeper.
OnePageCRM
JUNE 15, 2017
How to get past gatekeepers. The best way to get past a gatekeeper like this is to reframe how you approach the call. They’re not gatekeepers or obstacles to overcome, they’re potential allies who can help champion your product within their company.
ExecVision
DECEMBER 11, 2018
These symptoms can be triggered by arriving at their desk, putting on their headset, or opening the dialer software. Over-reliance on email can turn the buzz of your sales floor into the clack-clack-clack of keyboards you’d normally find where your software development team sits. For example, a gatekeeper saying the prospect is busy could be worth 1 point, but a ‘no’ to the meeting directly from the prospect could earn 3 points. Dial dread.
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