Gatekeepers...

When I stated off in sales I could never get past gatekeepers.

My manager at the time told me to be friendly and always act professionally by giving my full name along with my company.

Well intentioned...but terrible advice.

I sounded like every other salesperson.

Trying to 'build rapport' with the gatekeeper.

Big mistake.

Fast forward a few years and my success rate went through the roof.

How?

By changing everything I did before.

- No company name

- Not giving my name

- Using so few words I could count them on one hand

- Assumptively thanking them for putting me through (before they put me through)

- Treating any questions fired at me with confusion then answering with either a question or a command to know who I was speaking to (as I don't believe we've spoken before)

- Sounding short-fused & irritable to the point gatekeepers would apologise for keeping me on hold

This approach yielded a huge amount of connections.

If you sound like every other salesperson, chances are you're not going to get through.