"If you are asked for your last name, you should give it to them, but never address your potential client by their full name."
Don't lie.
Something that could break the it directors managers email lists gatekeeper's trust and ruin the success of a deal? Dishonesty.
As one business development manager told me, “When I interact with a gatekeeper, there is one rule I enforce with our BDRs: Don’t lie. Align the call with the content of your email cadence – lead with the truth and be firm but humble in your approach.”
«For example,» you might say, «Sarah, I hope you can help me. I'm supposed to connect with John today, but I can't find his extension/we haven't been able to connect yet. Could you please connect me?» Be very polite and acknowledge his help.
Ultimately, even if a lie might work in the short term, it will likely backfire in the long run. If the decision-maker finds out that you've lied to your employees in order to communicate with them, they won't want to do business with you. If you lied about that, what else could you be lying about?
Have prior knowledge about the gatekeeper.
A growth specialist advises sales reps to do their research on the gatekeeper.
He says, “If you know who your gatekeeper is ahead of time, check their LinkedIn. If the gatekeeper is a bit higher up and could be someone who has used software similar to yours in the past, look up their previous companies and see what technology they are using.”
“This could trigger memories of negative experiences in the past with software they didn’t like, or positive experiences with your software, etc., which you can mention on the call and show that you’ve done your research and aren’t there to waste their time.”
Don't try to "get past" the gatekeepers...align with them.
Finally, when cold calling a company and reaching out to a gatekeeper, consider how you might build a relationship and build trust with the gatekeeper before pushing for the C-level executive.
