The Gatekeeper Sees You as a Threat. It's Your Job to Change That.

I vividly remember the day I called a main number for a client and asked in a nice professional voice for the Director of the Labor and Delivery unit. I waited and was transferred to Human Resources. I hung up and tried again. Same result.

I thought, “How strange. This person must not understand me.” I called a third time. “Hi,” I said to the operator. “I think there might be something wrong with the phones. I keep asking to get transferred to the Director of Labor and Delivery, and I keep being sent to Human Resources.”

The person on the other end of the phone laughed and went on to explain it was her job to screen salespeople. Because I was a sales rep, my only option was to share my information with them, and if the director wanted to talk to me, she would call.

Clearly that never happened.

The gatekeeper's job is to block you. YOUR job is to DISARM them. You can do this by:

👉 Asking for a department first and then telling them you want to SEND some information and ask who you should send it to. Almost 100% of the time they will give you the name you need. This is very non-threatening.
👉 Calling before or after hours. The gatekeeper will often be gone before 8am and after 5pm, but your point of contact might not be.
👉 Asking for help. Share that you want to get in touch and find out what they recommend. Use lots of humility and silence and they just might help you.

What has your experience been like? Let me know in the LinkedIn comments!

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