“How do I improve my chances of reaching my target contact?” This is a question that many people ask themselves today. After all, it is rather difficult to make a sale if you can’t gain access to the person making the decisions. So obviously, this is critical for the sales process to begin.

In Part 2, we discussed how to identify the proper decision maker, Now, all we have to do is navigate successfully around gatekeepers, such as Administrative Assistants. This is the difficult part of voice prospecting.

I am convinced that a large part of telephone success comes from the attitude or posture of the caller. Much of this falls back to personal style and comfort level. Personally, I use the “kill them with kindness approach”. It is difficult to be harsh with someone who is so nice that you hate to shut them down.

I try to make them like me, in order to gain entry. I call the admin by name if she answers with it. I record the name for use in future calls. So every time that I call, it is “Hey, Gloria, how’s it going today?” People love to be remembered and the more they like you, the more they will help.

Just think about how many mundane, rude or deceptive calls this person must field in a day, week, month or year. How many calls do you think that this person gets where the caller is actually nice to them? This immediately positions you in a small minority of those she is actually happy to deal with and hear from.

If you are going to be calling on a prospective account month after month, you definitely are going to need this person on your side. After all, she has the power to shut you down each and every call. Getting to know this person, a question at a time, helps to build a rapport over the long term.

When I was head hunting, I used to have a file of just admin information. Many, I knew about their family, their birthday’s, what they did in their off time, etc. I built it by establishing friendliness and honesty and just small talking my way into it. Eventually, I could call on these people to help me with a name, a number, comany information, etc. The minimal time that I had invested paid much larger dividends down the road.

Some people prefer the authoritative approach, where they adopt the posture of a busy, commanding executive, expecting to be put right through. I know one person that this works like a charm for. However, I have always found that the more important that they think you are, the more that they want to cover their backside, and their boss’, by knowing all the details of why you are calling. This approach works rather well on lower level secretaries, but admins that have been around for a while are not as easily intimidated.

So, how much information do we disclose and what do we actually want them to know? This is actually where the sale begins. You have to sell this person that you are not just another sales person, looking to take up her boss’ time.

I generally try to sound as if I belong, using the decision maker’s first name, and an attitude that projects that I am totally comfortable with calling him. Nervousness keys them into the fact that this is your first time and have never spoken to her boss before. I want to project the attitude that I do this all the time and this is business as usual. I answer each of her questions honestly and with a smile in my voice.

If this lady has even a hint that you are hiding something or sidestepping her questions, she will dig and dig and dig until she get’s the information or until you hang up. This just slows you down and does not establishing the right kind of foundation to build on for the future. You want to set the tone for future calls, so alienating this person is only going to make things harder for you down the road. Remember, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

By Gerry Nason