A while back, a client of mine shared that he was struggling with being put into voicemail jail. He had people—CEOs and business owners—he wanted to maintain contact with. He would call and reach the person responsible for screening their calls, known in sales as the gatekeeper.
Typically, they would respond with something like, "I'd be happy to transfer your call." And then he would go straight to voicemail.
He did leave messages, but apparently they were ineffective, as people generally did not call him back.
Occasionally, he would even ask the gatekeeper something like, "I keep leaving voicemails but haven't gotten a call back. Is there something I need to do? Is there any way you can help me make a connection?"
"Oh, he said he'd call you back, just leave a voicemail." But it rarely worked.
Keep in mind that the general public thinks it's okay to lie to salespeople. I've even talked to a group of pastors who shared that it's okay to lie to salespeople! In fact, the CEOs and business owners may even be lying to their gatekeepers!
Let's face it: For most people it's easier to say, "Tell him I'll call him back," than it is to say, "I never want him to call again."
So how do you change that approach?
At the risk of oversimplifying things, make it easy for those people to say "no."
Let's take sales emails as an example. Most sales emails you can see coming miles away, and you can even predict what they'll end with.
"Let me know if you want to visit!"
Well, if you don't want to visit with that salesperson, you've already taken the action they implicitly told you to take. You've done nothing!
But if instead, they give you permission to say "no," then you're way more likely to actually answer them.
While most of my email correspondence is with clients, I do occasionally communicate via email with prospects. After I give them permission to say "no," I'll end my emails with something like, "Please let me know either way."
And you know what? They do!
In the case of cold calling and reaching the gatekeeper, we have to help them put it into context. For my client, I suggested taking the following approach. Let's assume the gatekeeper's name is Sue.
"Sue, I've left a couple messages. I get the sense that he doesn't want me to call again. If you were me, how would you find out if I should stop calling?"
Even giving the gatekeeper permission for your prospect to say "no" can be extremely powerful!
Crandall is the Principal of Sandler in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He works with business owners and motivated individuals to create and implement Professional Development Strategies to foster the growth of individuals, teams, and organizations.
