5 Easy Steps to Get Past the Gatekeeper

Getting past the gatekeeper is never easy. You call and call but your prospect is always “in a meeting” or “on the phone” with no hope of ever getting them on the phone. If this sounds like a familiar situation read on. I’ll share a few techniques for getting past gatekeepers and a great subject line you can use to get your message in front of your prospect.

First and foremost, you need to realize that gatekeepers aren’t being mean, they’re just doing their job. Let’s take a walk in their shoes for a second.

If you’re prospecting into the C-Suite or VP/Director level it’s fairly likely that at any given time you’re just one of a dozen other SDRs trying to call/email and schedule a meeting with their boss. Thus, one of the primary job responsibilities of a gatekeeper is filtering through all the noise and saving their boss valuable time.

They hold all the power in this situation and you need to win them over to your side. Understanding this and empathizing with gatekeepers rather than just trying to get by them is the first step towards getting your message through to your prospect.

Like I mentioned before, gatekeepers get TONS of calls and the sad fact is that most SDRs sound the same. You need to set yourself apart from the crowd and make them remember you.

The easiest way to do this is to stop prospecting for a second, remember they’re human beings and have an actual conversation with them.

Here’s what the average SDR sounds like:

“Hi, my name is Pranav and I’m calling with BoomSDR, is Jane available?”

“No she’s in a meeting, just send an email”

“Okay, thank you! What’s a good email to send over some information?”

Now repeat this for 5–6 calls over the course of a month and multiply by 10 other vendors doing the exact same thing. Obviously they’d get sick of having this conversation over and over.

So now we need to set ourselves apart from every other SDR out there, how do we do that?

Well the easiest way is by using a better opening that sets you up for a conversation and gaining insight rather than sounding like a robot reading a script.

Here’s one of my favorite examples:

“Hey Stephanie, it’s Pranav with BoomSDR again — we spoke last week. You probably don’t remember though, I’m a pretty forgettable guy hah”

Right off the bat this opening accomplishes three things.

Once you’ve used an opening that sets yourself apart and started building a real conversation, it’s time to ask for some help.

If you still can’t get through — build on the previous opening with a quick ask for help.

“Hey Stephanie, it’s Pranav with BoomSDR again — we spoke last week. You probably don’t remember though, I’m a pretty forgettable guy hah”

<Insert Witty back and forth>

“Stephanie, I know you said Jane is pretty busy but I’ve tried calling a few times now. Be honest with me, am I ever going to get through to her? While I love our chats I hate to keep pestering you.”

Once again, empathy! You’re not bugging your prospect, you’re ultimately bugging the gatekeeper. Put it out there and let them know you realize it. At this point you’ll most likely get the honest truth and one of three options.

Referral: Honestly, Jane will never take a cold call. You might try Adam though, he works for Jane and handles XYZ initiatives. Need his extension?

Better Time: Pranav, she has a break this afternoon at 3pm EST. If you call back then it’ll be your best shot.

Shut Down: I’m a stone wall, good luck getting by me

Alright, so up til now we’ve been discussing how to handle conversations with gatekeepers. But what if this doesn’t work and you still can’t get to your prospect?

Well, then it’s time to send a personal email to the prospect with the ultimate name drop…their gatekeepers name.

Subject Line: Spoke to Stephanie

Hey Jane,

I tried calling you earlier but Stephanie said you’re calendar is packed this week.

Reason for my call was because I was on your Linkedin earlier and I thought of a specific customer success stories of ours that I thought you might be interested in.

Curious, would it be a valuable use of 20 minutes to learn how we’ve helped Customer X in your industry accomplish ABC?

If so, how does Thursday at 3pm EST sound?

Thanks, Pranav

I can’t tell you how many times this simple subject line has gotten the prospects attention and prompted an open or even a reply.

What boss doesn’t want to know what you spoke to their gatekeeper about? Best part is that you’re making their gatekeeper look good by referencing the fact that they said they were busy instead of just letting you through to their line.

Well, that’s it guys. It’s a fairly simple game plan for getting past gatekeepers and works fairly often since there are multiple entry points to being connected. Plus, you’ll get tons of valuable information throughout the entire process that you can pass on to your AE and help tailor the conversation to their specific pain points.

What techniques have you used to win the gatekeeper over?

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