Your Gatekeeper Might Be Hurting Your Business
Whoever answers incoming calls at your company holds one of the most powerful positions within your organization. They control how you're viewed by the outside world and also the flow of information and opportunities to the managers and owners of the company. It's important to analyze how these employees are doing their jobs. You may be promoting the wrong image or missing big opportunities due to their lack of training or just plain ignorance.
We all know that people make judgments almost instantly. Think about businesses you've called where the person on the other end sounds bothered you called them, bored, or monotone. How did it make you feel about that company? Now think about a company who's people are always polite, happy, and enthusiastic. Now how do you feel about that company? Now which one are you? You might answer defensively and say "Of course I'm the later!" but are you really? You can find out quickly. Call the office from a number your receptionist won't recognize disguise your voice and honestly judge their performance. How do you feel after you've talked to them? You may be surprised at what you find.
If your not satisfied with the way they answered you can't simply say "Be more happy!". Try to discover the reason behind their poor performance. You might try relocating their desk by a window, getting them that new phone they asked for, or maybe be more upbeat yourself. If your always a grump chances are your employees will be also.
Missed Opportunities (Gatekeeping)
Sales people call those who answer phones that don't have the power to make decisions on behalf of the company "gatekeepers". And that's exactly what they are. You and they may not realize just how powerful a role gatekeepers have. Often times "gatekeepers" think like consumers and not owners. When a call from a salesperson comes in they treat the call personally. Of course the gatekeeper has no desire for the offering so often times they will respond negatively toward the caller ("We're not interested.", "We don't need that."). To them the offer is worthless. Of course they aren't in a position to make that determination, you are! You might have just missed out on a great opportunity, tool or service that could help your business.
Your gatekeeper is not in a position to make decisions for the company. No matter how much they know about the business, only you are. That doesn't mean you need to take every sales phone call. Obviously that's what the gatekeeper is for. You should however train them on how to properly handle these calls so opportunities will not be missed. Your phone rep should handle sales calls with the same enthusiasm and politeness they would a customer. Sales people talk to many other businesses and if they like you and talk to someone else who needs what you have they'll often say. "Oh XYZ company does that, they are really nice over there. You should call them." Just based off a 1 minute phone call. Getting back to the point. When a sales call comes in your gatekeeper will need to trap key information. Not just "Name, phone number, message". They should ask a few detailed questions to the sales rep. This will separate the seed for the chaff of the sales people and you won't waste time on sales reps who don't have their stuff together.
1. What's the name of your company?
2. What's your website address?
3. What is it your offering?
4. How is your offer going to benefit our business?
Any credible salesman will be able to answer these basic questions. Now that you have a list of opportunities that have been presented to your company see if any interest you. Will any of these offers solve your current problems? Are you interested in hearing more. You can quickly put an X through the ones you don't like or don't care about and give the list back to your gatekeeper. Now when the sales person calls back your rep can honestly say. "We are not interested." Or if you are interested you will have the opportunity to hear the sales person out and see if they can actually help your business.