It has always been puzzling to me why so many salespeople (and not just Radio salespeople) consider “gatekeepers” as menial laborers. By “gatekeeper”, I mean the secretaries, receptionists, and other clerical positions one encounters when calling on (or attempting to call on) advertising decision-takers. For some reason \u2014 and this is especially true of male salespeople \u2014 there is a tendency to regard gatekeepers as second (or third) class citizens.<\/p>\n
Let me tell you: they resent being treated that way.<\/p>\n
And if you are<\/em> treating them as beneath you, what is their motivation to assist you<\/em> in getting to see the person you need to see to make a sale?<\/p>\n One sales manager I know \u2014 after interviewing a candidate for a position \u2014 would meet with the station’s office staff to find out how the candidate treated them. What was his\/her attitude toward the station’s<\/em> office staff? Anyone who acted aloof or condescending to the station’s own people didn’t make the cut.<\/p>\n Why make an enemy when you could make a friend? Here’s an idea: find out the name<\/em> of the primary gatekeeper for each of your customers\/prospects. Use that person’s name the next time you call or visit. It works wonders.<\/p>\n The Golden Rule applies every bit as much in sales as in life in general \u2014 treat others as you would be treated. Gatekeepers are people, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It has always been puzzling to me why so many salespeople (and not just Radio salespeople) consider “gatekeepers” as menial laborers. By “gatekeeper”, I mean the secretaries, receptionists, and other… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attitudes","category-radio","category-sales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio3k.com\/rblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio3k.com\/rblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio3k.com\/rblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio3k.com\/rblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio3k.com\/rblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/radio3k.com\/rblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23,"href":"https:\/\/radio3k.com\/rblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radio3k.com\/rblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio3k.com\/rblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radio3k.com\/rblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}