Love For The Gatekeepers
Gatekeepers get a bad rap, I think. I’ve been thinking about this over the last few days given the news that the President will be on his third Chief of Staff in two years (No comment!). That job is often described as the gatekeeper to the President.
You see, gatekeepers have a tough job. They have to balance thinking ahead for the boss, anticipating what they need, what their priorities are, while not overstepping their authority, and blocking opportunities that may be interesting — All while juggling their own responsibilities and to-dos.
From a sales perspective, the prevailing wisdom is that you have to find ways to get past the gatekeepers, because their job is to protect the boss from the barbarians at the gate. And that is true, to a degree. A key part of the job is to create a layer of protection for the decision-maker.
Ultimately, a salesperson has to get to the true economic buyer and that is typically only through or around the gatekeeper. But it seems to me that going through the gatekeepers is a much better approach.
The reason for this is that the best gatekeepers work in lockstep with their boss, where the mindmeld (I recently wrote about this) is a constant state. They will have a great understanding of the priorities, challenges, and needs of the decision maker. In my book, that is the ideal person to connect to and share your story with.
The key is to figure out if this particular gatekeeper is empowered, with responsibility and autonomy, to ultimately create value in the decision-making process. Or is their job to block, stop, and slow-down?
If you are able to find and win over the empowered gatekeepers, you will have a big head start. Because if they believe in you, your product, or what you stand for, they will be able to move mountains so that you have the best opportunity with the true buyer. And that is gold.
If you happen to be a gatekeeper, we love you and more power to you!
Daniel Vogelzang is an independent consultant, helping to reduce business complexity for his clients using strategy, facilitation, and design thinking.
Contact Daniel if you think you might benefit from cutting through the complexity in your world.
