Today’s thought is brought to you by Steven Tomlinson, who is also a subscriber. His draft book on sales has a great section that starts like this:
The Gatekeeper Puzzle
What might their boss prioritize?
What is worth the decisionmaker’s attention? Have we got something that the boss will want to know about? It may be that the Gatekeeper says “send me something that I will pass to the decisionmaker.”
You want to know how you maximize chances of success by learning what will be relevant to the decisionmaker, show you’ve listened and learned, and demonstrate enough relevance to secure the next meeting. So the goal is to get a conversation deeper into the organization that advances into the process.
So the puzzle, in that case, is: what do we have here that is worth their boss’s attention? On the trust piece, you have to show the Gatekeeper quickly that you are already having a conversation that you believe the decisionmaker would want to be in.
Dr. Steven Tomlinson is one of my favorite people. You should listen to what he says.
