Ideas!

If you were an executive's gatekeeper, would you be reactive, focusing on keeping people and information out?  Or would you be proactive, aggressively feeding relevant information to the boss?

"Assistant To" Marketing

The days of the secretary who took dictation, typed letters and brought coffee on demand are not only long gone, they're gone forever.  The job as the right-hand-of-the-boss has evolved and grown dramatically in terms of responsibility and the intellect required to perform well.  The paycheck of today's "Assistant To" has grown accordingly.

We sales reps must recognize these folks for who and what they are.  Put yourself in the shoes of the decision-maker for a minute.  Would you rather have an "Assistant To" that:

See the point?  Think about what you have done lately for the "Assistant Tos" that are between you and your decision makers.  Have you helped them to "enhance and organize"?  Do you know their full names, backgrounds and key performance objectives?  Do you know what issues and problems they face?  Do you understand the basics of their day-to-day work flow?  Have you discussed what type of information their principle wants/likes and in what form?  

Next time you find yourself thinking, "Uh-oh, another tough gatekeeper", execute your well-thought-out "Assistant To" sales strategy.  That, first of all, means to avoid schmoozing.  They see through that instantly and resent it.  Next:

It may add a few days or even weeks to your sell cycle.  It certainly means more work for you.  But isn't that better than wishing you could get around that gatekeeper?

Think about it…