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Getting past the gatekeeper is one of the most key aspects in becoming a solid IT staffing salesperson. If you are unable to get past them, then your chance of making a sale of your product or service is slim. Most people that you ask about the subject will try and teach you tricks of how to do it but theres really just a couple of fundamental tips that you can use and you should be successful more often than not.

The most important thing you can do when you first reach someone in your target company is to be nice and polite. Your chances of succeeding in your mission rise exponentially when you are polite. It’s really just common sense but if someone is rude to you not only do you not want to help them out but you usually go out of your way to stop them from doing what they are trying to accomplish. Treat every gatekeeper like you were actually speaking with the CEO/Decision Maker.

Another important point to remember is that most of the time the gatekeeper’s responsibility is help their boss decide what is the best use of their valuable time. If you can convince them that you IT recruiting services can provide a value/cost savings, then you’ve just transformed the gatekeeper from a road block to an ally. Ask them questions about their companies growth strategies, how their trying to increase their value to their customers, how you can leverage your value into creating more for them. You don’t have to spend an hour on the phone with them but a quick 5-10 minute conversation can go along way and help you immensely in the long run. You can also leverage this conversation into solving another problem that some people run into: targeting the wrong person. Most gatekeepers are assistants to someone important in the company so they probably have a good understanding of what’s going on in the company. Knowing that they could probably point you in the right direction if you have some misinformation that’s leading you astray.