Making the Most From Talking With Admins
Most of you understand that calling high within an organization is "Sales 101;" what most of us discover in that process is that you will most likely not get a C-Level or VP-Level executive on the phone unless you go through their administrative assistant. Though we may think of an admin as a nuisance, they play a critical role in moving you through the sales process. If you manage to differentiate yourself from the multitude of calls they receive from people like you, they can become your ally in determining who you really need to speak with. The key I've found is to be direct, clear and respectful.
Like any other prospect in the cold calling game, admins also appreciate when you quickly get to the point. Who you are, what your company does and why are you trying to reach their boss. Avoid passive/weak opening intros like: I was hoping /I was wondering. My favorite is ending your initial question with an OR. "Is Mr. VP the appropriate person to handle this orrrrr...." Just ask the question! An opening statement that works for me is, "Hi (first name), could you point me in the right direction? I wanted to speak with the person responsible for the outbound lead generation for your organization." The beauty of a question like this is you can quickly determine who you should be talking to. The VP you're calling on may have the decision making ability on a service like yours, but a Director level title would most likely be tasked with the evaluation.
Another common issue I run into with admins is explaining what you do at a high enough level for them to grasp what it is you do. I'm not saying admins aren't sharp, but it is not their job to stay on top of obscure tech industry acronyms. If you can come up with something that explains what you do in lay-mans terms, then it can only help the admin to better determine who you should actually be speaking with.
Now I'm not saying you are going to get all the answers you need out of every admin. Their job is not intended to make your life easier. I've always enjoyed working with the admin that tells you "We are all set"...just to get you off of the phone. My response is usually "alright, well what service/technology do you have in place, just for my records." If they don't have an answer (usually they don't) pull in another contact within the organization who can give you a reasonable excuse as to why they are not interested. There have been many occasions where I've been told by an admin that their boss was not interested only to discover, with some additional digging, there was an active project and eventually we ended up closing the business.
If you find that you have exhausted all avenues, and the VP with the pit-bull admin IS really who need to speak with to set a meeting- call early in the morning or late at night. I've usually found that executive assistants aren't in before 8 or after 5 at night so you can increase the likelihood of getting right through to her boss without concern over getting screened.
Let's assume the admin has confirmed that her boss is the appropriate person for you to speak with -you now have access to the target title. Next week I want to run through some things that have worked for me to differentiate my message over the rest of the crowd with your target audience. For more thoughts on dealing with admins, check out Chris Snell's thoughts here.