What you'll get
- 4 copy-ready blocks
- 6 min read
- The opener
- The four standard questions, answered straight
- The four standard questions, answered straight
- The four standard questions, answered straight
How to use it
- Step 1: Read Part 1 once: what the gatekeeper is actually doing.
- Step 2: Take the opener and the four answers in Part 2 onto every call.
- Step 3: Use Part 3 when the answer is no, and the voicemail lines in Part 4 when it is a machine.
- Step 4: Log what you learned after every call, even the failures. Especially the failures.
This guide covers the front desk. The conversation with the buyer is the appointment setting script for enterprise accounts, and the lesson on that call is The First Call. More on the craft under cold outreach.
Most advice on how to be a good appointment setter is about tricking the gatekeeper: sound senior, imply familiarity, dodge the questions. On a named account list that advice is poison. You will call this company again, the gatekeeper logs every call, and a trick discovered closes the account, not just the call. This guide does it straight.
Part 1: What is a gatekeeper actually doing?
Filtering, not blocking. A receptionist, assistant or office manager is paid to protect a senior person's time from calls that waste it. They are good at it, they hear every trick weekly and they remember callers. Which means the test you must pass is not how do I get around this person. It is: can I give this person an honest reason to put me through, and if not today, can I leave with more than I called with?
Part 2: What do you say to a gatekeeper?
The opener
Good morning. My name is [first and last name], calling from [company].
Could you put me through to [full name], please?
It is about [the business problem, in one plain phrase].Full name of the person, your own full name, no fake familiarity. Asking for "Priya" when you have never spoken to Priya Sharma is the oldest trick on the desk, and it is logged as one.
The four standard questions, answered straight
What is this regarding?
"We work with [similar companies] on [problem]. I wanted to ask
[first name] whether that is on their plate this quarter."
Is [name] expecting your call?
"No. I wrote last week and said I would call. This is that call."
Can you send an email instead?
"Happy to. What address should I use, and is there a time this week
when calls usually reach [first name]?"
We do not take sales calls.
"Understood, and thanks for being straight. Who should a supplier
write to about [problem], so I am not bothering the wrong desk?"Every answer is true, names the problem and asks one small question. That last habit is the whole guide in miniature.
Part 3: How do you turn a no into something?
Leave every call with one of these, in descending order:
1. A transfer, now or booked for a stated time
2. The right person's name and role, if you had the wrong one
3. The channel that works: an address, a time, a direct line
4. A fact: reorganisation, new leader, buying freeze, better month
5. A clean exit that leaves the desk friendly for the next callNumbers 2 to 4 feed your committee map. A no with a name attached is progress on a named account; log it against the account and route the next attempt through another door. When one door stays shut, work the committee sideways rather than calling the same desk weekly. That is the move in When One Door Doesn't Open.
Part 4: Two voicemail lines that sometimes get returned
"[First name], this is [name] at [company]. One question about [problem],
takes two minutes. [Number]. I will try again Thursday morning either way."
"[First name], [name] at [company]. [Peer company] had [problem] and we
[one-line outcome]. If that is worth two minutes, [number]. If not, this
is my last voicemail."No voicemail script gets most calls returned. These two work because they are short, name a real problem and say exactly what happens next. Say the number slowly, twice.
Worked example (illustrative, not a real company)
Sam Carter is working Pellow and Rook, a Tier 2 account. The operations director does not answer; the desk does. Sam uses the opener, gets "she does not take cold calls", and asks the last question in Part 2. The answer: "Write to her assistant, Maria, and Tuesdays are quieter." Sam logs two names, a channel and a timing against the account, emails Maria that afternoon and gets ten minutes booked the following Tuesday. No trick, two calls, one meeting. All names are invented.
Five mistakes to avoid
- Lying, even small. Fake familiarity and implied urgency are logged the first time and remembered the second.
- Treating the gatekeeper as furniture. Rude to the desk is the one note sure to reach the buyer.
- Leaving with nothing. A call that ends without a name, a channel, a timing or a fact was a wasted dial.
- Calling the same desk on a loop. Three polite attempts, then switch person or channel. A fourth identical call damages the account.
- Winning the transfer and fumbling it. The gatekeeper is step one. Have the buyer opener ready before you dial.
Why this works on named accounts
Common questions
How do you get past a gatekeeper in sales?
Stop trying to get past and give them a reason to put you through: your full name, the buyer's full name and the business problem in one plain phrase. When the answer is still no, ask one small question so you leave with a name, a channel or a timing. Honesty outperforms every trick on accounts you will call again.
What makes a good appointment setter?
Preparation and bookkeeping more than patter: the right names before dialling, an honest opener, straight answers to the standard questions and a log of what each call taught about the account. Setters who respect gatekeepers reach more buyers over a quarter than setters who dodge them.
Should you tell the gatekeeper it is a sales call?
Tell the truth without the label doing your pitching: it is about the specific problem you help with, and you are asking whether it is on the buyer's plate. If asked directly whether you are selling something, say yes. The honest answer is rare enough to be memorable, and the lie is fatal on a named account.
More from the Academy
Appointment Setting Script for Enterprise Accounts
For SDRs, founders and account executives calling into large companies.
You leave with a pre-call card, a call script, replies to seven responses and scripts for the second and third conversation.
Cold Call Opening Lines for Senior Buyers
For anyone who has to ring a director or C-level buyer in a large company.
You leave with a pre-call card, 10 opening lines, the 20 seconds that follow, two voicemails, a call log and one call written out.
When One Door Doesn't Open: Finding the Next Stakeholder
For sellers stuck on one silent contact in an account worth winning.
You leave with five other doors into the same company, a line for each and a rule for doing it without going behind anyone's back.
Want this in your inbox?
Optional. We use your email only to send you this, nothing else.