When I’m promoting my work as a hoax speaker, corporate comedian and master of ceremonies, getting prospects to take an interest in what I do is difficult, as very few recognise the ‘need’ for what I do.
Hardest of all is getting past the gatekeepers, aka PAs, of the big corporates I often work for.
For this reason, my opening line on the phone often includes this phrase: “I stop people falling asleep during conferences and events.” Everyone relates to boring conference sessions, so I nearly always get a chuckle from the person at the other end of the line.
Therefore I establish some rapport straight away and begin to break down that barrier of resistance.
So what I am suggesting is that, where appropriate, it’s good for sales folk to have one or more quirky lines in their kit bag. That can help to disarm those tough-nut prospects and gatekeepers.
What we’re trying to do is create a relaxed, human-to-human conversation for a couple of minutes, rather than a pesky-supplier-to-resistant-prospect brush-off.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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