There’s nothing more frustrating than having your selling efforts cut short by a receptionist that won’t give you the time of day, so here are three ways to gather information at an account where the receptionist is screening your call.   

1. Call before 9 a.m. at lunch or after 5 p.m.
While most receptionists start work at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m., managers often start at 8 a.m. and are still in the office after 6 p.m. So call before or after regular working hours and usually there is no one there to screen your call.

2. Ask for sales
Phone any company and ask for sales and they’ll put you through instantly. When a salesperson picks up the phone, all you need to do is ask for their help. “Good morning, my name is Peter and I’m with Best Publishing. I’m in sales like you. Would you mind if I asked you a few brief questions?”

You’ll find that most salespeople will tell you anything you’d like to know because they haven’t been instructed to screen calls. They’ll not only tell you who the marketing manager is, they’ll also give you his direct line.

3. Call accounts receivable
If your target company doesn’t have a sales department, ask for accounts receivable and the receptionist will usually transfer your call instantly. Once again, accounting has not been instructed to screen calls so they see nothing wrong with answering your questions.

When you contact a prospect after sending a media kit never say “Did you receive our media kit I mailed last week?” or “Have you had a chance to look at our media kit?” because the prospect will often turn your question into an opportunity to brush you off by saying “No” or “I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, so call me back in a few weeks." As you’ve probably noticed, when you call back in a few weeks, you usually get the same response.

So when making a follow-up call, don’t ask the prospect about the media kit; instead, make a short presentation that piques his interest and set up an appointment.         

As I’ve already mentioned, stop sending media kits. But if you must send a media kit, then at least stay in control of the sale by not including a rate card. 

Here’s why you must leave out the rate card:

1. When a prospect receives a media kit he always looks at the rate card first and if he feels that the posted rate is too high, he’ll immediately dismiss your magazine from further consideration. In other words, he will not study the media kit and look for benefits that could justify the price

2. To be successful in ad sales, you must meet with the prospect and make a presentation that shows the benefits of advertising in your publication. Including a rate card in your media kit makes it difficult to get an appointment. After all, the prospect now has all the information he needs to make a decision, so why should he waste time meeting with or even talking to a salesperson. When you send a media kit without a rate card, the prospect must call you to get this information and that gives you an opportunity to sell.