Getting past the Gatekeeper

As a vendor with a product that seems to be needed by the larger multifamily properties, I am finding it difficult to talk with the decision maker for a property management company. I have called, asking for information as to whom to address a letter to, with no luck. I have e-mailed several Marketing Directors and have received one positive and one negative reply. When I went to the office in person, they asked me to leave info and that they would get it to the right person.

My company provides events for property management companies with 20+ properties in one metropolitan area. It is a FREE service as we make money on the events and from the locations. My question is, "In a large company like Equity Partners, Lincoln Properties or Archstone, where should I make my first contact?" I am not sure if I should start at the property manager and work to the top or go to corporate and try to find the right person to pitch my proposal to. Would this be something to direct to the Marketing Director? I appreciate any feedback.

As someone who used to do corporate sales (selling technology); most of my day was spent talking to purchasing agents and IT directors. I never needed to get past a 'gatekeeper'; because either they would be calling me, or I would be calling back with information. I would contact the local apartment association, chamber of commerce and inquire about membership. I would advertise in their print and online newsletter. Since your service is free to the properties anyway; offering a special price to other members makes no sense. Make sure you attend functions sponsored by either. I would start by offering to actually PLAN a networking luncheon (or something like it), if I understand the service you are offering. Once you establish that relationship, you can increase your network. I think the site level people are not high enough on the food chain (no offense) to make decisions like this, nor would they necessarily know who to contact. I would at the very least, start with regional/district level management.

Hope this helps....

Johnny,

It is really hard to get to the decision makers at ANY company, especially at the larger companies. EVERY one is fighting for "ten minutes and I can help you make money or save money, etc." pitch, so it will be very difficult. ESPECIALLY in the apartment industry, I think it is especially hard to break in.

I've been in the COO seat, and if someone cold calls me, no matter what their service is, if my current network hasn't mentioned their name, if they haven't shown up on my radar through the local apartment association, written an article or taught a class recently, the chances of my returning a phone would be zero.

My best recommendation is to get involved - in the local apartment association, get to know the keys members and players in your market area, network with people you meet, volunteer to teach a class at the local apartment association, write an article, in general, be helpful, etc. You need to be known in your market - not only to get the names of the decision makers, but you also need to get them to return your call.

Johnny is right.

I am an apartment manager and I get annoying (sorry!) vendor solicitations every day, but I have zero power to get someone added to our vendor list and have no idea who they should talk to at my corporate office.

My corporate office keeps this information from me because they do not have time for solicitations.

If they need a service, they will look for it. So my suggestion is to stop wasting their time and yours, and make sure you are easy to find when they need you. Network, network, network so they know of your company before they need to go looking for the service you offer. If you must solicit, send a simple postcard outlining your services.

The old style approach to offering services and products does not work. Scrap the traditional methods and understand how corporate makes decisions. The bombardment they receive and the pace of the business day is no longer conducive to the sales approaches that were used in the past. It's a new age and decisions are made from a completely different perspective now.

Thanks for all the feedback. I will continue to press on as all I need is to get someone's ear for ten minutes. As fate would have it, I did get a callback from a Marketing Director who was interested, just after I posted this question.

BTW... This is a great website for everyone in this industry and the professionalism here is outstanding!

One thing that some vendors do is offer to 'sponsor' a corporate or portfolio meeting by bringing lunch in exchange for the opportunity to give a short presentation about their services.

Our last meeting was sponsored by a tow company who not only brought us Olive Garden for lunch, they gave us each a gift card too! The previous meeting was sponsored by a vendor who brought pizza, and I don't even remember what company or service it was. So I guess the trick is to do something memorable.

Usually this is done by companies who are already on the vendor list and just want to increase the number of properties within the company that they do business with.

Always bring something with your contact info on it for each attendee. Pens, sticky notes, etc. It's way easier to grab someone's phone number off the pen they gave me that it is to look it up on our vendor website, and we get so many business cards it's hard to keep track of them all.

I was following MultiFamily Insiders on Facebook, and decided that I have to chime in on this one!

Personal Experience. True story -

So I worked for a software company that served property management community and cold calling was the name of the game. We cold called until blue in the face trying to get to a decision maker which was close to impossible - very discouraging experience. Around 6 month ago, I would ask the same question

Now I work for Appfolio Property Management software company and I can't agree more with all the previous comments. Appfolio hosted countless education events for NARPM (National Association of Residential Property Managers) and other industry association. Since I covered a specific area, I focused my time getting in touch with local chapters and asking to speak during their next event. We talked about Internet Marketing and enhanced our content with localized research and data, keeping our product presentation to a minimum.

Results: One lunch-time educational event in Maryland Chapter, on it's own, brought more deals then I could get in a month worth of cold calling! Of course it helps to have a great product, but I think the bottom line is people want to work with those who take sincere interest in their community. I am grateful to be part of the company that understands that.

GREAT IDEA! I will try to use this one. Sounds like a great way to "bribe" them for their time. With my service, it would be better to make contact first, but this would be a great follow-up. THANKS!

Andrew,

There is no quick fix -- especially in this industry. The apartment industry is based on relationships. If an owner finds a vendor that works well with them, good luck trying to sell them a competing product -- even if it is better and cheaper. This industry is not big on change. From the sounds of it, you haven't done any trade shows. YOU NEED TO!!! Whether is is your local apartment association shows or national shows like Brainstorming, NAA or AIM, this is a GREAT way to get in front of your prospective audience. Joining a group like Multifamily Insiders is a great start -- but you need to get yourself physically in front of your audience. Just my two cents. Good luck. I would be interested in learning more about what type of "events" you put on.

Best regards,
Leigh

What has been said about getting involved with local and national associations is very true. In this economy, people want to see what you're willing do to before they pay you to do it. Welcome to the free sample world Being willing to blog and share a lot of my brain for free with people has taken me a LONG way in this industry, but also being willing to embrace platforms like MFI and other online networks has made it so that my reach extended further than I expected. Kudos to you for embracing this community here. They'll take good care of guiding you Just ask Jonathan Saar about that one

When I was a staffing vendor, I would do a lot of cold calling, but I found a drop in visit to be much more conducive to actually getting the business. I still had to get past the gate keeper, but you'd be surprised how easily their trust can be gained with food. Never forget to bring something for the people who you have to get through to get to the decision maker, or they aren't going to give two thoughts about you. Care about them, remember their names, spend a min checking in on them when you call to get the decision maker and build that relationship, because today's gatekeeper is tomorrow's decision maker. And if they aren't, then they will be the ones who help tomorrow's decision maker decide just who to talk to and deal with as they're getting acclimated.

Best of luck to you, and remember that no isn't the end of the conversation, it's just an invitation to try another method that the prospect likes better.

I popped in to concur with my friend and comrade Heather. This site that Brent has to put together has served as an amazing platform to share and grow. I came from a completely different industry, but briefly was told that cold calling was the way to get the sale. That ended quickly. I have never been a believer in that way of doing business. In my previous industry, I doubled what the next salesperson was accomplishing in sales while fulfilling general manager, logistic and marketing responsibilities. This was not accomplished by cold calling. The rest of my bio I will leave to my first book

There are many examples of people to learn from and there are plenty of people in this industry who are more than willing to reach out their hand and help. Keep in tune with this site and with the thoughtful people who post.... and put the people before the product.

:cheer: Thank you to everyone for your great ideas and input. My cold calling paid off and I now have my foot in the door.

This site is a GREAT resource for people in the industry and those who wish to be part of it. Thanks again!

Andrew- After all of this advice do you honestly feel that cold calling is a best practice? Is this something you feel is the only way or your company. I am kind of confused with your last post since all the advice was basically counter cold calling. Thanks

Quite the opposite. I agree with the suggestions of getting involved with different groups, sponsoring lunches and such, but had already been cold calling. I have a service (see www.ACEactivities.com ) which I will only need one customer to get started. I had already sent out letters, E-mails, faxes and such, but recently followed up and had some interest. I arranged for a meeting and presented the service. We are moving ahead and now I will not be needing to use these methods. However, should this customer not need my services, I will go back to the pitches and ADD these great suggestions to the cold calling to get the best results.

Thanks again to everyone for your suggestions!