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[DavidBlaise]

QUESTION: When I'm trying to approach new prospects, how do I handle companies that are using automated answering systems? Many I've tried don't even list the departments, just employee directories. And since these are large companies, I just can't figure out a good way to get around this. I've tried pressing '0' for operator but rarely is there an attendant. I'm hoping you have some advice for me!

ANSWER: There are lots of different ways to approach new prospects, and not all of them involve calling on the phone. But since that's what you asked about, that's the question I'll answer:

One of the most important aspects of prospecting (regardless of how you're doing it) is not to get too hung up on any one particular company.

You need to balance the time involved with trying to track down the contacts in a particular company (like the one you are describing,) with the time involved in simply hanging up and calling a different company.

That said, if there is one particular company that you are really motivated to get into for some reason, here are a few things you can do:

1. Check with your network of friends and business associates to see if anyone you know can refer you to someone within the company.

2. Check the company's website for contact names and titles.

3. If you get an auto-attendant like the one you described (and you can't get through to an operator), press random buttons in an effort to connect to anyone. When a person answers, sound confused and say, "oh, hi, is this the marketing department?" Since only gatekeepers are usually trained to keep people out, the person you reach is likely to say, "no, that's [so-and-so], hang on, I'll connect you."

4. Leave a message in the company's general mailbox requesting a call back, then ask that person.

Once again, I would say don't get too hung up on getting through to one particular company. If you make a point of having more leads than you think you need in your pipeline, you'll be less dependent on any one lead to close.

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