In House Assistants - Gatekeepers?

[lidiagriffin]

Hi everyone - I have a quick question to those of you who have been successfully marketing your REVA businesses.

Have you found that the in house staff you encounter were threatened by the services that you offer?

I ask this because I had a mailing go out couple of weeks ago and there were 2 realtors on my mailing list that I know personally. I mentioned to them that these mailings went out (postcard) and neither of them had gotten it. Something is smelling fishy to meut: I am beginning to think that in house assistants may see my offerings as direct competition - what do you think?

[Cheryl R]

I would say that's a "Yes"...but i also think that receptionist type peoople just toss whatever looks like junk mail to them and it never gets to the boss' desk

[vainparadise]

Of course they must feel threatened. I know I would! It happens all the time and not just to REVAs. That is one reason I do not do postcards. With any mailings I am sending to an office where I know there is a "gatekeeper" I will make sure to address it to the person I want it to go to. I follow up within a few days directly to that person and if they have not received it I then personally email the correspondence to them.

Gatekeepers are called such for a reason Why not email the info to them, or if local personally deliver.

[lidiagriffin]

You are both so right. One realtor I spoke to actually told me their office was laying off like crazy.......but they were very interested in hiring a REVA. Less expense, commitment, etc.

The mailing I sent out was addressed to specific people......guess I will just have to build my own little Trojan horse

[vainparadise]

guess I will just have to build my own little Trojan horse

Very good idea, I highly recommend it!

[deannatroupe]

Lidia, you might be better off contacting the realtor and scheduling some face time. That way you know that they have your information. I also like the idea of sending an email instead of trying to send a postcard. Just my two cents.

[Prime Admin Solutions]

If you are concerned about gatekeepers being threatened, rather than postcards, why not send a letter in an envelope and mark it personal and confidential? That way it will probably get to them.

Also, a lot of Realtors work from their homes, not the Realtors' offices so that may delay them picking up their mail.

I tend not to work with realtors. They're usually pretty cheap and don't want to pay a lot - at least based on ads I've seen in the papers for their office staff.

And I agree, most things like postcards go into File 13 when a receptionist sees them and it's usually at the direction of the boss. I don't market to offices with office staff; I do work for one company with staff (a large company) but that was a referral from another client so I got work from them without needing to see the "gatekeeper".

I work for another company that has office space but no admin staff. I was at their office yesterday and it was kind of funny. The phone guy was in doing some work and needed to use the reception phone where I was working and said, "I hate using your phone, you'll probably have to answer this" and I said, "no, I don't answer phones here". He looked at me kind of funny and I almost said I was like Jennifer Marlowe in WKRP, just "do my job, but not too much of it". I usually work for these guys from home, but they had a huge proposal they needed to get out so they needed me on site for that one.

[lidiagriffin]

Lidia, you might be better off contacting the realtor and scheduling some face time. That way you know that they have your information. I also like the idea of sending an email instead of trying to send a postcard. Just my two cents.

Deanna - can I ask who you are using to send out your emails?

[lidiagriffin]

If you are concerned about gatekeepers being threatened, rather than postcards, why not send a letter in an envelope and mark it personal and confidential? That way it will probably get to them.

I think that is what I am going to do with the follow up materials I have for the realtors that I spoke with this week.

I work for another company that has office space but no admin staff.

It seems to me that a lot of the companies are laying in house staff at the moment because they cannot justify keeping them in this economy......the in house assistants seem to get paid very well from what I understand.

[StephanieP]

I would say that's a "Yes"...but i also think that receptionist type peoople just toss whatever looks like junk mail to them and it never gets to the boss' desk

I know that I do

When I first started, I used to open up all the mail and distribute everything regardless of what it was since it wasn't addressed to me. Now, though, I weed through like crazy and my boss only sees things that I think are extremely important for him to know about or those things that I'm not quite sure how to handle.

I would say that the better way to go would be to actually send a letter addressed directly to the person in charge. At least this may help in some cases. It wouldn't help here because, like I said, I open up all incoming mail.