How to Answer the Question: How did you get my number? - Q&A

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Question #4: As many of you know, there are quite a few tools available these days to obtain prospects' contact information, including personal mobile numbers. The prospect's info wasn't on any kind of list, per se, but was extracted from LinkedIn using one of such tools.
While this is becoming a familiar concept to those of us in #Sales, prospects would have no idea that such tools exist. And it would be quite odd if we told them the whole truth, "My company pays several thousand dollars per month so that their sales team can have access to the direct contact information for persons of interest." I doubt anybody would like hearing that.
With that said, how would you answer the question "how did you get my number?" in this, or any case?

A: There are two strategies.
1. If you are not calling direct, ask the gatekeeper.
"Hey Susan, I’m trying to find who handles recruitment advertising".
"That is John Smith, great".
"Can you connect me"? "What’s his direct line"?
"Ok, thank you".
When you contact who you are looking for, start the call with-
"Hey, I had a really good conversation with Susan".
"She suggested that I talk to you about XYZ, is that your world"?
2. It’s easier if you don’t call direct, but if you do you can say something like, "oh, I talked to the people at the front desk and they gave me a direct extension". Or, "I talked to like eight different people and they said that you were the best person, so I’m not a hundred percent sure".

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Jake Dunlap
@jake_dunlap_
@JakeTDunlap

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Jake Dunlap, CEO and Founder of Skaled Consulting, is an industry influencer and C-Level Sales leader with more than a decade of experience. Jake has developed and led high-performing sales and operational functions for Fortune 500, Global 2000, and start-up organizations. Jake and the team at Skaled specialize in building out repeatable, sustainable processes.

As a thought-leader with more than 22,000 followers across his platforms, Jake's audience gains valuable insights into scaling an organization, sales best practices, and general career motivation.

Prior to Skaled, Jake was the first sales hire and VP of Sales at Glassdoor which was acquired by Recruit Holdings for $1.2Billion in 2018.