Setting appointments with your prospects is the first step to securing new business, but it’s not always a simple task…
Getting appointments with the right people can be difficult, but if you have a strong foundation to build on during the scheduling process, you can set yourself up for success at an early stage. Here are some key tips to ensure your appointment setting campaign is as effective as possible.
Speak To The Decision Maker
Getting to the right people is key to securing appointments. You need to be able to convey your message accurately to the right people, and if you aren’t able to speak directly to the decision maker, you risk losing nuances and details of your proposal. If you only are able to speak to the “gate keeper”, usually a secretary or assistant, your message could be reduced to a sentence or two once it is passed on.
Set Your Goal
Assess what you want to get out of every step of the appointment setting process. Firstly, determine what you are looking to achieve with the appointment, then work backwards. You will then know what you need at each stage of the appointment setting to achieve your end goal.
Be Flexible
Having a script is strongly advised, but is not something to be stuck to rigidly. Scripts provide you with information and patterns of conversation, but this should allow you to inject personality, and gives you an opportunity to go off topic knowing that you have points of references to come back to. That’s not to say you should divert too far from your goal though. Only ask relevant questions and do not waste any of your prospect’s time.
Listen
Your prospects will not always give the responses that you have in your script. You need to listen to what your prospect is saying to be able to fully understand their needs. Once you have identified their priorities, you can tailor your approach and proposals to precisely suit them. Don’t waste time either, be swift in your correspondence to ensure they don’t have to to reconsider.
Explain Yourself
You of course need to explain what the benefits of your service is to your prospect, but you should also go through this yourself. How exactly will it benefit your prospect? If you cannot see a benefit, then is it worth trying to sell to them? Not only are you wasting their time, but you are wasting your own as well.
Appointment setting has been a key service for Ant Marketing since our formation in 1989, meaning we have almost 3 decades worth of experience in securing meetings. If you would like to know more about how we can help you with your appointment setting, take a look at our services page.