Smiling manager with group of call center operators. Showing some documents.
No matter what type of business you’re running, chances are you spend a lot of your time setting appointments. There are still plenty of things that your salesperson or an appointment setter can do to improve their knowledge and hone their skills to get more appointments set.
Setting more appointments and generating more sales are the lifeblood of your company and you need to continually improve your skills and tools to be able to get more of them. Below are seven effective tips that can help augment your appointment setting skills.
1. Be organized. Set the agendas well-ahead of time. Know what are your specific goals, timeframes, and strategies to reach them. It can be quite hard to keep your sales team on track if they don’t have the map to guide them.
2. Start qualifying prospects. This is a crucial step to initiate when implementing your appointment setting strategies. You have to make sure that the person you are contacting is a good fit for what you’re trying to sell. If they do fit the criteria, they will be more likely to accept your appointment invitation.
3. Lower the prospect’s guard. You will want to understand that the people you’re going to contact will have their guard up the first time they answer your call. Utilize b2b appointment setting techniques to lower their guard such as showing respect for their time and drop the name of the contact person you are trying to reach.
4. Build interest. One of the most effective ways to building interest is offering a real solution to a need. If the prospects show dissatisfaction to a certain product or a current service they’re using, they may be more open to listening to your offer. Find the need or uncover any dissatisfaction or pain and focus on these discoveries and use them to your advantage.
5. Develop rapport with prospects. Do what you can to build a relationship and rapport with prospects. It can improve their openness to accept an appointment with you. This may be easier said than done though with only 3-5 minutes to work with. But with a well-prepared roadmap and a compelling message, you will be able to get the most out of the little time you have.
6. Set the appointment. Say your bit, deliver your value statement and go right to setting the appointment. That’s the most important thing. Don’t ask the prospect, tell her or him that based on what you’ve discussed, you should both definitely meet to discuss the offer in more detail.
7. Follow through. This is the second (sometimes the) most important step to do to achieve your appointment setting goals. Make a follow up to all your initial contacts, especially those who have shown some interest in your business.