When we talk about appointment setting, we mean the process of scheduling a meeting or appointment between a sales representative and a prospective customer. Describing it in these terms makes it sound simple, but don’t be deceived.
Appointment setting is what we do at Gungho Marketing for global clients in the RegTech and LegalTech spaces. Although the appointment is achieved typically via telephone and/or email interactions, this is a multi-step process which also requires research, creating multiple touchpoints, personalisation, relationship building, and most importantly, qualification.
It’s great to secure an appointment, but effective appointment setting is about making personal connections with potential clients so that the likelihood of securing a sale is increased. There is a lot of work which goes into lead generation and appointment setting, unfortunately, one quick email or phone call is unlikely to result in a meeting. Here are a few key things to consider when working on securing appointments:
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Research Potential Prospects
Identifying and having a deep understanding of your target audience and personas is crucial. Time and money can easily be wasted prospecting into the wrong organisations. You need to ensure you understand:
- The business in which they operate,
- What their pain points are, and
- How your product can add value to their business.
If you’re unsure of the answers to these questions, stop and research some more. Only when you feel confident that you have a handle on these issues, should you pick up the phone or click send on that email.
2. Be Realistic
Perhaps your goal as an organisation is to work with the top 100 banks across the globe. Brilliant, why wouldn’t this be your goal? But when it comes to appointment setting, understand that targeting large organisations takes time. There will be many people involved in the decision-making process within each individual organisation and there is no way to speed through to a booked appointment. Outsourced appointment setting agencies who specialise in your industry can dramatically speed up this process. They already have the data; they’ve done the research and they know the individuals to target.
Of course, it’s not impossible to target large organisations from scratch or even off the back of a contact gained face-to-face through conferences or trade shows, but bear in mind it takes on average 115 activities to secure one qualified appointment. Could the time and resources be better spent elsewhere?
3. Craft Your Pitch
Introduce yourself and the company, briefly explain what your company does and check its relevance for the person you are speaking to. At this stage, you should know if you are talking to the decision maker/influencer. Avoid making it sound sales-ey at all costs. You’ll get shut down before you even get past the first line of your introduction if the prospect thinks they are being sold to.
Make your pitch relevant, short, snappy and interesting. Be sure to include relevant buzzwords, value statements and of course your USP. It’s also worth mentioning existing clients; a back story can be very powerful if it’s a good one.
4. Offer Value
One of the hardest parts about lead generation is getting the right person on the phone, if you do get to that point, ensure you know your product back to front and are ready to pitch. This might sound obvious but knowing exactly what you are pitching is crucial. Obviously, you know your product, that goes without saying, but what is it specifically about your value proposition that will pique the interest of that particular prospect?
Go into the conversation armed with the information that will mean the most to them and tailor your approach depending on the organisation and their pain point. Be ready to follow up with marketing collateral, website links, and client testimonials to further solidify the value you can add.
5. Nurture the Relationship
You’ve done the research, you’ve got the right contact details, you’ve pitched on the phone and sent a follow-up email. Your work here is surely done. It’s only a matter of time before the prospect agrees to a meeting, right? We hate to be the bearer of bad news but after 15 years of appointment setting, we know only too well it takes more than that.
We hear clients often say ‘If they are interested in my product, won’t they contact us?’. Sure, they might. You might be lucky enough to get an inbound lead completely out of the blue but really, how often does that happen?
Your product might be perfect, but people buy from people. So don’t forget to follow up with prospects who haven’t yet committed to an appointment. Nurture the relationship and understand buying signals, and equally, know when to walk away.
In conclusion
Appointment setting is one of the most important ways to increase sales because it allows businesses to directly connect with potential customers and build relationships with them. Personalised interactions in a digital age are becoming more and more important and more people want H2H contact. Being in the room either digitally via video conference or face-to-face allows prospective clients to have any needs or concerns addressed immediately which increases the likelihood of closing a sale or generating a lead.
Appointment setting helps businesses to be more efficient in their sales efforts. Rather than have your sales reps attempting to reach large numbers of people, appointment setting allows sales reps to prioritize their time and focus on those high-potential leads.
Simply, effective appointment setting can result in increased sales, better relationships, increased brand presence and a streamlined sales process.
Interested in leveraging 15 years of LegalTech and RegTech appointment setting? Book a call with Gungho today!
