What is Appointment Setting?
Appointment Setting is either B2B or B2C, outbound, or inbound. It allows you to connect with other businesses, which in turn can become your business partners. These businesses can also introduce you to possible customers.
Even after having a lot of benefits, many business owners still find appointment setting too frightening. Others might be fine setting appointments by themselves. The thing is they do not have time to do this time-consuming task. Good thing, that you can outsource this service without the hassle and stress that usually comes with it.
Advantages of Outsourcing Appointment Setting
These outsource appointment setting agencies specialize in many techniques to generate leads. These techniques include using social media research, targeting customers, reaching out to your leads (through cold calling, emails, and various channels), and building networks.
Contracting an agency to set appointments for you will give you additional time to focus on your business. It costs you less compared to having an in-house appointment setter.
Appointment setting is not limited to cold calling. It is not only about selling but also helping your target customers to meet their actual needs. To make it work, appointment setters must know how to empathize. They must have a high level of customer service when talking with target clients.
On the other hand, let us dig deeper and understand why you need an appointment setting and learn some tips to use it to increase your sales effectively.
Reasons to Use Appointment Setting
Appointment setting is a perfect opportunity to formally and professionally introduce your brand to your prospects and gain their trust. Most of the time, people buy from a business they trust.
Appointment setting is one of the most professional methods to make their presence known to their clients on a more personal level. When you do it right, this method leaves a positive impression of your business on your prospects. This gives them the reason to consider availing of your product or service. Outsourcing experienced appointment setters benefit your business. Why? It is because they have the knowledge, skills, and experience that will contribute to your business’s sales.
This method will also help you increase your sales by leading you to prospects who need your
product or service and who can afford to pay for them. Experienced appointment setters use the most effective qualifying questions, so the prospects that are more likely to avail of your product and service can easily be identified. And because of this technique in pre-qualifying prospects, your business will be more efficient and productive, which will lead you to higher sales and profits.
When the productivity of the sales team increases, the profits will increase as well. The businesses or companies who outsource their appointment setting will produce satisfaction. They will love measurable success seeing their business or company grows effectively.
Here are some reason to have the success in Appointment Setting
Saves Investment Cost
It can truly save investment costs by outsourcing the services and products you offer to the company. The company you chose is the one who will look or even pay the bill and task. When you ensure that you and your team are getting the appointments made with excellent leads and quality.
Double your Sales Time
When you and your team will double the time to sales, the job will be made easier. Your team can generate leads from 50% to 60%. By doubling the time you and your team spent in meeting with clients and prospects the increase of sales in present.
Reach out the Right Person
Gathered data and focused on getting directly to the right person who is interested in your products and services. By focusing on the company that is already gathering, analyzing, and organizing it can quickly direct and get to the right person and your team can secure important appointments.
Improve Performances Measure
You and your team can evaluate the individual performance and accuracy by analyzing the sales figure. You can who truly performed well, who is in your needs to improve, and need more information to learn. You can also evaluate the products and services you and your team represent.
Tips to Consider
Let us say you are outsourcing a professional appointment setter to get things done for you. But as a business person, you must also know or at least have some ideas on how to set appointments. So, these are some of the things to remember when setting appointments.
First, you must have a primary goal when we get a prospect on the phone—turn them into a
customer. Next, you must confirm that the candidate is available by asking if you have caught them in the middle of something. Through this, you will leave a positive impact on your prospect since they will feel that you respect them and their time. Once you have confirmed their availability, share some elevator pitch.
This should be a short statement to communicate how you can help the prospect. Also, one of our key appointment setting tips is to develop some right questions to ask the candidate during the call to make it more engaging and interactive and get your prospect’s attention. Lastly, your immediate goal is not necessarily to sell the product and build the prospect’s level of interest so that they purchase. You have to establish enough interest and curiosity so that the prospect wants to continue the conversation.
How to become an Effective Appointment Setter
As an appointment setter, your main goal is to generate sales and especially appointments. Working as an appointment setter is not so easy but it is difficult and sometimes you may feel the pressure. One of the best ways as an appointment setter is by preparing yourself ahead.
Here are some things you might know as an Effective Appointment Setter
Practice and Perfect your Script
The script is so important to set an appointment. When you practice and perfect the script it sounds natural and unrehearsed. Always remember to identify the company whom you represent. By doing this, the script that you are using to pitch for your product and services will turn into leads.
Speak Clearly and Slowly
Speaking clearly and slowly is so effective in setting an appointment. The prospects or the lead will likely become more interested, especially when you offer your product and services with them, they will easily understand it and there will be no quick hang up.
Listen to your prospects
Listening is also one of the effective skills as an appointment setter. When you listen carefully to your customers and answer their questions the conversation will become perfect and it can turn into leads. If the customers aren’t interested, set an appointment instead of continuously speaking the script.
Learn How to Use Rebuttals In a Right Time
To set an appointment, the setter needs to know how to use rebuttals, scripted, or not. Prepare the rebuttals for every possible objection the customer can give you. For example, your customer or prospect’s objection is “Just send us an email” you can reply, “Sounds great! I can send you our presentation in the next hour, so maybe let’s discuss your company’s mission first? I have some ideas already. Do you want to hear them?
Request the Name of the Right Person
As an appointment setter, it is vital to ask the name of the right person to call back to discuss the well being your company offers. Also, don’t forget to ask his or her phone number and ask when is the best time to call. Provide a specific time or date to prevent booking an appointment too far. Scheduling an appointment early is the best time because the conversation is still fresh in their minds. Lastly, it is also important to ask his or her email address to send the confirmation.
Send a Confirmation Email Message
It is also important to remind the customer of the conversation you had with them and even the date of the conversation as proof that you have an appointment with them.
Task and Duties of an Appointment Setter
- Create interest in a better service and always seek a sale agreement to all sales appointment
- Work and Master the script and list of contacts to assist goods and services by telephone
- Set for the process and despatch of products and services samples and information to customers
- Record notes for follow up and update the market database to reflect the changes in the status of customers or prospects
- Submit the periodic reports on telemarketing activities and results
Conclusion
Setting appointments takes hard work and persistence. You are going to hear and receive a lot of ‘no’ than ‘yes.’ But with more patience and techniques, you will increase your odds of getting through and securing a meeting.