5.5 Things That Will Improve Your Appointment Setting
Don is the award-winning business coach and CEO of Accountability Now, now helping clients increase revenue on average 35% in 90 days.
One of the most important aspects of any business is lead generation. This comes in many forms—like incredibly expensive and complex marketing strategies, including email marketing, funnel design and Facebook ads, or even some of the more recent attempts like webinars, online trainings and free master classes. Though these are all digital options, it works for every business alike. For example, taking a more traditional route, even if you are a construction business, real estate agent or interior designer, your ability to generate leads will be the difference-maker for your business in many respects.
But isn’t cold calling dead?
Through a simple Google search, you’ll see many people saying cold calling is dead—but nothing could be further from the truth. Companies all over the world continue to use cold calling to book appointments and generate interest for their business.
For example, from a recent search on Bark.com, which is a service provider aggregator for companies all over the world, I saw requests for appointment-setting services by over 65 companies in the last 30 days. The small data set suggests appointment setting continues to be one of the most important and sought-after skills for businesses (as well as one of the most frustrating things they don’t want to do).
Nearly every business owner would benefit from better appointment setting. This article is going to walk through simple strategies I’ve learned over 22 years in the appointment-setting business that will help you work with your front-end team to generate more leads and eventually increase your revenue.
Tip No. 1: Sell yourself every day.
This item might seem hokey and silly, but it is vital to the success of an appointment setter. You have to remind yourself every day why you do what you do and the impact that your business has on people’s lives. This is the same if you’re selling software, a product or a service. Every appointment setter must remind themselves every single day why they do what they do. The job is simply too hard and too monotonous not to give yourself personal motivation.
Tip No. 2: Implement a morning huddle.
Begin every day with a morning huddle. This allows all of your appointment setters (or even one if that’s all you have) the opportunity to get daily training, daily role-play and get excited about their upcoming day. Remember, working as an appointment setter requires you to face rejection 80-90% of your day. Having a simple huddle allows the setter to voice concerns, get answers to objections and have motivational interaction.
Tip No. 3: Use a script.
A script helps create consistent emotion from your prospects. Always remember that emotion is the key to selling. Letting your appointment setters be “organic” is only setting them up for disaster. The appointment setter should be precise in their language and their questions so as to generate consistent emotion and consistent conversation with prospects.
Tip No. 4: Keep your eye on the prize.
An appointment setter’s job is to 1) build rapport, 2) qualify the opportunity, 3) generate some emotional interest and 4) set the appointment. The reason I go through that order is that too many times appointment setters start to “pre-sell” the eventual product or service. They get into long conversations about what we can do for them. This practice hurts the eventual opportunity down the road. Keep your appointment setters laser-focused on doing their main job, which is setting the appointment and nothing else. Even if a prospect says, “I have availability to talk right now,” avoid this as much as you can. That prospect is not in the frame of mind to have a sales call. Stay focused, keep your eye on the prize and set the appointment.
Tip No. 5: Take breaks.
Too many times, team leaders have their appointment setters dial for 10 hours at a time. I encourage you to look at appointment setting similar to the way a baseball manager looks at the pitchers. Nearly every pitcher has what’s called a “pitch count” in order to keep them throwing at optimal speeds and locations, as well as to preserve their arm for future games. The same concept applies to appointment setters. Don’t burn them out. Implement mandatory breaks at certain times and sometimes even longer breaks to allow them to be successful. In my first lead-generation business, we would have team yoga sessions daily as well as team games in order to break up the day. We would do these things intentionally to create energy, focus and excitement while working in a very difficult appointment-setting business.
Tip No. 5.5: Train every day.
If you look at the most successful actors or athletes, they train every single day. They’re always doing something to get better. The same applies to appointment setting. I recommend having appointment setters do 10-to-15 minutes of training every day without fail. Some of you may be asking, “Is training every day really necessary?” or “Should we just train once a week or once a month?” Remember, training is not something you can just check off. Training is a lifestyle. Training is required daily to build new habits.
Many businesses right now are trying to build their appointment-setting and lead-generation process but continue to struggle. If you take these tips and implement them, you will see incredible results. Don’t overlook the importance of appointment setting and lead generation because it will lead to the future success of your business. Investing in these 5.5 tips will help your business thrive.
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