In our previous blog we went through how you can generate more sales appointments and thereby make your pipeline more colorful. Today we talk about the following points:
- What do you do after the interview
- When and how often you can send reminders
- How to turn no-shows into hot leads
After the Conversation
Once you've made a sales appointment, of course, you're not done. No matter what a prospect says, it's your job to keep them engaged so they actually show up.
Right after you schedule the appointment, send the prospect an outline of what you will discuss during the appointment. This should cover the essentials. What are you going to show them? Remind the prospect why they made the appointment by telling how your product solves the prospect's pain points.
Also send a LinkedIn request to establish the relationship. Sending a connection request after agreeing to the meeting is a good way to get into his or her network.
This also allows you to involve multiple stakeholders within the company. An easy way to do this is to be transparent and ask:
"It will probably be difficult to organize this meeting with all six stakeholders, because they are all C-level executives. What is the best way to get this done?"
Your first prospect is better able to direct the bringing together of all stakeholders. In addition, they also have an interest in looking good in front of their executives. While it may take some time to develop the relationship, this is invaluable once you set an appointment.
How and When to Send a Reminder
If you have a lot of appointments, you can hardly do without reminders. The exact same applies to the prospect. The more you can remind them of the appointment and the more they feel involved, the more likely they are to show up.
- 24 hours in advance: Send a personalized reminder of the appointment a day in advance. Send a relevant white paper along with it, if necessary.
- 1 or 2 hours in advance: One or two hours before the appointment, you can send the final reminder. Should you yourself get tangled up with your own schedule, you can always add a link to reschedule the appointment.
However, if it is an intensive meeting where you meet in person, it is helpful to call ahead of time and ask if everything is still okay.
From time to time, you may also find yourself in a situation where a prospect agrees to an appointment but does not send an RSVP. In this case, reminder emails are a good option to tell why they have agreed to the appointment. This gives the prospect another opportunity to put it in their calendar.
Anatomy of a Good Sales Appointment
- Set the agenda and expectations for the conversation. "We have persons A, B and C joining us. We are going to talk for 30 minutes about X, Y and Z. At the end there will be time for questions." This creates structure for the conversation and involves all stakeholders.
- What you need to know at the end of the conversation: Who they are, what they care about, who is the end person, what the pain points and challenges are and how to solve them.
- The conversation ends, where it can, with a future commitment.
After the conversation, it's important to find creative ways to stay engaged. Your best bet then is to work with your content team. Gather useful information and forward that 3 days after the meeting to stay top-of-mind.
Well-Made Agreements Form the Basis of Your Sales Process
If the prospect doesn't want to make time for you, you can't sell him or her anything either. Making appointments is the first step every prospect must take if you want to turn him or her into a customer. But getting people over that first threshold takes skill and creativity. Two keywords that abound at Calltraders.
Calltraders realizes B2B appointments on a no-cure-no-pay basis. We work with fixed prices per appointment and powerful databases for impactful Telemarketing. Of course, the first impression remains very important. That is why we set appointments in the right way, so your relationship with the prospect starts in the best possible way. Both in online appointments and physical appointments(with one and a half meter distance of course). So you are already one step closer to bringing in a new customer.
Converting No-Shows into Hot Leads
There is nothing worse than getting a no-show after all the effort you put into setting up the appointment. While that's the last thing you want, it unfortunately happens sometimes.
Let's say you're waiting for a prospect to show up for a virtual demo. If the prospect hasn't signed up after 2 minutes, send an email such as:
"Hey, I'm in Teams/Zoom. Here's the link. Let me know if you have any questions about signing up."
Don't wait more than 10 minutes. After that, send them another quick email saying you missed them. After this, you can use your CRM system to start an automatic follow up campaign.
At this point, you've done the work to convince someone to make the appointment. Just make sure the messaging is clear and to the point. Something like:
"We missed you and would like to reschedule. Is Tuesday at 11 a.m. more convenient? Here is a link to my calendar."
With many people working from home, schedules are more likely to be packed with meetings. In most cases, your prospect will reschedule. However, if they don't after a few attempts, let them go so you can move on. As a last-ditch effort, you can send them a final "break-up" e-mail with the message:
"We have tried a few times to reschedule our appointment. If you are going in a different direction or our appointment is not a priority at this time, please let us know."
In many cases, the prospect will still want to get in touch with you. These types of emails have a surprisingly good response rate and often give you much more insight into what is going on with the prospect. This gives you new information to help you schedule a new appointment after a no-show.
