One of the problems that many small businesses face is bringing in new customers into their sales pipeline. Most of the time, these businesses does not have the materials, resources and experience to embark on a large advertising campaign like many of the big corporations.
Truth be told, passing the lead generation test and successfully setting appointments is a ‘feat’ every business dreams of achieving. If small businesses can get the number of leads they are looking for and successfully set appointments, they are sure to see a leap in their financial position and performance. In this article, we will be looking at some tips that small businesses can use for successful appointment setting.
Leverage Referrals
Making use of referrals is very important for increasing sales lead generation, particularly when you’re still new in the business. When you’re referred by someone, the trust your potential customer has for the referrer transfers to you. This will make them more open when speaking to you. The place to look for referrals should obviously be your network. The best way to do this is to reach out to decision makers in the organizations within your network and ask for an internal referral. Referrals and word-of-mouth advertising is gold, so make use of it.
Return Calls From Prospects
Returning calls from promising clients to find out what they really need helps you to ascertain if the prospect could lead to potential business. When you return calls, you’re also able to know if the prospect is really serious or just a time waster.
Offer Specific Information
Always provide specific details whenever a prospective client asks for more details about your products and/or services. Try to pinpoint on what your product does and ask them if they have any upcoming need of which you can render them assistance.
Always Listen To Your Prospects
This is one mistake made by many appointment setters. Most times, the appointment setter calls the prospect hoping everything will go according to the already established script. It’s important that you listen to your prospects, as this will show you understand their needs and can be able to make them an offer they cannot refuse.
Follow Marketing Lead
Following your marketing lead means you’ll have more success setting appointments with prospects who have already interacted with your business one way or another. Such prospects could be event attendees, website visitors, or those who downloaded intellectual material like white papers and webinars from your website.
Make Use of Multiple Media
Setting appointments is not just about cold calling. It can take several touches to get a potential customer to give you his/her attention. If you want to be more successful with your appointment setting, then try to reach out to the prospect a number of times using multiple media; send emails, leave voicemails, drop a package in the mail, etc. Prospects are inundated with a lot of marketing messages, so you have to put in some effort if you want to be successful.
Successful appointment setting takes a lot of hard work. No doubt, you’re going to hear more “Nos” than “Yeses”, but you can increase your odds of securing a meeting by following these tips.