What exactly is Appointment Setting? This is a unique way to attract new customers by scheduling a time for your sales staff to talk with your potential clients about your product and possibly make a purchase. All of this can easily be handled by an outside agency, so all that your current sales staff needs to do is simply show up for their appointment and discuss their products. So how would you become an appointment setting expert?
First of all, you need to realize that there is no one who specializes in this job. Yes, it's true that there are some individuals in your company who have been trained in various techniques to call people and close business, but overall, no one has the skills necessary to be an effective appointment setting specialist. However, if you do manage to find someone who has the skills, then that person can become your in-house sales representative. But you wouldn't want that person to be your regular sales rep.
Appointment setting is largely a skill that involves calling people and pre-selling them on your opportunity. You don't necessarily sell anything when you call a potential client, but you do convey the fact that you're there to help them. If you can successfully do that, then your entire sales process becomes much more efficient and productive. After all, most people only spend a minute or two on any contact they have with a company. But when you're able to extend that to three or four minutes, you're going to have them on their toes and wanting to hear more!
Appointment setting is all about taking care of the leads that come into your office. Yes, inbound telemarketing works, but you can only do so much to reach those leads. Telemarketers will typically come to your office at a time when it's not busy. That means you won't have as many leads to deal with on an inbound call. With Appointment setting, you keep them informed about your offerings and take care of any sales that are created on their behalf.
It is also important to keep the prospect interested in your products and services. Appointment setting should encourage a prospect to take further action. You want them to be highly interested in your offerings, but you also want them to realize that you're highly qualified to work with them. Remember that you can't force anyone to do anything they don't want to do. However, you can encourage them to at least listen to you. A good salesperson knows how to take care of a prospect while also making them aware of their own needs.
Appointment setting is also useful for a salespeople who wants to create new potential clients. With appointment setting, you'll get to know your potential clients on a personal level. After all, you'll have created the initial contact. Through Appointment setting, you can also include some interesting information about yourself, so that when the time comes to introduce yourself, your background and what you're trying to accomplish will be highly relevant to the person. Appointment setting makes it easy to explain your business to potential clients, which is always a good thing.
Appointment setting is valuable to both internal and external salespeople. Internal salespeople benefit because it allows them to introduce new potential clients to their existing client base. External salespeople benefit because they can use Appointment setting to make it easier for their clients to connect with their existing clients. If you are a third party appointment setting company, you benefit because you can increase your own business by offering this service to others. Your clients will greatly appreciate the additional service and may even recommend you to their other clients.
Appointment setting isn't something that every business should do. However, if your business does want to increase its effectiveness by allowing salespeople to better relate to their clients, then Appointment setting is an essential element of a successful sales career. It's also something that should be available to salespeople from a third party appointment setting company.