Appointment Setting 101: Your First 10 Seconds
Appointment Setting 101
I’m Not Hitting My Appointment Setting Quota and Need Help. Here’s my current opener:
“Hi (PROSPECTS NAME) this is (MY NAME) with (MY COMPANY), thanks for taking my call. (PROSPECTS NAME), very quickly, we work with companies in your industry and provide targeted advertising, social media, email marketing, SEO, and affiliate marketing services and we would like to stop by and submit a customized proposal for your company. How does Thursday look?”
The Best Appointment Setting Scripts
The best appointment setting scripts require you to create a winning opening value statement. Your objective for the call should be broken down into smaller steps. The goal here is to set an appointment in order to determine if it’s a winnable opportunity and close the sale.
What you are missing, however, is what needs to happen in order for the other party to be willing to investigate that possibility with you.
Your current opener not only misses the mark, but it also asks for too much too soon and that’s why you aren’t hitting your appointment setting quota.
So what needs to happen before a prospect is willing to meet with you?
They need to see what we all need to see when someone asks us for our time:
WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM
Appointment Setting Tips
The best appointment setting tips start with piquing your prospect’s interest in the call.
There’s nothing in it for them when you say:
“we provide targeted advertising, social media, email marketing, SEO, and affiliate marketing services”
Where is the incentive or possibility of a better outcome from what they are using/doing now in that statement? If you want them to meet with you (or your field rep) you are going to need to hit a hot button in your opener before requesting a meeting.
So what are the top three HOT BUTTONS that your targeted audience responds to? Why have previous prospects become clients?
- Was it pricing?
- Is it results? (or lack thereof from their existing vendor?)
- Is it fear?
You have to know what the top reasons are why clients in the past have chosen you over the competition and then you can use that in your opening statement.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, LET’S SAY IT’S “PRICE”
Instead of saying something like “we have very competitive pricing”, try something like:
“Hi (PROSPECTS NAME) this is (YOUR NAME) with (YOUR COMPANY NAME). The reason for my call is I noticed some holes in your social media strategy that could possibly be fixed for a fraction of the cost most marketing companies are charging…”
This is just a small sample to get your wheels turning on how to better craft your opening value statement in order to get prospects more willing to want to meet with you.
If setting qualified appointments is the goal, you will need to have them see (or at least scratch the surface of) the possible WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM picture first. Do that with the correct opener and watch your appointment calendar fill up.
– Michael Pedone
CEO/Founder of SalesBuzz.com, Michael Pedone created the online sales training course How to Sell w/Confidence.
ELIMINATE CALL RELUCTANCE
- How to Warm Up and Close Cold Leads
- Eliminate “No, Thanks,” “Not Interested,” & “We’re All Set” Responses
- Neutralize Gatekeepers & Get Voicemails Returned
- Ask Engaging Questions Instead of Probing
- Improve your Qualifying Skills
- Give Stellar Presentations & Handle Objections
- Close Follow-up Calls and Get Targeted Referrals
- How to Set & Achieve Your Toughest Sales Goals
- Improve Your Time Management Skills