Appointment Setting

Most B2B sales include distinct buyer tasks, including recognizing a problem, evaluating and comparing available solutions, and selecting a supplier. They can also include anywhere from six to ten decision-makers. In short, it’s a complex process where traditional sales and marketing strategies are becoming obsolete, and sales reps are facing the challenges posed by digitally dominant buying behaviors.

When it comes to the importance of follow-up, we've all seen the statistics: More than half (60%) of buyers say "no" four times before they say "yes." And yet, 44% of sales reps give up after just one follow-up. It seems many tele-sales and inside sales reps would rather play the numbers game and move on to the next lead rather than follow up with a prospect multiple times. Instead, your salespeople might be better off focusing on their techniques for overcoming sales objections. One way to do that is through storytelling.

When the InsideSales.com research lab surveyed sales leaders about their top challenges, one of their questions caught our attention. InsideSales.com asked, which is more challenging, building a pipeline or closing a sale?

More than six in ten respondents (63.48%) identified building the pipeline as a more significant challenge. It stands to reason. If you have built a strong sales force, developed an excellent training program and have clear messaging, then all you need is a pipeline full of qualified buyers interested in what you are selling.

Building your pipeline may not be a matter of attracting and adding more leads into your funnel. You may not be converting enough leads into prospects … buyers that are primed and ready to speak with your sales reps. In other words, it’s not always a problem with leads going into the pipeline; it’s a problem with the output. Leads are leaking out or not filtering down the funnel, and not enough are becoming sales appointments. 

Is a lack of appointments putting your company’s growth on hold? Because B2B appointment setting is a challenging task, it’s an all-too-common problem. Here are some tips to help you increase your sales appointments.

“More than 60 percent of companies plan to invest in technology for ABM to better align sales and marketing over the next twelve months.” — Sirius Decisions, 2015 State of Account Based Marketing

Account based marketing (ABM), a term coined by ITSMA in 2004, is not new. As shown by Sirius Decision’s research, however, it is gaining traction. Companies are voting with their wallets by investing in technology to support the strategy.

What Is Account Based Marketing?

Account based marketing recognizes that large organizations have tremendous sales potential, and each should be treated as its own market. Instead of fishing for business with a net, this strategy is like fishing with a spear. There is no waste.

Vendors identify their targeted large accounts and focus on each holistically. With some Fortune 500 companies reaching revenues higher than the GDPs of some nations, there’s a strong rationale behind this approach. 

We hear so much these days about the customer-driven buyer’s journey and that more than half of the sales cycle occurs without prospective customers contacting a sales representative. The new buyer’s journey puts ever-increasing pressure on marketing departments to handle the pre-sales process.

Although marketing technology, with its lead scoring, data integration, and automated content delivery tools, can help marketers respond quickly to inquiries online and deliver targeted content, it’s often not enough. That’s why the best marketers still match high tech with the human touch—especially when their product line is complex, and the sales cycle is long.

It’s not enough to capture a lead, follow up, pass the lead to sales, and hope for the business. You need to turn requests into qualified leads and ideally sales-enabled leads. Marketing’s job is to get salespeople in front of prospective customers. And one of the best ways to do that is to work with a professional telemarketing service that specializes in B2B sales and develop a proven appointment-setting strategy. 

Even in a world where people are able to conduct much of their business virtually, face-to-face meetings still play an important role. In fact, Meetings Professionals International conducted research that shows 40% of prospects convert during in-person meetings.

So, how do you get more live appointments?

Follow this step-by-step process to fill your salespeople’s calendars with well-qualified sales appointments:

Business-to-business appointment setting is essential because you need to get in front of decision makers to grow your business. But sometimes it seems like a brick wall is standing between your company and your goals. So here are some best practices that will help you set appointments and ultimately achieve your objectives. 

The Lure of Pay for Performance

It sounds so attractive to pay appointment setting companies fees based on the number of appointments they set up for you. It seems there’s no risk, and would appear to make it simple to compare one teleservices company to another. It comes down to dollars and cents you pay for each appointment.

Quantity Not Quality

But is that really true?

As the New Year dawns, many are resolving to shed a few pounds, become more familiar with the local gym, quit smoking, or climb out of debt. But those of us who strive for business growth need to find more effective ways to put our sales people in front of buyers. And that means developing some New Year's resolutions that will make us more successful at setting B2B appointments with prospects.
Use these New Year's resolutions to boost your success with B2B appointment setting or to lead your telemarketing team.