1. Get to the Point of the Call
You know how valuable your time is, so don’t waste the time of those you call upon. Forget about starting a call by asking how the other person on the line is doing. That’s not why you’re calling, and they know that too. Only family, friends, or doctors should ask how you’re doing when starting a call. You’re calling to sell the appointment, which means the call recipient must commit to you a piece of his or her time. Eliminate the small talk and dive right into your reason for calling.
2. Establish the Benefit
Once you’ve gotten to the point of the call or the reason as to why you’re calling, you need to explain to the call recipient the benefit of setting an appointment with you. Don’t ramble on about the amazing features of your product. No one cares about features until they understand the benefit. This is where you need to know the in-depth details of how your product or service benefits the customer. For example, does your product or service provide more time, peace of mind, improved efficiency, and opportunities to make more money? After you’ve set the appointment with your “closer” within the sales team, you can prove how the features of the product or service bring value to the customer.
3. Be Clear and Concise
Ever receive a call from a salesperson and their language is jumbled with “um’s” and “ah’s?” You were probably quick to get off the phone with them to avoid the pain of hearing his stutter. That’s why first impressions are everything in appointment setting, so you need to speak clearly and concisely. When you speak clearly, you’ll be taken much more seriously. One tip to improve your clarity? Use call scripts. You may have to practice but using scripts as a guide can be an effective tool to ensure you bring up essential points within an appointment setting call.
4. One Small Commitment Now, One Giant Sale Later
One “yes” gets you one step closer to a sale. So, that’s why an initial “no” may not be such a bad thing. When encountering a rejection to an appointment, many appointment setters will give up and simply move on to the next call. However, good appointment setters know to inquire for more by asking questions. In doing so, you can get to the root of the lead’s objection. And if you can get to the root of the objection, you may be able to overcome it. Even if you couldn’t overcome the objection, the call recipient’s consent to small commitments (like agreeing to receive information or agreeing to a follow-up in the future) can lead to future sales. Why? Simply because you planted the seed in the customer’s mind, which makes reengaging him or her later in the sales pipeline much easier.
5. Use an Auto Dialer
When making outbound calls, it’s a numbers game. The more calls dialed means the more opportunity to make a sale. Lucky for you, we’re immersed in a Technological Renaissance, and web-based auto dialers such as Call Logic allow telemarketers to dial more numbers in a day than ever before. By seamlessly calling through numbers one after the other, users are able to triple their productivity versus tedious hand dialing. Year after year, auto dialers like Call Logic are the key to success for appointment setters.