Appointment booking: vital skill.

Booking appointments is one of the most important skills we need to master as salespeople.

Step 1

Begin with your planning. Research your hit list of the top 100 customers you would like to do business with.

Step 2

Keep the contact details up to date. Make sure you have their e-mail address.

Step 3

Send items through to them on a regular basis. Not a sales pitch, but information that they will find useful and interesting. You are building a long-term relationship.

Step 4

Set aside time for appointment booking. Most salespeople do it on Monday or Friday and ring between 10.00 and 12.00 and 2.00 and 4.00. Be different. Why try getting through at the same time as everyone else?

Step 5

Prepare and practice what you are going to say. Yes, this means writing a script, but make the script sound natural and practice it with other members of your team.

Step 6

Professional telemarketers always follow a statement with a question. Here is an example:

‘Good morning. Can I speak to Mr. Smith?’

‘Speaking’

‘Hello Mr. Smith. It is Frank Atkinson from TSTC. Have you heard of us before?’

‘Yes. I have received some e-mails from you in the past.’

‘Well, as you are aware we specialise in sales training and development. As sales director are you responsible for sales training in your organisation?’

Step 7

This way you are controlling the conversation. Prepare your questions in advance.

Step 8

You must give a reason for calling and sell a benefit early in the conversation:

‘The reason I am calling today is that we have recently produced a set of one-day workshops aimed at making salespeople more confident when dealing with objections. Would you be interested in finding out more?’

Step 9

What we are trying to do is not the hard sell. Try to sell them a benefit they will find interesting

Step 10

‘In order to do this I will need to set up a brief meeting with you. I can bring details of the workshops and show you feedback we have had from customers in a similar industry to yours. Would that be okay?’

Step 11

‘I will need about 20 minutes of your time. Would you be available next Friday at 10.00?’ It is important that we set the initial time for the meeting so that we are in control of our diaries.

Step 12

Phrases I would personally avoid are:

• ‘It will only take ten minutes’,
• ‘I am in your area next week and will pop in to see you’,
• ‘There is no obligation’,
• ‘I am not trying to sell you anything’ and so on.

Sell the value of the appointment.

Step 13

Confirm the appointment and the key benefits by e-mail.

Step 14

If you hear an objection it is likely to be ‘I’m too busy’, ‘Send me some information’, ‘I’m not really interested’, or ‘We currently use someone else for our training’. The key to dealing with objections is:

• listen to the objection – don’t interrupt;
• clarify the objection; ask questions; try to find out what is the real problem;
• deal with the objection; and
• close the appointment, or move on to the next stage of the call.

Step 15

If you want more detailed information on objection-handling you can contact the author via the Reader Forum.

Step 16

Don’t give up. It can take several attempts to convince the buyer you are worth seeing. Offer to send free information. Keep in touch.

Step 17

Remember, most people spend most of their time thinking about themselves and their problems. They are asking ‘WIIFM?’. (What’s in it for me?)

Step 18

Here’s today’s joke. Don’t tell people your problems: 75% don’t care and 25% are glad you’ve got the problem.

Step 19

Be prepared to drop people from your hit list. Keep the quality high.

Step 20

Finally, keep going. Learn to live with rejection and try not to take things too personally when people say no.

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