Close more sales with Appointment Setting vs. Lead Generation

1. It's Measurable: Either you attended the appointment or you didn’t. It’s black and white. Leads can be very gray. Everyone has a different definition of what an A Lead is, hence no one can agree on what an A lead means. Appointment setting gives you the power to track the campaign’s success immediately, Return on Investment (ROI) and fast tracks your sales team to the actual opportunity.

2. Eliminates the Phone Tag Game: How many times have you executed a lead generation campaign, but just spent time calling back into the leads and receiving voice mail? Appointments are part of the sales cycle and provide your salespeople the opportunity to close rather than prospecting.

3. Relationship Building: Most sales are completed because you formed a relationship with the client. What’s a better way to form a relationship than face-to-face? It is amazing how prospects open up when in person. You will find more opportunities than originally thought from the first conversation. People will not tell you all their problems over the phone.

4. Guaranteed Results: In many cases appointment setting is guaranteed in a “pay-for-performance” model. This model fosters a win/win type relationship with the vendor. You are no longer debating with the vendor about the validity of a particular lead that will not close until the next Chinese New Year. If the appointment cancels, you receive another appointment.

5. Opportunity Cost: If you are not outsourcing your prospecting, your sales team is spinning their wheels trying to get appointments. If you’re one of the few solution providers who have an inside team, lead generation will work. If not, your sales team still will have to set an appointment when they could be selling! Additionally, take advantage of MDF to partake in an appointment setting campaign is a no brainier. You limit your risk; focus on your core value offerings, and the upside on closing a deal is potentially huge.

6. Everyone Is Busy & Multi-Tasking: You’re busy, IT Managers are busy, and CEO’s are busy. If you do get them on the phone, you might not have their full attention. Meeting face-to-face reduces the prospect’s ability to multi-task and gives you the opportunity to probe and identify issues more easily.

7. Close More Sales Quicker: By taking advantage of appointment setting you are moving the opportunity further along the sales process and therefore increasing the chances of a potential deal in your pipeline more rapidly than a traditional lead.

Everyone has had negative experiences with outsourced lead generation, the appointment setting model is structured to directly impact your sales efforts.