Despite the technological advancement, the need for human involvement in closing sales is pivotal. Without a doubt, use automation tools to locate a prospect, but let your employees follow up and nurture them. This simple measure might need extra commitment from your end but can go a long way in setting effective appointments and building long-term relationships.
That said, in this article, we are offering a 5-point appointment generation checklist that every B2B marketer must go through. Without further ado, let’s go through them one by one.
Define the goals
Experts advise detailed planning and preparation for every appointment setting campaign. Brainstorm with your sales and marketing teams to define your requirements. Here are a few questions to give direction to your campaign:
- Do we want to enhance brand awareness?
- Do we want to create a sale opportunity for a particular non-performing product/service?
- Are we presenting an existing product/service in a new light?
- Are we upselling/cross-selling?
- Is there an update to an existing product/service?
Analyze your business needs and give your twist to the questions mentioned above.
Identify the target
At the onset of your digital marketing strategy, you might have defined the ideal customer profile and buyer persona. Go through your database and identify the individuals that fit your criteria. Continue probing and refining this newfound list until you’re able to eradicate all irrelevant people. Keep in mind that there might be multiple decision-makers within a single organization. Include the people your sales and marketing teams think can influence the final verdict.
Prepare the script
Based on the above-mentioned checkpoints, prepare an appointment setting script that caters to your goals and the pain points of the target. Use a multichannel approach and create separate scripts for cold calls and emails. Draft your script like a story that ends in the prospects taking the desired action. For better output conduct A/B testing of both scripts.
Identify the number of times your team will be interacting with the prospect ahead of getting an appointment. Continue to finetune your script to reduce the number of touchpoints to schedule the appointment with lesser effort.
Train your team
Pick your email and telemarketing teams that are meticulous, resourceful, and agile. Take them through the campaign goals and requirements. Appointment generation campaigns might get complicated over time and your teams must be prepared for any unforeseen situations.
Measure efficacy
Keep track of your appointment generation campaign performance. Create daily, weekly, and fortnightly reports of the same. Leverage this information to enhance your campaign execution and resultant output. The information gathered will guide you through any future campaigns as well.
Apart from the abovementioned checklists, hold frequent knowledge-sharing sessions. Firstly, it is a team-building activity and will thus improve the output. Secondly, since the teams are able to learn through sharing, generating appointments comes easier.
However, appointment generation is an ongoing activity to nudge warmer leads into the sales funnel. And it can become a tiresome and costly affair over time. Instead, you can partner with an agency to make appointment generation a time and cost-effective campaign. We, at Resolute B2B, offer end-to-end multichannel appointment generation services. With us, you get only relevant data, warm leads, and an elevated ROI. Visit our website today to know more.
