How To Turn Leads Into Revenue With Outbound Appointment Setting

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Appointment setting is one of the most challenging stages of business development that may either speed up or slow down a company’s success in terms of sales.

Let’s face it: no matter how stellar a business’ sales team is, they will have a hard time producing tangible results if the list of leads or appointments they are working on is weak.

That is why right from the initial process, which is the lead generation, businesses need to increase their efforts in producing a comprehensive list of prospects. After coming up with quality leads, the second step — appointment setting — becomes more crucial. It is the part wherein an organization needs to qualify their leads by calling those in the name list one by one to set up an appointment between the prospect and the sales team.

Why appointment setting?

Although appointment setting is somehow tedious, it can bring significant benefits to the overall success of an organization. Among its many advantages includes the increase of sales. With quality appointments, the sales team can better target prospects who have a genuine interest and need in their product and service offerings. This means that these prospects have a higher chance of being led to the sales funnel, therefore, filling a company’s pipeline.

Because outbound appointment setting filters leads, the sales team’s productivity will skyrocket — closing more sales without the need to offer products or services to an endless list of names.

For businesses that aim to widen their market base, it also helps to utilize appointment setting. Whether the result of the call is positive or negative, the appointment setters have at least disseminated the information that a certain product or service exists in the market.

Another reason why appointment setting is important is because it gives appointment setters the opportunity to present a solid value statement to their prospects. By doing this in a persuasive way, their prospects will have deeper interest and more reasons to meet with the sales team to discuss the proposal.

Remember that in sales, personal interaction is necessary because it is an activity that does not only close deals faster but also starts a meaningful and lasting relationship.

When do businesses need to heighten their appointment setting efforts?

There are particular situations wherein businesses can best use appointment settings. First, appointment setting comes in handy when a business aims to jumpstart their sales funnel. This strategy is perfect for startups or SMEs that want to level up their playing field. Appointment setting is an effective way wherein they can better introduce their products or services to the right market using the right approach.

Appointment setting also works for business to business (B2B) transactions. Top-level managers — who often have jam-packed schedule — prefer to set up an appointment and discuss the proposal directly with a sales representative rather than be offered something through call.

Appointment setting also works best for high-revenue clients. Instead of saying a wrong pitch over the phone and blowing off the opportunity to close a huge sale, they really need to set up an appointment with a high-profile client. Through this, the sales team can present the value of their products or services more effectively.

Business organizations, however, need to remember that for a successful appointment setting to take place, they need to align their marketing and sales strategy. They should never fall into the pitfalls of misalignment because it will only result to missed opportunities, obstructed company growth, and unhappy and disengaged teams.

Appointment setting may not aim to close sales yet, but it sets the pathway for a more successful sales and higher revenue growth.

Fred Chua
I am a Philippine-certified Electronics and Communications Engineer who serves as the CEO of Magellan Solutions Outsourcing Inc. Magellan Solutions is one of the top call centers/BPO companies in the world that can deliver high-performing operations to businesses of any type and any size.

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