How much time is your marketing and sales team spending on securing leads & setting up appointments? Does it eat into a lot of their time that could be spent growing your business? Of course, meeting with potential customers is part of growing the business, but can it be improved?
These are the questions that need some exploration to find better ways of operating your business. Using a professional appointment setter to set up appointments improves your chances of securing the appointment. Why? Because appointment setting services have qualified professionals that are better equipped to convince potential clients to meet with your marketers.
Your marketers know how to close the deal. Appointment setters know how to secure the appointment. It's a fine balance to maintain.
If you're considering outsourced appointment setting services, your business can greatly benefit from it. It's a result-driven service that's intent on connecting you with the right people. Learn more about it to streamline your business' functioning.
The Duties of an Appointment Setter
What exactly does an appointment setter do? Besides calling potential prospects there's a variety of functions included in this service. Let's unpack some key duties:
- They describe and educate customers on the key qualities of your product or service
- They'll read statements scripted by your company regarding the product or service
- They take enquiries originating from inbound leads via digital channels
- They're skilled to refute customers' complaints regarding your company's offer or statements
- They highlight the discounts on the product or service and entice customers with special offers
- They're able to schedule meetings with relevant stakeholders such as salespeople, advisors and technicians
- They meticulously record results of all sales calls and details of potential clients & existing clients
- They use email to contact clients as a means of communication
What's the Cost of an Appointment Setter?
The number of features and different types of services you'd want included in your solution will determine the total price. It's always advisable to compare rates from different appointment setting services and find the best deal for your business.
Don't discount smaller and newer appointment setting services. They may have branched out from more established companies making them well experienced.
Request quotes from a few appointments setting companies & pick the one that offers the best value for money. Find a service provider that's willing to work with your business and align with your marketing strategies.
Advantages of Appointment-Setting Services
Let's look at some important benefits you'll gain using these services:
- They can keep track of your diary and sync it with your calendar to ensure there are no clashes
- They manage your clients for you by sending email reminders and notifications on upcoming bookings
- Stay updated and know immediately if a prospect cancels a booking or visits your website
- They qualify each opportunity and successfully schedule appointments with the appropriate people
Disadvantages of Appointment Setting Services
We can't overlook the disadvantages of using appointment-setting services. But these aren't deal breakers:
- You lose the personal touch
- You run a risk of not getting any return on your investment or a low return
- Your leads can get mixed up when the functional and promised properties don't coincide
Special Features That Can Benefit Your Business
Some appointment services can add some special features to enhance your experience to bring more value to your business:
- Tailor-made strategies: The ability to tailor-make strategies according to your unique business needs can set one appointment-setting service apart from the next.
- Creative scripts: Some appointment-setting services offer assistance with creative scripts to connect better with customers. Appointment setters use their experience of speaking to thousands of customers to perfect your company's script. The team is usually ultra-creative in writing original scripts.
- Qualified leads: The end goal is always to generate sales. Using an appointment-setting service with experience running successful campaigns guarantees qualified leads. It brings you one step closer to the sale.
- Professionalism: You only get one opportunity to make a good first impression. Using professional staff that are trained to connect to clients on the first call is vital. They're trained to persuade and connect with clients in a few seconds through professional telephone etiquette.
'Time is money'. Why not free up some valuable time and consider using an appointment-setting service? They can free up time for your staff to focus on more important tasks that can lead to greater productivity in your business.
It's important to strive to get the best return on any investment. Revising how time is spent operational in your marketing activities can highlight the gaps in your processes. By using an appointment setter you're essentially partnering with professionals whose objectives are to connect you to the right people in the shortest space of time.
Do you have any insights to share with other business owners considering appointment-setting services? Share your comments below.