Avoid These Common Sins in Setting Business Appointments

How can you forget that unique prospect of yours?rnYes, I’m talking about that extremely elusive, slippery and self-informed sales lead who promised to purchase from you if and only if they are ready and all.  Well, nothing’s wrong with that, but for sales people, they’ve been there and done that.

If this scenario sounds familiar, then brace yourself and don’t be surprised; the trend is growing—missed business appointments are rapidly evolving, plus, cancelled business meetings are also rising.

In terms of the inside sales departments, the rapidly growing team is the one which belongs to lead generation. The lead generators normally report to the marketing group and these people call numerous business sales leads and make targeted business appointments. They are performing targeted outbound telemarketing calls of up to (on the average) 60 calls daily and they schedule appointments, but unfortunately, most of these are ultimately cancelled.

That’s why we have to learn what not to do to secure our appointments. I’d like to introduce the common sins in setting appointments.

1.Idleness. Laziness, or sloth. Always prior to and after each business appointment, doing your homework is a must. Dig deeper and know more about what is there is to know about them. Get to know what makes them tick…their needs, wants, preferences, problems and difficulties so that you know what solution to provide them. Hard work is always worth it in the end.   

2.Pride. Also known as arrogance and conceit. Once again, it’s not always about you. There has to be a balance of 70/30 rule. This means that you listen more (70%) and you speak less (30%). Detach yourself from your self-selling euphoria and turn your attention to your prospects to get in tune with their needs.  

3.Anger. You must not take it on a personal level if a business appointment was cancelled. But rather, take the moment to realize what you have not yet done in order to convince your sales leads of the need for the appointment you offer them.  

4.Greed. You have to give everyone in your team a fair chance. Though it may not be obvious, but everyone wants their share of that appointment. If you can't seem to get a particular business lead to agree to an appointment, don't hesitate to ask the help from one of your close colleagues.  

5.Lust. Most individuals never have a clue about what’s going to take place in the business appointment and usually, the sales professionals fail to remember that they need to persuade and especially convince their leads and prospects and then ‘package’ the appointment in order to make it seem appealing and hard to resist. Find that time in explaining to them what they can benefit from if they attend your meeting.  

6.Envy. Just because your associates have closed a big business deal doesn't mean that you have to chase after a "big one" as well and simply forget about the little clients. It's better to take those qualified business sales leads as they come and set appointments with whom you can.