Firming up appointments made by telephone

Nothing is more frustrating than driving all the way out only to be met with a time waster. Professional appointment setters are somewhat common in business, which I find quite odd.

There are three kinds of professional appointment setters that will derail a sales opportunity.

* People that are happy with their current situation but want to keep up to date with the latest developments, if only to check if they are still getting good value from their existing supplier.

* They make a point of of seeing salespeople to fill their own diaries to keep themselves busy. This type of prospect is the WORST and is why you need a way to qualify out these people quickly which I'll show you in just a second.

* Some people just don't like saying no. They don't like rejecting people. That sounds awesome for salespeople but this can be a problem because they agree to appointments, not because there is much interest but because they are being polite. It still amazes me how often this happens.

To test that a decision maker is serious out of a genuine interest you should ask for him to do something for you in preparation for the meeting.

The best type of action to ask the decision maker to take is to send some information to you by email. My favourite is an organisational chart that confirms what you already know about their decision making process and who does what. Or ask him to send some company literature.

You should always ask for it to be completed within a couple of days at the very most. For example you might say:

"OK John, that's great, I look forward to meeting you Tuesday at 3 pm. Can I ask for a small favour? Would you mind emailing me an organization chart, if you have one, or some company literature? I am keen to understand more about your company structure and what you do?"

If they say 'yes', follow up with:

"Thanks. Can you send that through in the next couple of days?"

If that time scale passes and you still haven't received what you asked for you need to call the decision maker again and politely mention you were expecting some information back and you just wondered if he had managed to get around doing it yet. If he forgot or was busy with other priorities and sends it within the next few days, everything is o.k.

However if he still does not send the information through you can make a third (and final) call and say:

"Hi John., I still haven't received the organization chart you were going to send me. Would you like to postpone the meeting until a more convenient time?"

This will get to the bottom of the situation and determine if this prospect is worth spending valuable time with.

If the prospect is not interested enough to send you some company literature, what chance do you think you have in getting them to actually part money for something?

This adds a mini-funnel to the end of your appointment setting process. It also makes them slightly more invested in the sales cycle and will take you more seriously at the appointment.