8 Do's and Don'ts when Making Sales Appointments
Meeting with a potential customer face-to-face is more or less the only guaranteed route to successfully pitching, negotiating and successfully closing a sale. Of course, such a meeting requires making an appointment, and this in itself is one of the most challenging aspects of any salesperson's role.
There are useful strategies and techniques which can be adopted and used to increase the chances of making beneficial sales appointments and these are covered by Maguire Training's Making Sales Appointments course. Delegates will learn every aspect of the process from formulating an effective prospecting strategy to establishing direct contact with the decision-maker, and will be equipped with the skills to ensure that firm sales appointments are made, as well as tips on how to navigate past gatekeepers.
If making sales appointments is part of your everyday role, you'll undoubtedly benefit from this course, but to get you on the right track here are eight 'do's and don'ts' to consider when making sales appointments.
1) DON'T appear desperate
Nothing is less appealing to a prospective customer than a salesperson who sounds keen, to the point of desperation, to make an appointment. Don't be blas or complacent about making an appointment, but don't come across as though your life depends on it either.
2) DO be courteous
Ask politely if you can speak to a decision-maker and if not, enquire as to the reason and if there would be a better time to call. If speaking to the decision-maker, always ask if they have a moment to speak to you; it is pointless trying to arrange a sales appointment if they are in the middle of a business meeting. Tactfully establish the best and most convenient time to call back.
3) DON'T launch into an obvious sales pitch
Your initial purpose is simply to arrange a face-to-face meeting at which you can deliver your pitch. Appointment-making is more about establishing an initial relationship and gathering facts about a potential customer's current problems and challenges and how, by working together, you might be able to address and resolve them.
4) DO be prepared for objections and overcoming them
Inevitably you're going to come up against the prospective customer who says "we're not buying at the moment", "we're happy with our current supplier" or some other counter to your request to make an appointment. Just be sure that you have the ammunition at your disposal to shoot down any likely objections.
5) DON'T turn sales appointment-making into an inquisition
Ask only as many questions as you need to get an insight into whether or not the potential customer is a viable prospect or not. Further information gathering, if needed, can take place during the sales appointment itself.
6) DO adopt a 'service not sales' approach
Adopt the attitude that you are making an appointment purely to show how you can help the customer, and not to make a sale. You must prove to the customer what's in it for them when they agree to an appointment, showing them how you can make their business easier or more profitable. If you show that this is all about them, and not you, the appointment and hopefully the sale will surely follow.
7) DON'T forget to explicitly request to arrange an appointment
If you feel confident that the initial conversation has moved in the right direction and there is sufficient enthusiasm from the potential customer, don't beat about the bush, but tell them that you've noted their interest and ask them for a face-to-face meeting at their convenience to talk further.
8) DO be sure to reinforce the benefits of meeting face-to-face
You may tell the prospect that at your meeting, you'll show them how your products and services have helped similar clients and, assuming you've asked the right initial questions, how you will address the problems and challenges they currently face.
How can we help?
Capturing sales appointments is a fundamental key to sales success, but Maguire Training understands that salespeople lead busy lives and can't always easily fit classroom-based training into their schedules. Maguire Training's innovative E-learning platform ensures delegates can obtain all of the skills, knowledge and benefits of Making Sales Appointments as an online training course, accessible whenever and wherever is most convenient.
