Appointment Setting Blog from the Caponi Performance Group
Setting More Appointments in Less Time
The following is taken from Paul Lovoie’s/Response Marketing, posting (with his permission) on the Fresh Sales Strategies LinkedIn Group (it’s a pretty good group, by the way). He listed some really bad voicemails left on his phone.
Here’s a list of some of them.
Continue reading “Nine really bad voicemail ideas to avoid.”
One of the ways to get people to return voicemails is to arouse their curiosity. No great revelation there, right? But here’s the way to do it.
Continue reading “Two reasons why your voicemails (and emails) are NOT being returned.”
Our customers report that, in the B2B market space, the percentage of returned voicemails and emails has dropped over the past ten years with the advent of voicemail. Our experience mirrors that. So, the operative question is, “Should we stop leaving voicemails?” Our answer is an emphatic, “No”, as our techniques have the percentage of returns on the rise again, and as we pointed out in the blog covering why we should leave voicemails and send emails, there are plenty of reasons.
So, now assuming that we’ve agreed to leave the voicemail and send an email, what are the six most effective ways to get a target to return a voicemail/email? Continue reading “Six ways to get more emails and voicemails returned.”
Our customers report that, in the B2B market space, the percentage of returned voicemails and emails has dropped over the past ten years with the advent of voicemail. Our experience mirrors that. So, the operative question is, “Should we stop leaving voicemails?” Our answer is an emphatic, “No”, as our techniques have the percentage of returns on the rise again. By the way, if you’d like to read about the six ways to get more voicemails and emails returned, click here.
There are six reasons to leave voicemails and send emails: Continue reading “Six reasons to leave voicemails (and send emails).”
We are often asked how is The Appointment Making Formula different from other skills based methodologies for appointment setting. There are a number of reasons, but the number one reason our clients tell us their sales professionals are now setting at least twice the number of Initial Appointments is, hands down, Bridge Questions™.
Continue reading “What is the number one reason The Appointment Making Formula™ works so well?”
Contrary to popular belief, the time and effort we put into the calls we make today that do not immediately result in an appointment today still has value. In other words, be in it for the long run to leverage that investment of time and effort. Design a well-defined Best Practice that defines how you will pursue a homogeneous set of targets and stick with it because appointment making has a cumulative affect over time. Then make sure to employ a technology that enables the Best Practice to be efficiently executed.
Here are six reasons to build a Best Practice for your appointment setting efforts and to stick with it over time: Continue reading “Six reasons to build an appointment making plan for the long haul.”
When you are making appointment setting calls, are you trying to respond to your target’s initial objection for the meeting with logic?
Most likely, you are responding to the initial ‘no’ you hear when trying to set an appointment the same way we were all taught to to do it: with the logic of your value proposition and through proven objection handling techniques we use once the target has engaged in a buying cycle with us. Unfortunately, if you are, you’re also fighting an uphill battle. Here’s why: Continue reading “Why classic objection handling techniques don’t work when setting appointments.”
I was recently at an event with other CEOs and business owners. Most of the attendees know what my company does so they love to regale me with stories of sales professionals who attempt to get an appointment with them. It is a great way for me to hear the target’s side of what works and what doesn’t.
This past week the subject came up of a ‘technique’ a sales professional (and in this case, I use the term lightly) had used to try to set an appointment with him. He said his regular administrative assistant was on vacation so it worked—for a moment anyway. Continue reading “Why lying to Gatekeepers is a really bad thing.”
We have second company that helps the executive teams improve their employee engagement. Companies with high levels of employee engagement wind up on the ‘Best Places to Work’ lists—consistently. And, just in case you didn’t know it, it has been proven that companies on those lists consistently outperform their peers who do not pursue employee engagement with a passion in about every financial measurable way.
It’s a fun business to be in because one of the ways we help those executives improve their employee engagement is by helping them leverage their second most expensive employee benefit, vacation pay. And, hey, who doesn’t like to talk about vacations?
So, what does that have to do with appointment setting? Continue reading “Another simple way to engage Gatekeepers.”
Contrary to what most sales people think, their number one responsibility is not to keep us out! Their number one responsibility is to help their bosses.
On the surface you might think that includes a line in their job description that does say ‘keep sales people out’, but their real job is to help their boss be successful, and in the right circumstances, we can help them do that.Since more people (including us) want more of the bosses’ time than there is time available, good gatekeepers are invaluable in helping their bosses’ sort through what can actually help them do their job better and what won’t or can’t. Continue reading “Handling those pesky Gatekeepers, or Gatekeepers can be your friend”