March 4th, 2008 in Featured, Management

10 Tips For Improving Your Appointment Setting Skills

No matter what business you’re in, the odds are that you spend at least some time in appointments. Your appointments may be big group meetings, one-on-ones, or even job interviews. You may even be skipping the face-to-face aspect of meeting and be taking conference calls or using Skype. No matter what type of meeting you’ve scheduled, though, these tips can help you improve your appointment setting skills.

Set agendas ahead of time. Knowing what you plan to accomplish in a meeting can help you decide how long to plan to stay at that appointment — assuming you can keep to your agenda. It can be hard to get other people to stay on track, but no one really wants to spend all day in a single appointment. Furthermore, completing an agreed upon agenda is really the only way to be sure when your meeting is over.
Offer time and date options for appointments. Rather than going through a lengthy back and forth, either on the phone or via email, pick two or three appointment times that work for you and present them to the other half of your appointment. If you’re dealing with a larger group, it’s almost guaranteed that at least one option won’t work for someone, and having multiple options is a much faster way to reach consensus.
Avoid fancy software applications. While there is some very snazzy appointment setting software out there, try to avoid using anything out of the ordinary. The exception to this rule is parties or very large meetings. In general, using these applications take more time than they’re worth — there’s a learning curve for new users, and having to visit a site to respond can take double the time of replying to an email. However, when you’re trying to coordinate large groups of people, using an application can provide a central location rather than sending out huge batches of emails.
Make sure you really need a meeting. Plenty of appointments are set for simple things like handing over a document for approval. Unless that document is short enough to be completely examined during the meeting, it might be more worthwhile to drop off the document and come back later to answer questions and handle the approval process. Before actually setting your appointment, think about whether the matter could be handled in a faster way.
Minimize travel time. One of the reasons that appointments eat up so much time in our calendars is the necessity of travel. We have to travel to clients’ offices, coffee shops or wherever the heck we’re meeting. We can minimize that commitment by suggesting that we meet at our own locations, meet halfway, or skip meeting in person altogether. Options like telephone calls or video conferencing can often handle all the requirements of that appointment you were going to drive across town for.
Schedule time for both preparation and debriefing. When you set your appointment, think about what you might need to do to prepare for it — review a report, prepare a presentation or iron your shirt — and schedule time for each of those activities before your actual appointment. It’s also worthwhile to schedule a fifteen-minute prep session just before your appointment for any last minute details. Same goes for afterwards: you may have certain follow-up tasks to handle after your meeting. Scheduling at least a few minutes after an appointment guarantees that you’ll have time to make sure your notes are complete and any sort of further action at least makes it on to your calendar (if you can’t do it then).
Separate personal and business appointments. Many of us try to load all of our out-of-the-office appointments into one day. Ignoring the problem of what happens if just one runs late, you’ve got the issue of trying to switch gears between the presentation you just gave to a client and the shot the doctor’s waiting to give you. That sort of mental switch up can only make it harder to handle your later appointments. Try to schedule your personal and business appointments on different days.
Keep your appointment schedulers up to date. If you aren’t the only person scheduling your appointments, it’s vital to keep the others in the loop. Otherwise, your significant other might be expecting you at a family dinner at the same time you’re finishing up a major project. I like shared calendars, such as Google Calendar for that very reason, but there are ways to share just about every type of calendar, if you’re reliant on your own system. Appointment schedulers can include your manager, your significant other, an administrative assistant (yours or the departments) and a whole host of other people.
Limit invitees. You may not need the whole company present for a progress report. Instead, decide who actually needs to be in on your appointment — you can always send out a mass email later on if people feel left out. I’ve been in situations before where higher ups felt left out if you didn’t bring them in on every single appointment you were setting up. The best bet seems to be presenting the meeting as something that wouldn’t be a valuable use of their time.
Confirm everything! Confirm when and where the meeting is, what the agenda covers, even how to get there. All you really need is a brief email a day or two before the appointment that outlines the appointment and ask for a simple yes in response if everything is correct.

Thursday Bram

Thursday Bram blogs about a variety of topics, from personal finance to small business. She is the author of an upcoming book on the tools and tricks you need to build a career you can take with you during long-term travel. More information about Thursday and her book, Working Your Way Around the World, is available on her personal site, ThursdayBram.com.

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Charlie Gilkey says on March 4th, 2008 at 11:28 am
This is a great list, but I especially think the fourth point is important. I try not to schedule meetings if it’s going to take less than 45 minutes, as anything shorter doesn’t justify the time invested in the preparation, debriefing, and transportation required to attend the meeting.
Think about it. If it takes you on average 10 minutes to transition from one activity to the next and twenty minutes to prepare, you’re already 30 minutes into undocumented meeting time.
On the flip side, I try not to schedule meetings for longer than 90 minutes, as you’re more likely to spiral into unproductive time.
Good work, Thursday!
Bart says on March 4th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Nice list – to add to the confirmation point, I like to quickly recap the meeting time, place and purpose with the person I just set it with right before we part ways. It helps re-affirm all the important information with clarity. I also like to ask a direct ‘will you’ question to get them to commit to attend.
For example I might say, “Alright Bob, nice to talk to you. I’ll see you again, this Thursday at 11 AM, my office, to work out the project budget. Will you be there?”
To me, clearly and firmly committing someone is just as important, if not more, than confirming the meeting.
Nathan Ketsdever says on March 4th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I really like two key suggestions Bram makes:
1) Minimize travel time.
One great way to minimize travel time is to utilize Skype & Goto Meeting & content collaboration tools like Google when possible.
2) Integrate execution and follow up into the very way you do meetings. Make it an intimate part of your workflow and scheduling.
Alternatively, I believe that separating business and personal meetings may sometimes be very difficult. We have this myth in society that we can do so–but its a bit of a farce. I do think that making an effort to do so within a meeting can serve productivity.
But does that have to be any more overt than saying “now onto our business plans”…
Tenders says on March 13th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Cool blog! Great tips btw I agreed with Nathan
Liz Pulliam says on May 4th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Mark emailed me asking for the name of the firm we are using to set appointments for our sales team. The name of the company is QualifiedLeads.com We have been using them for a iittle over a year know with very good results. They are setting face to face appointments for our reps. They helped us come up with the right script and provided us the list based on criteria we set. We have tried various appointment setting companies over the years and have found QualifiedLeads.com to be great partner.
The Appointment Setter says on July 21st, 2008 at 11:49 am
Offer time and date options for appointments. Rather than going through a lengthy back and forth, either on the phone or via email, pick two or three appointment times that work for you and present them to the other half of your appointment.
Even for us in the appointment setting business this tip is a gem.
If you aren’t the only person scheduling your appointments, it’s vital to keep the others in the loop.
Nice. This is one tip one with personal experience can give. This avoids office politics as well.
Thanks
Appointment Setting says on July 24th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
“1) Minimize travel time.”
I can’t emphasize this one enough. With the cost of gas and as busy as everyone can make themselves these days, the more convenient the better. This will cut way down on your appointment cancellations.
Matt says on January 2nd, 2009 at 9:37 am
Cold calling is not always about making that instant sale. It should be used mostly for qualifying or gathering information, or trying to arrange a face to face appointment to better explain your product or service. So launching straight in with the breathless description of your product may not be the right approach. Calling to confirm names, titles and contact details can be a good way to start. You get the information confirmed, and you might be able to take it to the next level.
If cold calling isn’t something that comes naturally, then consider a prewritten script. But be very careful – sounding like you’re reading from a piece of paper can turn the person on the other end of the line off. Perhaps a better way of using a script is to remind you of the points you need to make, (like a road map in a car) rather than be a word for word recital tool. You have to be able to be flexible, and listen to the needs of the person that you’re calling.
You will get people who slam or hang the phone down straight away (don’t you do that occasionally?) but don’t be scared of this outcome or let it get to you when it does happen. It’s not personal. Keep calm and smile, and this will come though in your voice and make people more receptive. Monitor your success rate and attempt to strategically perfect your approach.
If you ask for information by using open questions, and keep your voice friendly and inquisitive, you’re more likely to get people’s interest. The aggressive sale usually won’t work in this context because people are so wary of cold calls.
If it looks like you won’t be able to make a sale then offer meeting times and confirm them in writing or by email.
Most importantly always be helpful.
http://www.telehammers.com
David Capezza says on May 12th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Doing cold calling to set appointments not only can help you to increase your sales by meeting with more qualified prospects but also can help you to better understand your target market. It is always good to structure campaigns with both goals in mind so that you can get as much out of your cold calling as possible
David Capezza says on May 12th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Click here to learn more!
Rhino B2B Appointment Setting says on September 15th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Most of our sales appointment programs are charged by the appointment only. We set the per appointment fee from $75 to $600 based on the complexity of your campaign. All unqualified appointments will be replaced in the event of cancellation, or failure to meet the pre agreed upon qualifying criteria.