8 Reasons You Can?t Schedule a Sales Appointment
8 Reasons You Can?t Schedule a Sales Appointment
Calling the wrong prospects. Sounds simple, but it is the number one reason sales people fail. Instead of ruthlessly slashing their prospect list and tossing to the curb those that will only waste their time and energy, most salespeople will keep trying to sell to dead end prospects. It is equally important knowing whom to call and whom not to call.
No script. A well-written script that gives important prospects a valid reason for meeting with a sales rep is a must. A script gives direction, maintains a consistent message, produces more appointments and provides responses to common objections. Choose and deliver your words carefully.
Lack of follow-up. A sales rep that isn’t using
an online sales or contact management system might as well go to the sidelines. They don’t have the right stuff to play the game and they will never follow up properly. Landing an appointment with a mid-level manager might take 8-12 contacts or more. There has to be a system in place that allows the sales rep to clearly see where he’s been and more importantly where he’s going. Consistent follow up is the trait of sales champions.
Call reluctance. Any sales rep has lots of reasons why this isn’t a good time to prospect and cold call. It’s the Friday before a holiday—his prospect is never in on Wednesday—there are 10 emails that need to be sent first—he has to rearrange his desk drawers. Prospecting is a business development priority and it must be performed in a dedicated
fashion.
No email or fax strategy. A wily prospect can avoid a cunning salesman for a good long time. To get through quicker, a sales professional needs to use other strategies. A well-crafted email or fax can work wonders to augment the calling schedule and elicit response the next time a call is placed. Leverage technology to your benefit.
Too much enthusiasm. Most sales reps won’t launch into a pitch like an old school used car commercial, but many still turn up the enthusiasm a notch too high. It’s great to be excited about an offering, but until the prospect shares that feeling about the product or service, too much gusto puts him off, way off. Curb your
enthusiasm.
No connection. This is a big can of worms. There are reasons galore why a sales rep and a prospect don’t connect but the number one reason is: the salesman doesn’t listen. He is so intent on taking a certain direction he doesn’t bother to connect with his prospect. Talk less and listen more. No relationship moves forward without establishing the connection.
Won’t give up. That’s right. At some point, while trying to schedule a sales appointment, the sales rep must give up. Despite the qualification process, the perfect prospect is now wasting too much valuable time that could be put to better use scheduling time with another potential customer. Typically a prospect that
hasn’t responded to 12-15 contact attempts over a two-week period need to be cut from the list. Know when to give up.
Brian Grinonneau is a partner with MaSM, a sales consultancy and appointment setting firm. He is an award winning author writing often on direct marketing topics.
www.masmllc.com
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