In the world of B2B telemarketing, it’s important to be proactive and try to engage a prospect as soon as you think they’re ready. When it comes to appointment setting, you need a solid strategy to win over a prospect. Here are some techniques that will help you with setting meetings over the phone:
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Do your research
The more information you have on your prospect, the better. If all you have is a name and phone number, you might want to Google some more information. You can find multitudes of information from LinkedIn: where they work and what they do, as well as potential pain points they may be exploring. Having extra detail will better prepare you for the call and it will make you look more professional.
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Think of the perfect opener
First impressions count, so make sure you have an opener that intrigues your prospect from the get-go. All you have is about 10-20 seconds to catch their interest and appeal to their problems, so try to sound sincere and respond accordingly. If you want to differentiate yourself from the competition, try not to sound like a sales robot. Add personal touches like ‘How’s your day going?’ and ‘Happy Friday’.
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Have a strong reason for calling
What is your reason for calling? It needs to be a strong one if you want to grab your prospect’s attention. Your first objective is to get them interested in what you have to say. Are you trying to set up an appointment or are you trying to make a sale? If your primary objective is to get the prospect to agree to a meeting, don’t spend too much time blabbering on about your company and yourself.
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Call with confidence and energy
No one wants to listen to a ho-hum telemarketer ramble on without any passion or energy. Even though they cannot see you, prospects can hear it in your voice if you’re lacking passion and conviction. In order to speak convincingly, you need to be properly prepared. So make sure you read up on your prospect as mentioned in step one. According to this article on LinkedIn, even fixing your posture can help with sounding more energetic, confident, and focused.
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Be prepared for objections
In telemarketing, it’s normal to be met with a variety of objections. No matter how good your strategies are, they won’t work every single time. If you want to overcome an objection, try to look at it from the prospect’s point of view and assist them in overcoming it. Make sure you take some time trying to understand why prospects might object and have a set of logical responses.
Your appointment setting will be so much more successful if you have a structured framework in place. If you want to know more about B2B telemarketing and how it’s surviving in the digital age, download our guide.
