What is a qualified appointment?
If your time is precious, you need high quality and valuable leads with the right
companies.
The first point you need to clarify before attending an appointment is the position
of the decision maker within the company you are going to see.
The title of the decision maker will have to be relevant to the type of product or
service you are offering; the decision maker will not always be Managing Director
or CFO. You may need an appointment with the IT director if you are selling software,
for example.
Once you have confirmed you are meeting with someone who has the power to make financial
decisions, you then need to be confident that the appointment objective is clear.
Is the prospect aware you are meeting with them in order to sell them something
or do they think you are “popping in” for a coffee and a meaningless chat?
I would strongly recommend you go into the meeting armed with as much information
as you can. If you use telemarketing, either outsourced or internal, you need to
be sure that the prospect is fully qualified. A genuine prospect that has an interest
in developing a business relationship with you will give you the time of the day
on the phone.
Use this time to ask them who they are currently using and find out why they are
considering a change. How do they rate their current supplier? This information
could give you the edge when pitching your services.
Have they got a budget for your services – if you go into a meeting with a business
that simply does not have the budget, you are wasting your time!
So, you have all the information you need, you know you are meeting a decision maker
that has the necessary requirement and budget for your services – so how do you
stop the appointment going to the wall?
As soon as the appointment has been set, a confirmation email needs to be sent out.
Say what you please in the email but remember to highlight the date, time and location
of the meeting.
The prospect should be called 24 hours prior to the meeting to confirm verbally to
ensure, again, that you are not wasting your time.
Once you are face to face with the decision maker it is up to you to close the sale!
Call Amvoc now on 0333 005 1403
