Sell The Meeting: Set Discovery Calls & Sales Appointments To Close New Accounts: A Lead Generation Process With Phone Script Samples For B2B Appointment Setting & Cold Calling

by Scott Channell

You need to be able to recognize a low-probability common scenario and have a plan.

Here’s an example of how that would work. You might decide that for best results you will invest 50% of your calling time on that class of targets that makes a buying decision within 90 days so that you can guarantee reasonably steady cash flow. And then you might use the other 50% of your time for that class of prospects that offers a much larger, more profitable sale but typically takes 9 months to complete a sales cycle.

The rule of 7 states that people have to be touched by us 7 times before we can reasonably expect them to appreciate, understand, and respond to our communications.

If you think you are accomplishing something by calling them and leaving a voicemail message or emailing them once, you are fooling yourself.

Built into your prospecting system must be the core concept that you have to touch people multiple times within a very short period to have any chance of getting their attention and an appointment.

7 touches delivered over 14 weeks is nowhere near as effective as 7 touches delivered over 2 weeks.

Increase Groove flow steps

If you space out your touches over too long a period, it is like starting over again every time.

Anything done once is the equivalent of doing...

Setting appointments is a...

Live by the rule of 7 and deliver those touches within a 2-week window.

If you are sending our clear, concise benefit-rich communications to the right audience, and if they have been touched by you multiple times within a short period but have not responded, then you can safely conclude that they are not your next clients. They have no needs you can fulfill. You should move on.

You want to prospect like Goldilocks. Enough but not too much. Enough to maximize the result you seek, but not so much that you are wasting time and resources.

You build into your system multiple touches so that you can realistically expect a response from those who r...

Even if you have an average message and screw everything else up totally, if you select the right targets, you can have a successful prospecting program. If you select the wrong targets, no matter what else you do, no matter how good your message is, no matter how efficiently you work, no matter how good your process is, you are guaranteed to fail.

How do you pick the right targets? Very simple. Make a list of your best clients. Make a list of your competition’s best clients. Make a list of the specific accounts that you know would be great, profitable accounts for you to have.

27. Do Not Focus on “Not Missing Anyone.”

The point of prospecting and appointment setting is to generate the most results for your limited time and resources.

You Want to Jackhammer Through a Solid Vein of Prospecting Gold. Not Work Through a Pile of Prospecting Crap Trying to Find a Nugget of Gold.

Figure out targeting

your typical “great” client,

Who are Omada's great clients?

28. Make Every Word Count. Ruthlessly Eliminate Every Worthless Word.

You must brainstorm all the words and phrases that might communicate a winning message.

BRAINSTORM WORDS EVEN FOR LINKEDIN AND EMAIL

That means you are initially going to work from scripts. You have to write down the sequence of words most calculated to get you the result you seek and learn to deliver them effectively.

To set appointments effectively, you must know with a relative degree of certainty what to expect from calls and contacts made to segments of your list.

The reason why I think so many people get frustrated by prospecting and appointment setting is that they spend way too much time in that lower probability of results zone.

Where is my high probability? Ask Chris

If you are calling suspects that closely fit the profile of your best clients, working them with an interactive process just long enough to get their attention, and using clear, concise verbiage that in just a few moments enables buyers to conclude you are worth more time, you are working in that highest probability zone.

Your system must be set up so that you can move quickly through a prospect pool delivering a carefully calculated message with impact and get a “yes” or “no” with certainty.

Eliminate every single little thing that is not necessary.

31. “No” Is A Perfectly Acceptable Result. The Maybe’s Will Kill You.

When you move through those records, you need to know things with certainty. This is a “yes.” This is a “no.”

Or, if you couldn’t reach targets, your process of multiple and consistently focused touches delivered within a short period should give you the confidence to conclude that if they had a need, there was plenty of opportunities for them to “raise their hand” out of the crowd.

Are my subject lines effective

Those who are best at prospecting for gold are best at identifying that which is not gold.

You want to increase the odds of success. That means having clear goals, prioritized lists, a contact manager/CRM that enables you to segment and prioritize as you work, to maximize efficiency, work a process that increases your odds of success and words that work.

You must put 6 parts in place before you even think of making a call or sending an email. 1. Know your goals. 2. Select the right list. (Top quality among all your choices and the right size.) 3. Set up a contact manager/CRM. 4. Map a call process. 5. Create a pile of words. 6. Craft your scripts & emails.

Marginal improvements in any one of these areas will impact your results. Make marginal improvements on multiple parts or all of the parts, and you have a lollapalooza effect. The impact on your results will be extreme, due to the power of multiple marginal improvements working together.

Without clear goals, you are just madly dialing trying to book any meeting without clear direction or any ultimate benefit in mind.

Activities are not goals. Bottom line results are goals. Milestones that lead to results are goals. Activities are not goals.

A good goal is specific, relates to the bottom line, is measurable and tied to a specific time period.

Smart

Dials Are Not Goals. Activities Are Not Goals. Bottom-Line Results Are Goals.

There is no rational relationship between the number of dials made and the results obtained. Those who are best at setting appointments do not make the most dials. Not even close.

Well, when activity goals are set too high and given outsized importance, there is less time to think and make solid judgments and do things that are more likely to contribute to the bottom line goal, as management is demanding a certain number of dials.

It is certainly true that a caller has to be making a reasonable number of dials, but once a reasonable number of dials are being made consistently, if meetings are not popping out, more dials will not help.

Callers Will Make Dials That Are Worthless Just To Meet The Report.

you must set the right goals.

Everything you do should be based upon meeting bottom-line goals. Meetings. Closing ratios. The average size of the sale. Profit margins. Lifetime value. Bottom line type goals.

Conversations with your targeted decision-maker. When a decision-maker you have targeted picks up the phone, says “hello” and you slay them with your “set the appointment pitch,” that is worth tracking as there is a rational relationship between that and the number of meetings you set — same thing with positive email responses and return calls from your effort.

Pitch success rate to measure success

The only time you look at dial activity is to see whether someone is making a reasonable effort.

Measure meetings and discovery calls set. Measure the number of conversations with targeted decision-makers. (When you deliver your “set the appointment” pitch.) Measure the number of positive responses you get to emails or replies to voicemail.

The most important factor by far that will determine your discovery call, and appointment setting success is whom you decide to target.

Consultants

You must make informed decisions about whom to call, in what order, and in what priority.

Your objective is never to "not miss anyone." That is dumb. Your objective is always to allocate your resources to where they will get you the greatest return.