Simple Things: Volume 2 - New Prospect Appointment Setting

In the past, I have shared my belief that selling is a linear discipline. By this I mean that most activities happen one at a time and some of these things need to happen before others. As such, I believe that the mastery of the skills necessary to sell must be approached linearly as well.

Frankly, it does not matter how eloquent, persuasive, good looking, or charismatic you are if you never get the chance to position yourself in front of a prospect (in-person or over the phone.) I have gone so far as to say that ‘80% of the challenge is getting the first appointment.’

In our Career Sales Development Program we teach that an appointment is the first tangible evidence of a prospects investment – specifically, they are investing their time. We place such a premium on appointment setting that our Sales Augmentation (Sales Outsourcing) teams typically utilize at least a 3:1 ratio of Associates (Opportunity Initiators) to Principals (Opportunity Developers / Closers.)

My belief is that effective appointment setting is one of the most important skill-sets because everything else depends on getting the prospect to invest their time. This principle applies whether you are making your first cold call into an account or arranging a quarterly follow-up with an existing customer. For the purposes of this entry, we will be talking about how we teach salespeople to go about setting appointments with a new prospect.


Aim High. As long as I have been in sales, the mantra to position at the highest levels of a company (C-Level, C-Club, Executive Level, etc.) has been touted. Still, I am amazed at the degree to which salespeople will go to justify why they are calling three levels below any real decision making authority. The concept of building a consensus at the functional layer of an organization and then getting these contacts to ‘introduce’ you to the upper echelon is simply a myth.

Don’t fixate on the finding the ‘right’ person. Chances are, your target company has a single person tasked with the responsibility of buying staples and glue. For almost everything else, one person rarely makes the buying decisions. Instead, buying tends to be a complex process made up of many buying roles. We spend a lot of energy eliminating the phrase ‘decision maker’ from our graduate’s vernacular. Regardless of whether or not this concept makes intuitive sense to you the reader, lets just acknowledge that it is hard enough to get ‘in’ with a company so it makes sense to keep your efforts much broader during the prospecting and qualifying phase.

Acknowledge it’s going to take more effort and more time than you think. Here is a news flash…no message…no matter how interesting or eloquent will motivate anyone to call you back. Of course this is not 100% true but it is the right mindset for approaching the overall process. If you start out with the belief that no one will ever call you back then you will be pleasantly surprised if they do. The rest of the time, you will put in the real work necessary to get the job done. On average, it takes 8 to 12 touches across 3 to 5 potential buyers to get the chance to pitch for a meeting. This means it can take as little as 24 calls, voice mails, redirects, etc or as many as 60. Be patient, professional, and persistent.

Always ask for the prospects time. Lots of salespeople argue about this one but it is not up for debate. There is no excuse for not asking: ‘Have I caught you at a bad time or can I take a quick minute to introduce myself?’ Of course this gives the prospect the opportunity to say no but do you really think bullying past them will set you up for long-term success?

Have the right objective for your call. It may seem counterintuitive but we believe the objective of prospecting calls should not be to sell or even gather information. Think about it…what is the prospect doing when you call them? Something else! They are not expecting your call and probably regret picking up the phone as soon as you say: “Hello, my name is…” Instead, your objective must be to get them to agree to commit some of their time in the future to speak with you. Certainly some of you are already asking: ‘Why would they agree to schedule some time if I don’t talk about what we do?’ We’ll get to that but for now just understand that your objective is to get them to commit their time to listen to your pitch.

Make it easy for them to say yes. This is a simple concept that requires two elements. First, you should be directly and unashamedly asking for a brief (10-15 minute) phone conversation NOT an in person sales call. All you are doing is changing the context for delivering the initial ‘pitch.’ Second, give them some specific day and time options. This is nothing more than the time-tested A-B close. I recommend something like: “I have time on my calendar next Tuesday at 10am or Wednesday at 2pm…do either if these work for you?”

Ensure your conversation is aligned to the purpose of your call. If your primary objective is to get the prospect to agree to schedule some time, it doesn’t make much sense to spend time blathering on about your company and yourself. It makes even less sense to prolong or conceal the fact that fact that you are calling for the express purpose of scheduling time to speak. I think that most salespeople are surprised at how positive a reception this approach receives. Think about it: Imagine you are the individual fielding countless calls from salespeople speed-talking a sales pitch past you while you are trying to finish a report or leave for the day. What a refreshing change for someone to respect your time enough to acknowledge that it doesn’t make sense to have an important conversation within the context of what is essentially an interruption.

Make sure the message is about the meeting. When we talk about our approach to appointment setting, salespeople invariable get wrapped around the axle when we encourage them to focus on setting the appointment and avoid talking about what they are selling. ‘How can I get them to commit their time without telling them about my product (or service?)’ The answer is simple while the application of the technique takes some finesse. Ultimately your goal is to NOT to convince them it is worth their time to meet with you because of what you are selling. Instead, the goal is to convince them that scheduling time to meet is a better framework for you to pitch them and (conversely) for them to react to what you are pitching. The challenge of course is the initial reluctance of the prospect to meet regarding something they are not entirely sure about (which is why we talk about making the it easy for them to say yes.) Ironically, the greater challenge turns out to be avoiding the urge to pitch them right there on the spot once this technique triggers the natural curiosity mechanism in the prospect.

Be prepared for objections. Here’s a shocker…this approach does not eliminate objections. Nor would you want it to. We say: ‘An objection is the logical response to an unsolicited request.’ As such, objections represent the prospects part of the conversation. They are supposed to happen so be prepared for the standard objections. Common variations include: I have 15 minutes right now, why don’t you tell me what you do? Just try me on Thursday” and the venerable: “Send me some information.”

Reschedules are a part of the process. On average, 25% of meetings scheduled this way are ‘no-shows.’ 50% of these no-shows can be rescheduled. Don’t get depressed and remember: you are not scheduling a qualified sales call…you are simply changing the context of your initial pitch. Be prepared to professionally handle no-shows and focus on getting the prospect to re-commit their time.

Have an Agenda: The good news is: this method is highly effective at getting a prospect to commit a small window of their calendar to actually pay attention to what you have to say. The bad news is: you are still starting at square one. To give your initial call the best chance for success, you should have a well thought through agenda. Some scoff at the idea of an agenda for 10-15 minute meeting when that is when it is most critical. Your agenda should be direct and shared with the prospect (I like to let them know I will be sending one along as part of closing the initial call.) Generally, you will cover four areas:
- A brief overview of your company / services offered / clients in a similar industry, etc. Aren’t you happy? You finally get to tell them what you do!
- A discussion of key business issues and/or initiatives that would indicate a potential need for your product or service. You must be ready to prompt them here.
- A discussion of next steps and/or additional individuals that you plan to meet with. Notice I didn’t say ‘that you would like them to introduce you to’ and finally
- A request for them to continue participating in the conversation.

Not surprisingly, I am glossing over a lot of detail here and this represents a very different approach than most sales people are used to. Please post a comment if you have specific questions. I would also like to encourage readers to post examples of their most innovative appointment setting techniques.