Scheduling appointments with prospects is hard work. You arm-wrestle with gatekeepers and eventually, whether by sheer persistence or a little luck, you get through to the intended prospect and schedule appointments. All of those efforts, however, are wasted if you’re not properly prepared for those appointments when they come.
Properly Preparing
The preparation process actually begins before you schedule the appointments. It starts by specifically targeting your prospects. Do a little research if necessary and identify market segments for which you know your product or service is particularly well suited.
With a target market segment in mind, you will need to develop two groups of questions to ask during the conversations that precede the appointment. The first group of questions will help identify specific problems prospects are attempting to solve or goals they’re attempting to achieve – areas in which your product or service is highly effective.
For example: Lately we’ve had a number of requests from companies in your industry to help them develop cost-effective methods for complying with the new EPA requirements for storage and disposal of industrial solvents. Has your company established such an initiative yet?
The second group of questions will reveal aspects of your product or service that will help prospects with their efforts and establish reasons for them to meet with you.
For example: Would there be any value in exploring the specific ways we’ve helped other companies not only minimize the impact of the new compliance requirements, but at the same time substantially reduce their recurring solvent expenditures…and then determine if those methods would work for your company?
Asking these questions will facilitate scheduling appointments that are relevant and focused for both you and the prospect. In other words, it is much more powerful than asking to “stop by when I’m in the area.” In addition, the resultant appointments are more productive than those where you simply show up and leave literature that is promptly filed away after the meeting, or just as promptly forgotten.
There’s more to do.
After you schedule the appointments, there’s still more preparation to be done. You should learn as much about the prospects as possible. Visit the companies’ web sites. Google the key players and learn what you can about them. Check the web sites of trade associations to which the prospects might belong and search for articles about or submitted by them. The more you know about the prospect, the more intelligent and relevant the discussions will be.
More questions.
Just as you prepared questions for the initial prospecting call conversations, you should prepare questions to ask during the appointments – questions that will control the subject matter and direction of the conversations.
Develop the questions you’ll ask to expand on the initial reasons for meeting and help prospects discover specific reasons to do business with you. Also, plan questions you’ll use to obtain the information required to fully qualify the opportunity – investment issues or timing of a buying decision, for instance.
And finally...
Be prepared to ask for a commitment – whether it’s to take the next step in the selling process or to make a buying decision. All the preparation is for nothing if you leave things open-ended at the conclusion of the meeting.
So, why prepare for your appointments?
The more you prepare for appointments, the more control you’ll have over the selling process. The more control you have over the selling process, the more frequently you’ll have a positive outcome.
