6 Business to Business Appointment Setting Misconceptions

And What Should You Be Asking Instead about Business to Business Appointment Setting

Business to business appointment setting greatly increases the ability of any company to improve their sales pipeline. However, with tons of companies specializing in generating appointments, misconceptions about this strategy emerge inevitably.

What are these top misconceptions and what should you be asking instead? Read further below to help you determine which B2B sales leads and appointment setting provider works best for your business.

Myth #1: Generating Appointments are Simple as ABC

Exchanging phone and email conversations to nurture leads and qualify appointments doesn’t happen overnight. The act itself of appointment setting services, especially one on one appointments takes several weeks or even months. 

Moreover, with B2B sales leads and appointment setting, you do not simply hire external staff to call your prospects. This is also about critical actions that you ought to implement with your outsourcing provider. 

These are sharing your business’ value proposition, updating of the database, and scheduling of follow-up calls. In most cases, it takes 10 or more dials before you can get a single qualified lead. 

What you should be asking instead to further qualify the right outsourced appointment setting services provider?

Who is doing the call?

This is an important question you ought to ask yourself when shortlisting your outsourcing business to business appointment setting provider. In relation to myth #1, you should know what kind of people are making calls that represent your brands. Because as established this is not a walk in the park task. 

Some questions you can ask are the following:

• Can you meet these people?
• How long have they been doing it?
• What is their education level?
• How are they paid?

Remember, they are representing your brand in every conversation they are making. If they are horrible at their tasks, what does it say about your business? A good adage to remember is this, show me how someone’s paid and I will show you how they will act. 

If your prospective third party provider is not transparent about these things, you better think twice about getting their services. 

Remember, a generating appointments firm may give you lots of meetings but are they the type of meeting that you want? Or will it truly improve your sales funnel? 

Myth #2: Generating Appointments Team Can Schedule Appointments Without the Help of Any Company

If you think about it, calling a prospect and keeping the conversation going sounds easy. However, you must consider how convincing your b2b sales leads and appointment setting staff are for a follow-up call. 

How effectively can they persuade prospects to book for another meeting? Also, how many hours can they delegate to this service?

Remember, your outsourced appointment setting services provider acts as support for your in-house salespeople. Which are known as more focused on closing deals rather than finding leads.

Outsourced generating appointments provider is here to help you augment your in-house salespeople’s efforts. Thus the goal of improving your revenue and bottomline. 

Therefore, it is not a good idea to alienate your outsourced generating appointments team to your in-house salespeople and vice versa. As this may lead to the loss of qualified opportunities. 

What you should be asking instead to prevent this from happening?

Who Owns the Messaging?

You must be aware of what is being said to attract new prospects. This is why it is best to build a strong communication line between your in-house sales people and your outsourced appointment setting services provider. 

This way, your salespeople are aware to further improve their pitch to get closer to a successful deal. At the same time, it amplifies the efficacy of the messaging your vendor is telling to your prospects. 

Script improvements work better this way as well. As both teams involved become aware of which messaging resonates better to prospects. That leads to a more successful business to business appointment setting and sales.

Myth #3: Training Inside Sales Team is More Productive and Cost-efficient

For startups and SMEs, this is often a disadvantage. Imagine the exhausting process your whole sales team has to go through. 

Business leaders, managers, and recruiters have to plan the workflow, collect or buy the necessary tools and software, and undergo the process of hiring qualified generating appointments staff. 

Also you ought to give training sessions and oversee operations once it’s deployed. In some cases, you may need to repeat the whole process.

Your inside sales team also needs to develop a strategy to approach, handle, and follow-up calls. 

These are the reasons why it is not smart to do this in-house as this may be counterproductive. 

What you should be asking instead to get the right third party appointment setting services to free you of these hassle?

How Many Accounts/Clients Do Reps Work On?

We know that outsourcing providers cater to a number of clients. Can you imagine trying to schedule meetings for 6 to 8 different offerings? This is not to say that shared services are always a bad idea. 

Instead you should focus on their ability to make conversations with prospects at the highest level of accuracy. Juggling between offerings may be easy for these vendors, however, you have to make sure they can get your message across, effectively. 

Knowing this and setting up your expectations will save you the hassle. It will also give your vendor to come up with the right service packages for you. That will suit your needs. 

Myth #4: Appointment Setting Services Never Worked

This may be true only if you outsource to low quality services. Your reasons may be because it is a lot cheaper and quicker. However, you must consider the fact that they are getting appointments regardless if the leads were qualified or not. 

However, a reliable business to business appointment setting provider will do more than just call your prospect and cross out their names on your list. They are open to discuss the set of guidelines you require before passing it as a qualified appointment.

What you should be asking instead that may affect your partnership and business in the long run?

Who Owns the Data?

It is not uncommon for third party vendors to use their proprietary database. As they do have large lists that they captured over time. But you have to know who they are calling to avoid redundancy with your sales team.

This may be a sensitive issue to talk about, however, transparency is key here. When you are in the consulting stage, you must ask this necessary question so you understand what’s going to happen in your partnership.

Also you must remember that a good b2b sales leads and appointment setting provider can walk you through these important matters. 

Myth #5: There’s no Difference Between Cheap Appointment Setting Services Than An Expensive One

You get what you pay for. This is true for a business to business appointment setting. It should be clear that this is an investment and must not be taken lightly. The cheaper services don’t mean better quality.

In fact, it may be the other way around. Some affordable services often go after the low lying fruit. Which is to schedule appointments with people they are not sure are interested or not. 

This mindset may cost you additional time and money to waste. Which will make you more inclined to spend more. So why not get quality generating appointments services instead?

What you should be asking instead to determine which outsourcing provider will give you the best results?

How Are They Paid?

You have to know what it takes for your offering to get to the right person with the right person. Owners without prior experience in appointment setting services outsourcing initially like the idea of pay for performance vendors.

Why? Imagine the possibility of getting an appointment with a Director of an IT company or decision-maker of a financial services company. With a much lesser cost. 

This is not saying that it is not possible. However, if you want this model, you must be aware of the probability of meeting with a director who attends an appointment but cannot make a decision.

Myth #6: Every Appointment Setting Services Are Just The Same

Let us set the record straight, not all b2b sales leads and appointment setting is the same. Some may be good at generating appointments in a specific industry, some are n’t. That is why it is up to you to sift through all of these providers. 

Every appointment setting services provider offers a different value proposition. For example, a complex-related industry may need an appointment setting services that focuses on commodity sales.

But this is not applicable for a healthcare-focused company. As this is more inclined to representatives with medical-related expertise. 

You must remember that outsourcing appointment setting services can bring value to your business. As long as you choose the most suitable provider to partner with. 

What you should be asking to single out the best appointment setting services provider?

Do You Get Value Out Every Phone Conversation?

While the ultimate goal is generating appointments, your provider must update your CRM tools with attributes from the conversation that are useful as a future reference. 

There are all types of information besides generating appointments. Access to these bits of information will enhance your business’ database, sales and marketing efforts.

Is The Vendor Familiar With Your Industry?

As we’ve mentioned, outsourcing providers cater to different industries. That is why it is up to you to understand what it is you do and must have an experience in your industry. 

The only way to be successful with your business to business appointment setting is to evaluate your vendor. Properly and thoroughly.

You can do this by thorough market research, ask your sales team, seek expert advice and choose a highly skilled and experienced provider.

Reservations Call Center Is Your Business to Business Appointment Setting Provider

Our decade in this particular service provides us with in-depth experience that is proven to deliver results to our clients. We focus our services as customizable across industries, ensuring its flexibility and efficiency. 

We also hire the best generating appointments staff that can navigate your industry and possess the right skills and experience.

Reservations Call Center also uses the best CRM tools to further streamline our service delivery. 

Additionally, we have ISO 27001-certification and are HIPAA-compliant. We protect your data as we should be. All the time.
Contact us today and let us help you improve your bottomline!