10 Tips for Successfully Booking More Prospect Meetings

Partners 22 Sep 2021

How many times have you tried to book a new prospect meeting – and failed?

Whether you’re trying to confirm a time and place or you’re downright ghosted, getting a prospect to commit to a meeting can be pretty tricky. And that’s after the arduous task of finding prospects in the first place.

While research tells us that 82% of buyers want to be contacted by sellers throughout the buying process, the trick is knowing when and how to do it.

So by now are you wondering what can you do to make this process easier and increase your chances of successfully booking prospect meetings?

Well, you’ve come to the right place for answers.

In this article, we’re going to outline some of the best practices you can follow to successfully book prospect meetings, starting with your value proposition.

Create a strong and compelling value proposition

A value proposition is a statement that outlines why a consumer should buy from you instead of somebody else. It’s one of the first things consumers will see when finding out more about your business.

Your value proposition can convince consumers that what you’re offering adds more value than your competitors when – worded correctly. Piquing their interest will give you a higher chance of securing a meeting.

Take a look at this example from Uber:

https://www.uber.com/ca/en/

Its value proposition centers around convenience. The company tells customers what they’ll get when they make a purchase, why they should choose Uber over another service, and how they operate.

So how do you create a strong value proposition?

Here’s what we’d suggest:

Understand your customer: To create a value proposition that shows consumers why they should choose your company over another, know what they want. Spend some time understanding your customer needs to create a statement that resonates with them.
Address customer pain points: Do your customers have any concerns about your product or service? Then address those concerns in the statement. For example, if you frequently get a price objection, consider offering a free or discounted trial period.
Focus on your USPs: What makes you different from your competitors, and why should those differences make consumers choose you over the competition? Be clear about how you stand out from the crowd.

Be sure to target the right people with your messaging

To give yourself the best chance of securing a prospect meeting, target the right audience.

Think about it. If you’re targeting a wide pool of people, you’re far less likely to reach those who are interested in what you’re offering.

Not to mention, targeting the right audience is a lot less time-consuming. Don’t worry about reaching every person out there, just the ones relevant to your business.

But how do you know who to target?

There are a few ways you can identify your target audience:

Review your order history: What does your current track record tell you? Is there a certain demographic that takes the lead? If so, focus on that audience.
Take a look at your competitors: What demographic are your competitors targeting? Chances are you’ll be looking for something similar.
Score leads using a lead scoring platform: There are plenty of resources out there to help you find the right target audience. For example, the HubSpot lead scoring platform allows you to prioritize leads from your target audience and convert more prospects.
Use a maturity model to generate qualified leads: It’s no secret that you need to build the know, like, and trust of prospective clients. Use a maturity model and offer personalized maturity assessments to effectively measure how good a fit a prospect is while providing value at the same time.

https://surveyanyplace.com/blog/maturity-model-to-generate-leads/

Whatever method you choose, make sure you identify the right people to target with your messaging. That way, you can rest assured you won’t be wasting your efforts.

Start with an introduction that’s personal and engaging

When you’ve figured out who you want to target, it’s time to think about how you’re going to connect.

Our advice?

Keep it personal.

Since 51% of buyers will connect with a seller if they don’t feel like they’re being sold to, keep this in mind when you’re reaching out. Coming across too salesy risks turning people away.

To keep it light, here are a few things you can do:

Introduce yourself: Keep things personal by introducing who you are, what company you’re from, and your title. If you start the conversation with sales talk, you could lose their interest.
Acknowledge they’re busy: When people receive communication from a salesperson, especially if you’re calling them on the phone, they’re automatically defensive. To help lower their guard, acknowledge the fact that you know they’re busy by saying things like, “I know you’re in the middle of something” or “I know you’re probably having a really busy day.”
Use casual language: You don’t want to come across as cold, so make sure you use casual and colloquial language. Emotive language can help you engage with customers. One company saw a 139% increase in product demo conversions by using personalization at scale and emotive language in its calls to action.

Be persistent in your follow-ups but not annoying

There’s a fine line between being assured and confident with prospects and coming across too strong.

57% of people said they’d be more inclined to buy from a salesperson who doesn’t hassle them when following up. So find that line and don’t cross it.

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But how can you make sure you’re not coming across as too pushy?

The answer is simple.

Research consumer behavior.

There are endless studies and reports out there that will tell you how to follow up with your audience without pushing their buttons.

Whether that’s sending more emails, following up with meeting request emails, or even offering custom branded gifts to sweeten the deal, spend some time researching what works best for your audience.

And if you can’t find the information you need online, trial and error may tell you what you need to know.

Long story short, have all your ducks in a row before sending out your follow-up emails.

Create multi-touch strategies using social media to avoid falling through the cracks

As of July 2021, there were 4.48 billion social media users around the world.

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That’s over half the global population using social media platforms, which makes it a great way to connect with your prospective clients.

To make sure that your prospects see your messaging (and that you don’t lose them along the way), consider using a multi-touch campaign to deliver your message across different platforms. If you don’t have time for this yourself, consider hiring a virtual assistant to take on the task.

For example, you could advertise your product or service on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, consistently and frequently reaching prospects that way. And the more your brand is exposed to prospects, the higher the chance they’ll be interested in a meeting.

Be sure to use a good CRM software to manage and track these touchpoints and prospect interactions so that nothing falls through the cracks.

Build relationships with prospects before you try to pitch them

Resеarch shows that consumers value experience over price and product. So if you want to hook prospects for a meeting, just show them that you’re all about the experience.

You can start by building a relationship with them before you start trying to sell.

But how can you build rapport with prospects before you’ve had the chance to pitch?

Thanks to the internet, there are various ways you can build relationships with prospects without meeting them in person.

Here are a few options:

Produce valuable content: If you want to build a relationship with your prospects, provide them with useful and valuable content. This shows them that you’re a trustworthy and reliable source of information.
Offer them a solution: You show prospects that you understand their situation by offering solutions to their problems. This makes your company relatable and builds a certain level of trust with your brand.
Ask for their opinion: If you’re posting content on social media, consider running polls or questionnaires to get them to engage with your platform. Engaging with your platform builds a relationship with your brand.

Offer free consultations to land the initial meeting

Imagine you want to learn French.

You get on the internet to look for teachers, tutors, and online tools that’ll help you learn another language.

You come across two different platforms that sound like they fit the bill. One of them offers a free consultation beforehand to help you identify the best method of learning. The other requires payment upfront.

Which of these would you pick?

We know what we’d choose . . . the free consultation, of course.

The same goes for your business. If you offer prospects a free consultation before attending a full sales meeting, you have a much higher chance of getting them through the door.

And once the initial consultation is over, chances are they’ll be more inclined to come back for the sales pitch.

Use the right tools for a more efficient workflow and to automate booking meetings

32% of buyers will leave your website for good after a single bad experience. That’s all it takes. One bad experience and they’re gone for good.

So it’s incredibly important that you use the right tools to provide prospects with the best experience possible, especially when booking meetings.

If prospects can easily book a meeting on your website, they’re far more likely to commit. But if your website makes it difficult, you could lose them forever.

So spend some time reviewing some of the scheduling software out there.

Take a look at the route optimization software Track-POD, for example. Its chatbot allows prospects to easily schedule an online meeting as soon as they land on the page.

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You might want to consider automating your workflow, too.

Why?

Because with an efficient and streamlined workflow, you spend less time on mundane and repetitive tasks and more time nurturing prospects into sales.

Let’s use invoicing as an example.

Imagine you spend four hours per week invoicing. To reduce this amount of time, use an automated invoice approval workflow.

The automations allow you to create multiple invoices at once, send the invoices to clients, and send follow-ups on overdue payments.

As a result, you spend less time creating, sending, receiving, and verifying invoices. Instead, you can focus your efforts on other areas of your business, like converting prospects.

So think about how you can automate your processes to make your workflow more efficient. It’s a good way to free up time to focus on the tasks that matter.

Create an agenda for the meeting and prepare questions in advance

Buyers find no value in 58% of sales meetings. That’s over half of all prospect meetings that buyers think are a waste of time.

Do you want to impress your prospects and provide them with a valuable, useful meeting? Preparation is key.

Here’s what you can do to prepare:

Create an agenda: To make sure things run smoothly and on schedule, prepare an agenda for the meeting beforehand and share it with everyone involved — including the prospect. That’ll tell them what to expect, show them that you’re fully prepared, and that you value their time.
Prepare questions in advance: Think of this meeting as an interview. Both parties want to see if the business relationship will be a good fit, so have some questions at the ready.

When hiring and onboarding your sales team, make sure they all follow these processes. You need everyone on board to give your prospects a seamless and efficient meeting.

Research your prospect before the meeting

An important part of meeting prep is having a thorough understanding of your prospective client.

Picture this. You arrive for a meeting with a potential new supplier. It becomes clear throughout the meeting that the supplier doesn’t understand what your business does.

How would you feel? You’d be apprehensive about buying from them, right?

To ensure that prospective clients have confidence in you and your business, show them that you take things seriously. In addition to building trust in you, understanding their business gives you some solid talking points that will get some engaging conversation flowing.

So do your research, understand their business, and show them how your product or service can make their lives easier.

Put these steps into action and get your prospects on board

You should now have a solid foundation for successfully engaging with prospects and getting more meetings in the bag.

You know what you can do to engage with prospects, how to identify the right audience to target, and how to prepare for a successful first meeting.

All that’s left is to put your newfound skills into action.

Ezra Sandzer-Bell
Ezra Sandzer-Bell works at Appointlet as product marketing manager and customer advocate. He has helped thousands of customers improve their online scheduling workflow. Outside of work, he is a music theory instructor and founder of a music software company.