How do you know when to begin a new appointment setting campaign? This is the question that has left a lot of marketers scratching their heads.
In my 10 years of experience in sales, I know that appointment setting can open good opportunities for your business.
- It provides quality prospects because you only get to speak with someone that are really interested in what you have to offer.
- It allows you to get in front of your buyers when they are at the right stage of their buying process.
So it is important to must make sure your sales pipeline has a lot of warm prospects to nurture to for your sales team to convert into an actual business deal.
When my team experienced drought in our sales pipeline, we’ve decided to evaluate our marketing efforts. After a lot of brainstorming, we came to a decision to set a lead generation strategy. We’ve listed down the 5 key indicators that helped us decide to revamp our appointment setting campaign.
#1. Lack of prospects to nurture.
Whenever you look at your calendar, you notice large patches of empty days, where there are no potential B2B leads for your sales team to contact and nurture. When this occurs too often consecutively, it either means your current source of customers have dried up or your sales team has become slower. You better know The Four P’s Of Sales Leads Nurturing.
Even if you have a lot of leads in your sales pipeline, only 20-30% of it are converted into sales. tweet this!
How can you improve your numbers?
Never assume inbound leads can fill up your pipeline. Have your sales team scout for more leads through different channels. Ask someone to make calls or have someone send emails or attend business events, etc. Whatever your team decides to do, just make sure they reach out to your potential customers and avoid unqualified leads.
Related: Ever thought of following up Inbound Leads via Outbound Marketing?
#2. You have no ready replacement for a lost client.
Bad service, poor quality of products, they found someone else with a lower price or there’s a need to change. Yes, it can be painful to lose a client, but it could be more painful if you do not have a replacement ready for the one you have lost. Regardless of the reason, It is a huge loss for your profits when a client leaves you, so you need to make sure that you have a sufficient buffer to deal with the loss, or you have to have a new source of income for your firm. How?
Have the sales team to separate their leads.
- Sales-ready leads
- Warm prospects
- Not interested prospects
Here’s to Assess your Sales Leads: Is it Hot, Warm or Cold?
Encourage your team to nurture all prospects even those that are not interested as of the moment. They might need something later on and consider you.
Related: Don’t Just Blast Cold Email Picthes, Nurture and Win Customers [VIDEO]
#3. Your deals are getting stalled.
This is expected when nurturing B2B leads. You might want to take a closer look at your lead qualification process. Sometimes, being too strict on a certain opportunity can be more costly than taking it in and turning them into a business client.
What could you be doing wrong?
- You’re sending the wrong message to the right people or vice versa.
TIP: Identify who is your ideal prospect and find out the following:
- Needs
- Interest
- Problems
- Concerns
- You’re not hitting the right audience
TIP: Interact and communicate with your prospects on their preferred channel or social media site.
Related: Why Should Live Chat be Part of your Multi-Channel Strategy?
#4. You only have small deals.
If you want your business to grow fast, focus on bigger projects because larger projects bring more revenue for your business. However, they have higher expectations as well. As the saying goes, “don’t keep all of your eggs in one basket”, don’t underestimate what small clients can provide. They can help increase your revenue from a lost client.
These deals cost less and you will maximize your team’s effort because we can’t underestimate small deals from clients who will only buy 1 or 2 of our products. All right, we all know how profitable niche marketing can be, tapping into small clients to capture a greater share of the market, but there is a reason why bigger is better. So, you might want to take a second look over those small deals that look so tempting to close.
#5. The market is saturated with your business.
What if you’re more passionate in an industry that is already a saturated market? The fact that the industry is oversaturated means there are a lot of opportunities to grow your business. You just have to know where to look for it.
What can you do?
Don’t be afraid to be different. Improve your products. Offer something new that separates you from your competitors.
If you see any of these signs of your business, then it is time for you to do something about it and overhaul your appointment setting campaign.
