Expert question: appointment generation

Hello everybody!
my company is specialized in developing softwares to help local businesses increase their customer retention and eventually their income in the medium-long run.
We have to work via appointment, since our software is full of features and it is difficult to understand immediately. We tried many ways to generate appointments and we found out that a pull logic (in which the process is advertising --> awareness --> appointment request) allows us to work with much higher percentages of closed contracts if compared with the appointments made by a call center activity.
My question is: do you know some way to generate appointments or leads (on our website) apart from the standard digital advertising (social, landing page, search & display and so on)? I'm especially looking for some of you with a personal experience with this kind of activity.

Thank you all guys!

 

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but have you tried LinkedIn InMails for your B2B custom service marketing and cold calling campaigns?

We've been getting very good results from LinkedIn InMails for our B2B service offers. Here's how we do this:

1. We create a list of our target companies. We then find the names of the decision makers in the relevant departments of our target companies. We then look for their contact details, business hours and LinkedIn profiles. We then confirm if they expect to receive proposals and marketing communication materials, which is normally written in their contact pages and LinkedIn profiles ...

2. We create custom proposals and marketing letters for each prospect. We try to integrate a compelling call to action in our marketing letters, which could most likely help us set an appointment with our prospect to discuss our proposal in more detail ...

3. We send our proposals and marketing letters to our prospects via LinkedIn Inmail. We sometimes also send these via email when we feel that a slight nudge could be helpful. After a few business days, we call them to introduce ourselves. We also ask if they want us to fax our proposals for their convenience. We then try to set an appointment with them for discussing our proposals in more detail ...

Notes

** We of course initially check with our professional and personal networks if we know some people who know people who in turn might know people who know our prospects. If so, then we ask them to introduce us and / or recommend our services ...

** To make our brand more familiar in the eyes of our prospects, we try to join active LinkedIn Groups where many of our prospects are already members. We then contribute and share relevant content in these LinkedIn Groups ...

** Sometimes, we also advertise relevant offers via LinkedIn ads where we target members of these LinkedIn Groups. This way, many of our prospects would've already seen us before we contact them via LinkedIn InMail ...

Hope this helps!


-- Marx Melencio of http://grayscaleconsultants.com

 

Here are 7 Important Tips for B2B appointment generation

1. Be prepared

Amidst all the sales and marketing propositions that business personnel receives every day, preparation is the key secret to effectively set a business appointment. To persuade a prospect for a meeting, physical or virtual, it is necessary to anticipate the conversation and provide a problem-solving solution. The value proposition of the telemarketing campaign should also be laid down along with the target audience who the products or service may be relevant to. Not everyone would be interested in what is being pitched and many don’t appreciate cold calls. Hence, marketers need to be more prepared than ever and alter the pitch as per the prospect’s environment.

2.Acquiring a database
Along with having the right demeanor, having a database of prospects’ information, is imperative for successful B2B appointment generation. Through extensive research, businesses must decide who their potential customers are; the ones who find the product or the service valuable. The appointment setting campaign can hit a standstill if precious time is spent calling the wrong people. Sales conversions are troublesome to achieve if half the time is spent cleaning the database of crucial contact information.

3. Ask permission for the prospect’s time
The most basic 101 of setting up an appointment with a prospect, is seeking the permission to speak with them with them rather than aggressively jumping to the sales pitch. Marketers could use phrases like “Would this be a good time to speak?” or “Do you have a quick couple of minutes to spare?” More often than not, if the salesperson receives an approval the chances of him being heard are much greater, as opposed to when the prospect is forced to listen into listening. If the prospect is busy, this is the best opportunity for the marketer to re-schedule a call-back or appointment for some other time. Another practice could involve presenting the prospect with available time slot so that the most convenient one that suits their schedule could be chosen

4.Multi-channel approach

Setting a business appointment is not merely about cold calling. It can take more than a dozen attempts to get a prospect to respond to you. Since the prospects are the final decision makers and are busier than ever, marketers need to be where their prospects are. Thanks to the volume of media available, marketers now have the opportunity to reach out to the prospects multiple number of times by utilizing multiple touch points. Leaving voicemails, sending e-mails or even dropping a note, are various channels that could be adopted to ensure appointment generation success.

5.Dynamism

It would be very naive for a marketer to embrace a one-script-fits-all approach. Each prospect is unique and so are their requirements. In spite of having a good script, it is very easy to stray away from the goal. Having a sales script handy helps in keeping track and highlighting the predominant points of the offer, nonetheless, each conversation is different and hence, should be tailored as per the prospect’s requirements or needs.

6.Leveraging Referrals

Referrals are an asset. When a client refers you to a prospect, the trust that the prospect has for the referee is delivered to you. It also allows the buyer to further engage in an open conversation. Instituting relationships with new clients and reaching out to decision makers and key buyers in the enterprise may prove to be challenging at times. Asking for an internal referral can ensure long term success.

7.Follow-ups and rescheduling

The most underrated aspects of B2B appointment setting are the timely follow-ups and reschedules. It is surprising how many follow-ups or reschedules need to be fixed for a sales representative to make contact with a decision maker. It is paramount that the date and time for the follow-up or reschedule be documented carefully and with timely call back arrangement. The prospect should not be bullied into setting an appointment and a follow-up strategy must be in place to cater to the prospects’ busy schedules. Some amount of time must be taken to better understand the prospect’s interest by engaging in a question-answer while providing a solution.

B2B appointment setting enables business enterprises to lead prospective clients into permanent ones. The process allows parties to engage in a two-way, solution-providing open conversation. Being able to get the first meeting is a composition of well-invested time on the prospects, recognizing the most beneficial opportunities and delivering the desired results. If not you may makeshift and look in to hiring a professional B2B appointment setting service provider.