top 5 appointment setting companies in Australia

Top 5 Appointment Setting Companies in Australia: Choosing the Best to Partner

So, here’s the thing: The not-so-great news is you’re having a tough time booking appointments with potential clients. On the bright side, you’re not alone! In fact, a lot of B2B businesses face the same issue.

For many B2B businesses, getting in touch with decision-makers and scheduling a meeting can be a daunting task. However, appointment setting is a critical part of the sales process and is necessary for building a robust sales pipeline.

Appointment setting means assigning potential clients to sales representatives, allowing sales closers to concentrate on qualified leads. It also involves arranging meetings with potential clients, which can be handled by your own sales team or by a third-party service provider.

Prior to this point, the potential client may not have been aware of your company. In some cases, they may have knowledge of it but haven’t initiated any contact, opting instead for passive forms of engagement like browsing your website or receiving emails. Appointment setting marks the first step in engaging with a customer, typically over the phone or a video call.

What is an Appointment Setting Service?

Appointment Setting Concept

Businesses need to find potential clients and set up appointments with them to expand their customer base, which can be time-consuming and expensive. But partnering with a B2B appointment setting service can help by having dedicated teams that specialize in reaching out to potential clients on their behalf, saving businesses time and money. 

B2B appointment-setting services are skilled in persuasion and can communicate the benefits of a business’s products or services, schedule convenient appointments, and convey necessary information beforehand. Delegating this task to a third-party service allows businesses to focus on other areas while streamlining the process of converting prospects into a sales pipeline.

When does a company need to hire an Appointment Setting Service Provider?

Company outsourcing to an appointment setting provider

Generating leads and scheduling appointments is difficult for businesses due to limited resources and time in today’s increasingly competitive environment. Appointment-setting service providers specialize in this and can help businesses save time, money, and resources while generating a steady flow of leads.

There are several situations where it can be beneficial for businesses to hire an appointment-setting service provider. Let’s take a look at some scenarios where it might be worth considering.

  1. Limited resources: Outsourcing lead generation and appointment setting to a specialized service provider can be a cost-effective solution for businesses that have limited resources in terms of staff, expertise, and time.
  2. Focus on core competencies: When a business wants to focus on its core competencies and leave the lead generation and appointment scheduling tasks to a specialized service provider, it can free up resources and help the business achieve its goals more efficiently.
  3. Quality and consistency: The proficiency and experience of appointment-setting service providers can result in the provision of excellent and reliable services.
  4. Sales pipeline expansion: Businesses that aim to expand their sales pipeline and acquire new customers can benefit from partnering with appointment-setting service providers to generate a steady flow of leads and appointments.
  5. Scalability: Appointment-setting service providers can adjust their services to match a business’s changing needs and goals, providing flexible and scalable solutions.

How much would their services most likely cost you?

Now, if you’re wondering about the cost of outsourced appointment setting, we got two words for you: it depends.

Companies don’t have a fixed cost for their lead gen and appointment-setting services. The expenses can fluctuate since they charge by the hour, per appointment, or by the month. Some offer a flat fee for a fixed number of calls.

Check out this rundown:

  • Hourly charges typically fall within the range of $25-$75.
  • For monthly fees, expect to pay around $300 to $500 for 100 calls. This still depends on the factors like script complexity and the number of hours worked.
  • Depending on difficulty, per-appointment fees can range from $15 to $100.
  • Setup fees, including charges on the development of your script and campaign strategy, can run between $300 to $500.
  • Lead list fees can cost between $100 to $1000 if you utilize the service’s list instead of your own.

These costs are based on the appointment-setting pricing models enumerated below:

  • Paid per Appointment Setting: In this model, the appointment setting service provider charges a fee for each lead they generate through their service. Fees are incurred when an appointment is scheduled for the sales team or after it has been held, no matter the amount of time and effort spent on finding the leads.
  • Paid per Booked and Completed Meeting: This is a payment method where sales reps or appointment setters are paid for each meeting they schedule and complete with potential clients, regardless of whether it resulted in sales or not. Payment is usually made after the meeting takes place. Here, the focus is on completing the meeting rather than just booking it.
  • Hourly charge:  Here, appointment setters are paid a fixed hourly rate regardless of how many meetings they set or leads they generate. Hourly rates differ depending on product complexity, industry, and the appointment setter’s capacities. This is a common payment model for appointment setting and telemarketing, where a lot of time is spent on the phone monitoring leads and arranging meetings.
  • Call list: Working with an appointment-setting company entails the provision of decision-makers and companies for them to contact. Keeping these lists, however, aren’t for free. You need to pay setup costs to the lead generation company, just like with any other outsourced service, and the prices may vary depending on the sort of campaign, target market, and the businesses you want to target.

How do you pick the best Appointment Setting Company for your company?

If you’re looking for appointment-setting services for your B2B business needs, it’s crucial that you find a provider who can address your specific needs with top-notch expertise. In light of this, the following questions can help you in selecting the best provider for your company:

  1. Define your goals and needs: Start by asking the following questions before seeking an appointment-setting company: What appointment types do you want to set? What are your target industries? How much budget are we allocating?
  2. Check vendor experience and expertise: Look for appointment-setting companies that have a good track record and expertise in your industry. Check their success rates and client reviews in setting appointments.
  3. Consider their outreach and technology: Ask about their methodology and workflow. Do they have a proven process for lead generation, qualification, and appointment setting? Do they send out emails, make phone calls, and engage leads in social media and across multiple channels?
  4. Ask about their technology and tools: Appointment-setting companies that utilize modern technologies and automation like Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Account-based management (ABM), and Database Management have maximized efficiency and productivity in lead generation and booking meetings.
  5. Do they provide a tailored approach?: To succeed in appointment setting, targeting potential clients who are a good fit for your business is as essential as identifying and avoiding those who aren’t relevant to your business. Appointment setters should have personalized marketing campaigns to meet the prospect’s particular needs and goals.
  6. Evaluate their communication and collaboration: Outsource to a company that’s responsive to your needs and feedback and are providing progress reports and progress regularly.
  7. Check their pricing structure and terms: Consider appointment-setting companies that provide clear pricing and flexible terms and conditions. Also, you have to be aware of undisclosed charges or lengthy contracts; or if the service’s scope and size can be adjusted according to your needs.

Top 5 Appointment Setting Companies in Australia

biggest challenge of marketers

In Hubspot’s State of Marketing Report, it was found that 61% of marketers consider generating traffic and leads to be their biggest challenge. The increasingly growing list of B2B appointment-setting companies adds up to this burden.

In this case, how do you choose the best appointment setting to partner with amidst the vast options to select from?

To help you find the right fit for your business, we have compiled a detailed list of the top appointment-setting companies in Australia.

Callbox Australia

Callbox Australia

About: Callbox Australia is a top-notch provider of outsourced B2B lead generation and appointment setting services and outbound sales support for businesses across Australia and the global market.

Callbox Australia is able to connect with prospects and widen its reach through the Multi-Touch, Multi-Channel approach in its campaigns. By leveraging these channels, it can create a comprehensive and effective lead generation strategy that engages prospects through their preferred channels and across different industries.

The company’s campaigns use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to manage customer data and monitor interactions. They also use Account-Based Marketing (ABM) to personalize marketing sales and marketing efforts for key accounts and prospects. The combination of these two strategies helps B2B businesses improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their lead generation and appointment-setting efforts.

Industries: Information Technology, Software, Management Consulting, Marketing and Advertising, Medical and Healthcare, Financial Services, Manufacturing, and Distribution

Services offered: Lead Generation, Appointment Setting, Telemarketing, Event Marketing, Webinar, and Virtual Event Marketing
Campaign approach: Uses a Multi-Touch, Multi-Channel campaign approach to generate leads and appointments, which involves using a variety of channels like voice, chat, email, social media, and webinars. Their approach includes personalized messaging, data-driven targeting, and ongoing campaign optimization to maximize results and ROI.

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Callforce

Callforce Australia

About: Callforce Australia is a company that provides outsourced call center and customer support services to businesses in the region and offers a range of services like inbound and outbound call center services, technical support, lead generation, and appointment setting. 

The company has a strategic focus on specialized BPO services and offers outsourcing solutions that enable businesses to outsource their call center operations to their team of experienced agents.

Their outsourcing solutions allow businesses to streamline their operations, reduce costs, and improve customer engagement and support. 

Industries:  Includes but is not limited to Telecommunications, Financial Services (Banking and Insurance), EdTech, E-commerce, Logistics, and Energy

Services offered: Lead generation, appointment setting, customer service, market research, telemarketing, cold calling 
Campaign approach: As a telemarketing and lead generation company, CallForce Australia uses a more traditional approach to customer service and sales outsourcing, relying more on email, phone, and chat channels.

Book Meetings

Book Meetings

About: Book Meetings is one of the primary B2B appointment-setting companies in Melbourne. They conduct phone calls and face-to-face meetings to connect with key decision-makers and make the initial sales process and cross-selling easier. 

They also offer cold calling services, tailor-made appointment settings for both small and large scale businesses, and provide businesses with high-quality leads that possess high chances of converting into lasting clients for businesses.

Industries: Real Estate, Car Insurance, Health Insurance, Life insurance, Home Improvement, IT Sector, Mortgage

Services offered: Lead generation, appointment setting, cold-calling, buying leads, telemarketing
Campaign approach: Utilize both face-to-face and phone methods in appointment setting and a variety of channels like phone-based telemarketing services, website, blog, and social media for lead generation.

Lead Express

Lead Express

About: Lead Express is an Australian company that provides lead marketing and strategy services to businesses of various sizes. They have expertise in utilizing digital, direct mail, and executive phone-based approaches to generate guaranteed and qualified leads for their clients.

This company is primarily focused on lead generation and strategic client management. They possess bespoke systems that are tailored to facilitate effective communication with potential clients and to manage the entire lead generation process. Their services are designed to cater to both B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) scenarios.

Industries: Information Technology (IT), Business Services, Telecommunications, Advertising, and Marketing

Services offered: Appointment Setting, Telemarketing, Data List Services, Digital Lead Services, Business Events, Sales Training, Marketing Automation, Integration, Inside Sales
Campaign approach: The company’s appointment setters handle inbound leads generated from digital channels and outbound activities while conducting ghost calls on all campaigns. Clients can approve messaging and agents before they are implemented.

Forrest Marketing Group

Forrest Marketing Group

About: Forrest Marketing Group is an Australian-based telemarketing company that offers a full range of call center services. They specialize in providing B2B and B2C lead generation, appointment setting, and telemarketing services to a wide range of industries. 

They use a variety of techniques and strategies to generate high-quality leads and appointments for their clients, including data-driven targeting, customized scripting, and ongoing campaign optimization.

The company works closely with clients to develop customized marketing strategies that are tailored to meet their specific goals and objectives.

Industries: Includes but is not limited to Software as a service (SaaS), Technology, Finance, Insurance, Healthcare, Real Estate, Education, Automotive, and Construction.

Services offered: Customer Service, Telemarketing, Lead Generation, Customer Engagement, Telefundraising
Campaign approach: The company offers contact center services like telemarketing, lead generation, and customer service that can be tailored to meet the specific sales and marketing requirements of their clients.

Choose the right appointment-setting services provider to outsource to

When looking for a partner for your B2B appointment setting, it’s important to choose a company that offers a variety of services and can cater to a wide range of industries. It’s also crucial to find a partner that can make use of modern technology such as CRM and automation, which can help make your lead generation and booking meeting efforts more efficient.

Additionally, the ideal service provider should be able to communicate with your potential customers through various platforms and industries. They should be able to create personalized messaging that resonates with your target audience, employ data-driven targeting techniques to identify the best potential leads, and continuously optimize your campaign for better results and ROI.

We at Callbox understand the specific requirements of B2B businesses, and we have a team of experts who can provide comprehensive marketing services to help you achieve your company’s goals in Australia. 

We specialize in Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategy, which is designed to attract, reach, and schedule meetings with the right targets to ensure your efforts yield favorable results.

Our approach involves multiple touchpoints across various channels to connect with a wider audience simultaneously. This allows us to maximize the impact of your marketing efforts and reach potential clients on their preferred platforms, whether it be email, social media, or phone. 

By utilizing our Multi-touch Multi-channel approach, we can create a seamless experience for your target audience and help ensure a higher chance of success for your B2B marketing campaigns.

Let our team take care of your lead generation and appointment-setting needs today! We at Callbox are eager to demonstrate how our partners can elevate your business to new heights. 

Don’t settle for just being good. We’ll help you become great! Contact us now to get started.

5 Benefits of B2B Appointment Setting

5 Benefits of B2B Appointment Setting

Getting appointments is one of the critical goals of B2B lead generation.

Securing meetings means that a marketer has one foot through the door, and all it takes is just a little push from sales to getting the deal sealed.

In this article, we explore the many benefits of B2B appointment setting and why any B2B organization should do it!

Resource Efficient

Every marketer knows that lead generation and nurturing are expensive.

It costs money to acquire new customers, train specialist staff, and to run campaigns. A full-force lead generation campaign can run into the thousands of dollars, and sometimes you won’t even get the results that you need.

The manpower required to launch labor-intensive lead generation operations is also high compared to appointment setting.

By outsourcing B2B appointment setting campaigns, an organization can be more efficient when it comes to both financial and human resources. They can take advantage of the specialization that B2B appointment setting services have, and they do not have to spend as much on training new people to set appointments for them.

Here’s what.

Smaller organizations benefit the most from this; they do not have the money to spend on training new people, nor can they hire a large number of specialist staff immediately.

However, even larger companies can benefit from downsizing their appointment setting operations. They can increase specialization and decrease the amount of money it takes to maintain an appointment setting team.

Helps Develop Your Brand Image

Your brand image is what defines your image to your stakeholders and customers. It correlates with your corporate culture, and it helps with your marketing.

By being able to define your image as a company that sits down and connects with its clients, you come off as an organization that is personal with the connections that they make. From the get-go, you emphasize strong customer service traits and the ability to connect with the people that you deal with.

When you cultivate this manner of dealing with your prospects, you improve your organization’s image, and you appear approachable to others.

This goes a long way in improving your branding.

Companies that are personal when it comes to their clients are held in higher regard. They are seen as an organization with a personal approach to handling things.

Increases Revenue

Appointment setting is an effective way to market the goods and services that you have to your prospects. It allows you to showcase your portfolio correctly, and the humanistic aspect of having a meeting is always preferred compared to sending a marketing email.

Personalized campaigns are the most effective in lead generation, and you can’t get any more personal and relational than appointment setting. It allows you to customize your approach to each prospect since a real person is conducting the meeting.

More clients translate to more revenue. Having a dedicated appointment setting team allows your company to scale further.

It Saves Time

Outsourcing your B2B appointment setting campaign will allow you to save a lot of time. You won’t need to train a lead qualification team, and you don’t need to spend time warming them up to their tasks.

This time saving can be translated into time that can be spent developing parts of your organization that you specialize in. For example, you could establish the closers that you will be sending out to these client meetings.

Time is one of the most valuable currencies that an organization has. By allowing specialists to handle your appointment setting, you can use this time to develop other areas of your business and specialize even further.

Keeps the Pipeline Running

B2B sales require that your pipeline is always churning up new leads and nurturing them into completion. B2B appointment setting allows a constant stream of leads to keep coming in and maintain the flow of business.

Your sales team will always have new leads to follow, and new leads nurture and guide through the pipeline. This does not only result in better revenue for your company, but it also helps in the aspect of morale because there’s always exciting work for them to pursue.

B2B appointment setting is excellent at avoiding dead times in the business cycle that could cause your sales team to experience boredom and lose their sales momentum. Maintaining rhythm and energy is vital in highly interpersonal departments such as sales.

Outsourcing your appointment setting and lead generation is one of the best things that you can do for your business. It allows your team to specialize in closing and the other areas that they are good in. It’s one of the best ways to be efficient, not only with time but also with financial resources.

Cold Call Scripts That Land Meetings with MSP Buyers (Featured Image)

Cold Call Scripts That Land Meetings with MSP Buyers [Free Download]

Managed IT providers know that they need to reach out to both IT and non IT decision makers to gain new customers. That’s because IT purchases are increasingly being decided not only by multiple people, but also across multiple business functions.

These trends highlight the critical role that targeted, one-on-one outreach plays in selling MSP solutions, and cold calling remains one of the best tools for the job.

That’s why we recently released a downloadable eBook that contains sample call scripts for finding and qualifying potential MSP customers. Each script is tailored for a specific buyer persona and includes a few helpful notes and comments.

The resource is available for download here. The rest of this blog post provides added insights to help you fine-tune your cold call pitch.

Who Makes Managed IT Purchases?

IDC reports that non-IT line of business (LOB) buyers now account for around half of technology spending. These are purchases made without the involvement or knowledge of an organization’s IT department.

Even when IT does get involved, LOB managers still hold a huge sway in the tech purchase process. TechTarget estimates that nearly 30% of buying decisions made by an organization’s IT leadership depend on inputs from non-IT staff.

This makes it clear that selling MSP solutions now needs to move past solely targeting IT decision makers. This underscores a growing challenge for MSP vendors that rely on reaching buying consensus with multiple stakeholders to close deals.

Not only do LOB managers’ priorities and pain points differ from those of IT decision makers, but these two buying groups often disagree about key items on the IT buying checklist.

What’s also important is that these divergences have a huge impact on how MSP buyers start their purchase journey. This means that connecting and building relationships with stakeholders require messaging that takes these gaps into account, even in the initial stages of the buying process.

Targeted Cold Calls to Key MSP Buyer Personas

Targeted cold calls make up a vital layer of touch points for proactively reaching out and engaging potential MSP customers.

Cold calling works well for top-of-funnel outreach activities since it enables one-on-one conversations that prepare prospects for the next stages in the sales cycle.

For complex-sale products like managed IT solutions, cold calls help move contacts from initial awareness to active leads.

With the MSP prospect pool growing to include more and more non-IT decision makers, your cold call messaging strategy also needs to capture this new audience.

One way to refine your outreach message is to segment potential stakeholders based on buyer personas and then tweaking your cold call pitch accordingly.

In most technology purchases like managed IT solutions, key decision makers consist of four buyer personas (although the number can certainly increase, depending on the complexity of your sales cycle):

  • End User:  These are typically non-IT LOB managers of departments and business areas that stand to benefit the most from your offer.
  • Influencer:  These are mid- to senior-level decision makers that drive purchase decisions.
  • Technical Buyer:  These are IT-focused specialists that can block a purchase if it doesn’t meet their requirements.
  • Economic Buyer:  These decision makers oversee the budget and give the final go-ahead for a purchase.

End User

In MSP sales, the end user buyer persona consists of non-IT LOB decision makers that oversee specific functional business areas that directly benefit from your solution.

End users have the most to gain from your offer. That’s why they tend to be your biggest advocates in your target accounts. That is, if you can find a way to build a relationship with them early on in the sales process.

LOB decision makers care about business outcomes rather than product specifics. If a product solves a real problem, the results matter more to them than the underlying details.

According to professional services automation provider Promys, the decision-making process that LOB managers follow typically includes:

  • Decide if there’s a specific problem
  • Determine if the problem is worth devoting resources to
  • Identify possible ways of solving the problem
  • Pick out the “best” way
  • Look up vendors that provide the “best” solution
  • Choose the “best” vendor

Influencer

Even though buying decisions have now become more distributed, the process is still significantly driven by stakeholders that span different business areas and functions.

These decision makers have a huge influence on the buying process and help move the deal forward. That’s why they’re typically labeled as “influencers.” They commonly consist of mid- to senior-level managers that directly handle your target LOB prospects.

Influencers look for strategic impact of MSP solutions instead of operational or technical details. They’re more into seeing how your offer fits their big-picture goals of growth, profitability, competitiveness, industry trends, disruption, etc.

That’s why your cold call messaging strategy needs to achieve the below three key points. These ensure that your pitch will be able to capture influencers’ attention and obtain the response you want:

  • What does your offer bring to the organization?
  • How can you earn your prospects’ trust?
  • What line of fresh thinking can you offer?

Technical Buyer

The rise of the LOB buyer hasn’t made the IT department irrelevant in MSP purchases. The risks and limitations associated with shadow IT (such as interoperability, security, resilience, etc.) still support the case for IT’s close involvement.

While technical buyers typically don’t have final authority over tech purchases, they do have the power to reject a potential managed IT proposal. The goal when reaching out to technical buyers is to make sure they don’t shake their head sideways at your offer.

When crafting a cold call pitch aimed at technical buyers, it’s important to keep the following points from Lean B2B in mind:

  • They have in-depth and specialized expertise in your field.
  • Their main concern is to verify whether your solution really does what you claim it does.
  • They focus on the measurable and quantifiable items of your offer.
  • They look for details on usage, testing, deployment, and maintenance.

Economic Buyer

The persona that has the final say in MSP purchases is the economic buyer. In fact, most marketing experts consider economic buyers as the “ultimate decision maker” because even if everyone else says yes, it’s the economic buyer’s approval that determines whether a purchase happens or not.

Economic buyers can be a single person or a committee that directly controls budget and spending. The larger the deal size, the more senior the economic buyers will be involved. Smaller purchases commonly require only the approval of managers lower in the org chart, while deals with six-figure price tags can involve a board- or C-level evaluation committee.

The key to winning economic buyers over is to deeply understand the things that tend to make them say yes:

  • Finding the best-fit managed IT vendor for their organization
  • Ensuring long-term stability of both the MSP provider and the working partnership
  • Knowing the vendor’s approach to risk mitigation
  • Verifying different proof points about a vendor’s ability to deliver
  • Being able to objectively weigh costs against benefits

Conclusion:

Now more than ever, cold calls help MSP vendors reach and connect with the different decision makers involved in the purchase process. But this requires refining your MSP pitch to make it more relevant to what each decision maker actually cares about.

To see how to put this strategy into action, check out our latest collection of cold calling scripts for various MSP buyer personas.

Turn cold MSP leads into sales meetings. Get your free sample scripts now.

ABM-Telemarketing-Scripts-for-Cold-Calling-Key-Software-Personas-BG

[Free Download] ABM Telemarketing Scripts for Cold Calling Key Software Personas

If there’s one channel that checks all the boxes in ABM outreach, it’s targeted phone calls. Outbound touches drive ABM results in five crucial areas:

  1. Gathering insights that help tailor your approach
  2. Building and growing meaningful relationships with each stakeholder
  3. Delivering relevant content and messaging to the right decision maker at the right time
  4. Providing a consistent and coherent brand experience across the different stages of the sales funnel
  5. Achieving true marketing and sales alignment

Targeted telemarketing helps you achieve all these and more, but it can be a little challenging to translate these into clear actions and actual messaging strategies.

That’s why the Callbox team recently put together a free downloadable resource that includes sample buyer profiles and telemarketing scripts tailored for ABM programs in the IT/software space.

We want this resource to serve as a practical guide and template for everyone looking to use the power of targeted phone calls in ABM. With this downloadable content, you’ll be able to integrate telemarketing into your ABM program in ways that impact results.

Here’s a quick preview.

Buyer Persona Templates

A buyer persona represents a specific stakeholder’s characteristics. It summarizes the demographic, professional, firmographic, and psychographic qualities related to a decision maker.

Buyer personas help you segment and personalize your messaging strategy according to the needs and preferences of each stakeholder. That’s why creating reliable buyer personas is critical to the success of your ABM outreach efforts.

This downloadable PDF includes sample buyer persona templates that outline the following characteristics:

  • Job Title/Professional Info
  • Demographics
  • Goals and Pain Points
  • Preferred Resources

We provide a filled-out buyer profile template for each of the four key buyer personas typically involved in software purchases:

  • Champion (your primary advocates in the target account)
  • Influencer (stakeholders with the authority and expertise to sway buying decisions)
  • Ratifier (decision makers with highly-specific concerns about a solution)
  • Economic Buyer (stakeholders who control the budget)

Targeted and Personalized Cold Call Scripts

One-on-one phone calls with stakeholders form an important component of an ABM outreach strategy. Phone calls work well at nurturing prospects that are in the middle-of-the-funnel (MOFU) stages as well as converting stakeholders during the bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) phases.

But live calls are also very effective at connecting with potential prospects during the top-of-funnel stages. That’s because, when combined with other outbound channels like email, targeted calls can help you scale attracting and qualifying stakeholders early in the sales process.

For the downloadable resource, we compiled a complete cold calling script tailored for each of the above-mentioned software buyer personas. Each script covers all the key areas of compelling sales conversations:

  • Personalized introduction
  • Rapport-building tactics
  • Creating curiosity and highlighting pain points
  • Probing questions
  • Wrapping up

This proven formula for targeted sales conversations works well at engaging different stakeholders in an ABM setting. We provide these actual scripts to serve as your guide or reference when writing your own.

Conclusion

Outbound calls help drive results for ABM programs. Our downloadable buyer persona templates and call scripts will help you make the most of this crucial ABM channel. Get your copy today.

How-can-Software-Companies-Get-Meetings-with-the-Right-Prospects

How can Software Companies Get Meetings with the Right Prospects?

Sometimes being a software vendor can get difficult – trust us, we get it. However, just with anything that is difficult, there’s always a quick workaround.

When trying to set appointments, be conscious of how you formulate your statements so as to make a good impression. Turning off your prospect is the last thing you would want to do.

Here are some helpful tips used by marketers and some software vendors alike to land an appointment with the right buyers:

Do your research well

Nothing will guarantee you better results than doing your homework properly right from the beginning. Study your targets and get to know their schedule such as when they are busiest during the day, when is a good time to make a phone call and how to get their attention. You also want to make sure that you get their positions in the company right. Doing so gives them the impression that you are interested enough to review their profiles.

Be seriously prepared when you make a phone call in order to set an appointment.

1. Get your target clients to lower their guards.

Be casual yet professional when you start the conversation and use this formula: introduce yourself + acknowledge that they are busy. For instance, say something like, “Hi, my name is Chris Simmons from 123 Solutions. Am I correct in saying you must be working on something now?”

Commonly, the default response would be to deny that they are busy and can spare a few minutes to take your call.

2. Let the person on the other end of the line know your purpose for calling.

Say something like this, “The reason why I am calling is I would like to get 20-30 minutes of your time to discuss how we can help improve your employee productivity by at least 25%.” This kind of statement does not only get the target’s attention, but it also gives him or her a clear picture of what you can offer.

3. End with a strategic question that will help you achieve your objective

Try asking something like this, ”Would tomorrow at 10am or Friday 3pm be perfect to call you again?” This type of question gives the person on the other end of the line 2 alternatives to immediately choose from.

Attempt to reach your target during their “off” hours

The type of business leaders you want to reach are those who are influential enough not to be required to punch in and out daily. You can schedule an email to be sent early in the morning, make a sales call during their lunch break or after office hours. Usually, most marketers get good responses when they send out emails between 4am to 5am. This strategy gives you an edge as you get the recipient’s attention as he starts his day after a good rest the night before.

Use referrals to your advantage.

When you are referred by someone, it simply means that the person who is asking as mediator can either vouch for your integrity as a business operator or simply know someone who has a great need for your software. Additionally, when people refer someone it generally implies that there is a certain degree of trust in play. Referrals place you in an advantageous position over your competitors.

Do not sell your product or service right away.

When you approach someone for a potential appointment, do not tell what you’re selling immediately. Instead, present on the benefits that can be had from your software. You can say something like, “We can help you streamline your operations and improve production by at least 20%. Would you be available to meet this Friday to discuss this further?”

In your target’s mind, there is already an end result in sight. All the target has to do is say yes to meeting you on the agreed date.

Pursue your marketing leads.

Setting an appointment with the right prospects does not have to be an agonizing experience for you. You need not look too far at the same time. Consider the business operators that are already familiar with your brand, those who have sent inquiries in the past, checked out your website, downloaded materials from your site, or attended one of your events in the past.

It helps greatly when you pay attention to the people who are already in your circle. Keep them closer by engaging them one more time. Since they are already familiar with your brand, it becomes a lot easier to set an appointment.

3-Winning-Appointment-Setting-Tips-from-Top-Salespeople

3 Winning Appointment Setting Tips from Top Salespeople


No matter how advanced the tools you employ and creative your ideas are but lack a fraction of these spontaneous and confident sales speakers in your business ensemble to promote and present your brand, and whom you rely the growth you aspire and the target ROI on, your business will never get anywhere.

But did you ever wonder what magic do these salespeople do, what words or language do they use to get a customer to buy your product or take advantage of your service by simply talking to them?

1. What they have in mind

They are flexible and broad-minded. Part of their mental conditioning is the possibility of getting both Yes and No answers from prospects. The thought of getting rejected or getting unsure answers like ‘Maybe’, ‘Not for now’ and ‘Let’s talk again some other time’ does not get them hands up and surrender the battle, however find ways to leave the prospect interested to know some ‘WIIFM’ for himself that would eventually get him to proceed to the next step of the sales process.

2. What they feel

True-blooded salespeople are always excited to meet clients, enjoys talking to them and are confident. They would always get to the meeting venue ahead of the prospect to leave a positive initial impression on how eager they are to do business with them. Although their spirits are high at the start of the meeting, they are still able to show warmth and calmness by not getting straight on discussing the proposal, instead start with small talks by asking the client how his day is, maybe thank him for coming to the meeting, compliment on the venue of the meeting (if it was his choice) or offer him a drink.

3. What they do

Nothing. They simply listen…actively listen to the prospect, but filters the important details of his speech – what he wants, his business need, his purchase habits. Then, at a chance to ask questions, they pace their questioning, and eventually probing, with the prospect’s communication style by not pushing him too hard to answer all the questions, instead make him voluntarily share information as well as his thoughts. When a client asks them questions, they give short, honest answers without impressing drama nor pretense, and never over-promise.

Successful top salespeople do not conjure $$$ signs in their minds on prospects but aim to get them engaged and seize a deal.

Top Appointment Setting Tips to Fill Up your Calendar

Top Appointment Setting Tips to Fill Up your Calendar

The end goal of all your marketing efforts is the sales close. It’s basically the culmination of the tactics you have applied right from the beginning of your lead generation campaign down to an appointment with a sales representative.

From the get-go, careful strategizing is essential to generating the right audience for your product or service. But to translate these opportunities into actual sales demands a lot more than just the usual lead nurturing tactics that are being implemented by your competitors

After all, B2B appointment setting is crucial to the success of your marketing campaigns for obvious reasons. The fact that you need to transform your leads into paying customers is essential to growing your revenue. Without a proper process for setting appointments with potential clients, it will be difficult for you to reach the revenue goals you have set for your business.

Easy Appointments?

What could be possibly harder than that? Well, a lot of businesses outside the B2B arena are quick to say that appointment setting should be the easiest marketing task there is. In fact, there are a lot of misconceptions about setting appointments with qualified clients. One of these misconceptions is that scheduling an appointment isn’t complicated at all. Do you know what’s easier? Flying a 747 jumbo jet.

If you catch our drift, then appointment setting isn’t all that easy, to begin with. Being the threshold between a lead and a juicy sale, it’s an activity that involves a great deal of detail in order for it to produce the results you wanted.

This is the reason why most B2B companies, especially in Australia, are investing a lot of their resources on getting more booked sales appointments on the regular. Sure enough, the dynamics have become increasingly difficult for these businesses. As B2B buyers have become even more meticulous when it comes to selecting and purchasing the right solutions for their enterprises. 

Related: How Marketing Automation Increased My Client’s Appointments in 30 Days

Creating the right plans

This poses a considerable challenge for businesses to handle. The aim right now is t focus on value and reduce the number of appointments it takes to rake in a sale.

For this, it’s vital for sales reps as well as the marketing team to plan effective strategies that can help their businesses close more deals.

Here are some of the best tips to help you with that:

Make the conversation sound natural

As much as we are all excited for the rise of automation in marketing, we can’t deny the fact that decision makers seek real human interactions. Though new CRM tools such as Google Duplex provide an easier path for businesses to navigate around a sales appointment, it’s still vital for sales reps to personalize their interactions and avoid relying too much on automated responses and call scripts. Opt to train your in-house appointment setters themselves and you will be filling up your calendar in no time.

Related: 4 Sales Call Rapport-Building Techniques That AI Can’t Yet Do [VIDEO]

Propel value

Nothing motivates prospects to take a course of action more than knowing the benefits on the other end. In other words, it’s important to provide your prospects with a good view of what they should expect from your product or service. By prioritizing what’s valuable to your prospects and avoiding being an advocate for your brand, you will be able to secure a better position for setting them up with a sales rep.

Ask the right questions

Decision makers instantly drop a telemarketing call due to the wrong queries. In appointment setting, it’s always best to calculate your steps, because the words you say no matter how insignificant they seem to you will determine the likelihood of a sales deal. For this, you will need to draft a guide containing the questions your appointment setters can use to nail a sales meeting.

Related: How to Handle Early Sales Objections, According to Science [VIDEO] 

Outsource your appointment setting

If you are cut for resources and time, you can consider outsourcing your appointment setting tasks. That way, your marketing and sales teams can focus more on generating leads and closing deals, respectively. To get the best results for your campaigns, you can delegate your these tasks to a marketing firm that knows your industry inside and out.

Related: What to Expect when you Outsource your B2B Lead Generation Processes

How Marketing Automation Increased My Client's Appoinments in 30 Days

How Marketing Automation Increased My Client’s Appointments in 30 Days

I know you’ll get what I mean when I say, it feels good when you know you’ve helped your clients in every possible way.

“One of the best service-provider experiences I’ve ever had. This is my 4th attempt at using an appointment setting service, and this is the only one that has succeeded.”

“I am extremely happy with the results. I always have qualified leads and appointments, making my job in sales easy. I also love the system itself, as it helps to keep you organized.”

Read more Client Testimonials

As a B2B lead generation company for almost 15 years, we managed to meet or should I say, exceeded our client’s expectations by delivering qualified leads and appointments.

Let me tell you a story of how our client managed to get good results from our marketing automation campaign.

Early of 2015, a Marketing Manager of a software company in Australia inquires about our service and decided to sign up their first campaign with us.

The first contract was for a month. Being a software reseller, our client knows it’s hard to look for new prospects for their business. For reasons such as;

  • the software is expensive,
  • too many decision makers,
  • planning and evaluation will take years before the companies make a decision to purchase.  

In our years of experience, Callbox found out that in sales and marketing, visibility is important. You have to be where your prospects are in order to establish connections in the B2B world.

Related: Australian Prospects Preferred mode of Communicating By Statistics [INFOGRAPHIC]

Upon knowing our client’s goals and objectives, we set up a multi-touch multi-channel and lead nurturing campaign that allows us to reach out to prospects through their preferred channel – email, social media, web, mobile, voice and chat.

With the help of our marketing automation tool, we were able to maximize the campaign hours by prioritizing the calling of prospects depending on the times they are active and are most likely responsive on the phone, email and online. In short, we make calls at the hours where we know there is a bigger chance of converting them into leads and focus on prospecting and pre-qualifying during lean hours.

Being able to nurture our cold prospects – deliver the right message to the right people at the right time and place, and walk them through every stage of their buying cycle until such time that they are ready to do business with our client is the most effective way of handling our software prospects.

Related: Top 3 Benefits of Multi-Channel Marketing Every CEO Must Know

Callbox’s multi-touch multi-channel lead generation service and marketing automation tools – Pipeline Lead Nurture Tool and SMART Calling allows us to deliver almost 30% increase in leads for our client in a month. Because of this, we have gained their trust and have been their source of new leads up until now.

Read more successful marketing stories:

 See more statistics on this video!

Grab a copy of our FREE EBOOK, Why You Should Bet Your Money on Digital Marketing (And Win)! We brainstormed ideas, analyzed data, and interpreted recent developments vis-à-vis previous trends before coming up with a realistic view of this year’s marketing trends.

Why You Should Bet Your Money on Digital Marketing (And Win)

Sample Cold Calling Templates for All B2B Industries

Earn Appointments with These Cold Calling Scripts for All Industries

The more you make calls, the less you rely on a script. My over 10 years of experience in a B2B lead generation made me customize a script that works for me and my team. How I deliver my spiel and what words to say to my prospects varies depending on the person I’m talking to.

However, if you are an inexperienced agent, distractions can happen anytime during your call. Thorough preparation is needed before making calls.

How a newbie should prepare before making calls.

  • Product knowledge. Know every details of the product and services you offer. Write down important details and make sure the information is available in case a prospect asks you about it, you can easily read it. This will refrain you from stuttering and you’ll sound credible over the phone. It’s a big turn off for prospects if the agent calling him is not familiar of what he’s offering.

Related: IT and Software: Mastering Product Knowledge Before your First Sales Pitch

  • Remember your company details (name of the company and its location). Of course, how can you forget your company? But as a newbie, distractions plus a little bit of nervousness might make you forget some important stuff. So it’s best to have them handy as well.
  • Be familiar with your script. Go over your script for at least 2 or 3 times. You’re not supposed to read your script and should be used as your guide. It is important to be familiar with what you’re supposed to say when talking to your prospects.
  • Prepare for rebuttals for every possible objection. You can ask objections from your mentor or a colleague. As you make calls, you’ll encounter objections. Take note of them and provide rebuttals for you to use.

Scripts make you sound spontaneous and confident over the phone. Prospects wanted to speak with someone who is credible and not just any salesperson.

Hosting an event soon? Seize the ultimate key to triumph with our latest free ebook. Elevate your game, boost registrations, and skyrocket turnout effortlessly. Get your copy for free.

Here are the Appointment Setting, Call-to-invite and Data profiling scripts I use that work for the following industries.

IT Services

Appointment Setting Script

Company Name: XYZ Consulting Group

Location: Sydney, Austalia

Website: www.xyzconsulting.com.au

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: IT Manager, IT Director, CIO and CTO

Hi, Andrew! My name is _____________, with XYZ Consulting Group. Would you be the best person to talk to regarding your company’s I.T requirements?

(IF YES, proceed)

I’m calling with XYZ Consulting Group. We are an I.T solutions provider specializing in secure I.T solutions for small to medium business. We pride ourselves in providing business solutions that are designed to work.

We provide a range of Computer Support, Network Services, Backup and Disaster Recovery, IT Consulting, Cloud Services, VoIP and Phone Solutions, Virtualization and Email & Spam Protection.

I’d like to propose a quick conversation between you and one of our executives to see how we can assist in reducing your operating costs.

Are you open to such a meeting?

IF YES: (IF NOT INTERESTED probe and ask the qualifying questions to uncover opportunities)

Great!  So would (date and time) work for you? And what would be the best number to reach you? (take note)

Qualifying questions:.

I’d like to ask;

  1. How many computers do you have? (should be 10+)
  2. Who do you call when there are computer problems? (Do you have an in-house or outsourced IT?)
  3. How do you confirm your I.T systems are secure?

If using an external company:

  1. Are you in a contract? For how long?
  2. Are you experiencing any issues with your current IT set up? What areas in particular?
  3. Is there any area where you think you might need improvements on?

If they have their IT in house:

  1. Would you consider outsourcing your IT? (should be a yes)
  2. What challenges are you currently facing with your existing set up?

To confirm your appointment, we’ll send you a meeting request so you could mark your calendar. Also, I would like to send additional information about our company and the services that we offer.  May I have your email address?

(Gather/Verify complete name, Job title, phone number, direct line, mobile, company name, website  and fax number)

Thanks for your time. Talk to you on (date of appointment). Have a nice day!

Data Profiling Script

Company Name: XYZ Consulting Group

Location: Sydney, Austalia

Website: www.xyzconsulting.com.au

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: IT Manager, IT Director, CIO and CTO

Hi! My name is _____________, with XYZ Consulting Group. Would you be the best person to talk to regarding your company’s I.T requirements?

(IF YES, proceed)

I’m calling with XYZ Consulting Group. We are an I.T solutions provider specializing in secure I.T solutions for small to medium business. We would like to send information about our company and how we can assist in reducing your operating costs.

May I have your email address, please?

What’s your first and last name?

What’s your specific job title?

Do you have a direct line or ext. Number?

(Verify the company name, company address, fax number, website)

In order for me to send you the right information, I’d like to ask;

  1. How many computers do you have? (should be 10+)
  2. Who do you call when there are computer problems? (Do you have an in-house or outsourced IT?)
  3. How do you confirm your I.T systems are secure?

If using an external company:

  1. Are you experiencing any issues with your current IT set up? What areas in particular?
  2. Is there any area where you think you might need improvements on?

If they have their IT in-house:

  1. What challenges are you currently facing with your existing setup?

We will send you the information. Thank you so much for your time. Have a nice day!

Related: 13 Reasons Why You Should use Data Profiling and Get Accurate IT Contacts

Financial Services (Insurance, Securities, and Investment)

Appointment Setting Script

Company Name: XYZ Consulting Group

Location: Sydney, Australia

Website: www.xyzconsulting.com.au

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: Business Owner

Hello Andrew! My name is Amanda and I’m calling from XYZ Consulting Group. I understand you are the best person to speak with about your business operations and expansion, am I correct?

(If yes, Proceed)

Great!  Well as I was saying I’m calling from XYZ Consulting Group, an Australian owned financial services company. We offer business loans of up to $500,000 dollars. These loans require no security and the interest rate is very competitive.

I called to find out to check if this is something you might be interested soon or anytime in the future?

If Yes, proceed.

Great! I would like to arrange a short meeting with one of my Consultant to call you later this week and discuss with you about this and how you could benefit from it. When is the best time for him to contact you?

If yes, proceed

(Verify all contact details: Contact Person’s Name, Job Title, Email address, Company Address, Contact Number, Direct Line or Mobile Number)

We will send you information. Then my Consultant will call you later this week to know how we can assist you on this one. Thank you so much for your time. Have a nice day!

Data Profiling Script

Company Name: XYZ Consulting Group

Location: Sydney, Australia

Website: www.xyzconsulting.com.au

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: Business Owner

With the Receptionist:

Hi, good morning! This is Amanda and I’m calling from XYZ Consulting Group. Can I speak to Andrew, please?

(When asked about the purpose of your call)

I’m calling about your business operation and expansion. Is he in?

With the Target Contact:

Hello Andrew.  My name is Amanda and I’m calling from XYZ Consulting Group.  We are an Australian owned financial services company. We provide business loans of up to $500,000 dollars that doesn’t require security and the interest rate is very competitive. May I send you more information about this?

If Yes, proceed to gather email address (USE PHONETICS).

  1. May I have your email address, please?
  2. What’s your first and last name?
  3. What’s your specific job title?
  4. What’s your ext. No or direct line?

(Verify company details: Company name, company address and website)

Great! We will send you the information. Thank you for taking my call. Have a great day!

Related: Why Lead Generation is a Sound Investment for Australia Financial Services

Advertising Services (Consulting and Healthcare marketing)

Appointment Setting Script

Company Name: XYZ Advertising

Location: Sydney, Australia

Website: www.xyzcompany.com.au

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: Marketing/Branding Head, Marketing Manager, Marketing Director, CMO

Hi Andrew, good morning. This is Amanda and I’m calling on behalf of XYZ Advertising. I understand you are the best person to speak with about branding and marketing strategy?

If yes, proceed.

Have you heard of XYZ Advertising before?

We are a global brand consultancy and we help companies create, grow and disrupt markets by integrating research, brand strategy, creative and digital. We have worked with different companies such as Airbnb, Unilever, Alibaba Group, etc.

I’d like to ask,

  1. Do you know if your digital marketing is working or not?
  2. Do you have difficulties in measuring the effectiveness of your digital marketing?
  3. Do you think your brand needs a boost in one of your markets but don’t know where the issue is or how to go about improving it?

My Director would meet with you to discuss our branding solution and how we can help improve your branding and marketing scheme. Would you be available on (day, date and time of appointment)?

(If not, ask for prospect’s preferred date)

(If yes, proceed)

We would like to send information about our company, may I have your email address, please?

(Verify/gather all contact details: Contact Person’s Name, Job Title, Company Address, Contact Number, Direct Line or Mobile Number)

Please mark your calendar for our Director to visit you on (date of the appointment). Thank you for your time. Have a nice day!

Data Profiling Script

Company Name: XYZ Advertising

Location: Sydney, Australia

Website: www.xyzcompany.com.au

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: Marketing/Branding Head, Marketing Manager, Marketing Director, CMO

With the Receptionist:

Hi Andrew, good morning. This is Amanda and I’m calling on behalf of XYZ Advertising. I’d like to speak with the Marketing Manager, please.

What is this regarding?

I’m calling about your company’s branding and marketing strategy? Is he in?

With the Marketing Manager:

Hi, good morning. This is Amanda with XYZ Advertising. I understand you’re the best person to speak with regarding your company’s branding and marketing strategy?

If yes, proceed. (If no, look for the person in charge)

Great! We are a global brand consultancy and we help companies create, grow and disrupt markets by integrating research, brand strategy, creative and digital. We have worked with companies such as Airbnb, Unilever, Alibaba Group, etc. We would like to send information about our company and the services that we offer,

  • May I have your email address, please?
  • What’s your first and last name?
  • What’s your specific job title?
  • Do you have a direct line or ext number?

(Verify the company information: Company name, location, and website)

In order for us to send you the right information, I’d like to ask,

  1. Do you know if your digital marketing is working or not?
  2. Do you have difficulties in measuring the effectiveness of your digital marketing?
  3. Do you think your brand needs a boost in one of your markets but don’t know where the issue is or how to go about improving it?

We would like to send information about our company. Thank you so much. Have a nice day.

Business Consulting Services (Strategic and Planning)

 Appointment Setting Script

Company Name: ABC Consulting

Location: Sydney, Australia

Website: www.abcsolutions.com.au

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: Owner, President, CEO

Hi Andrew, good morning. This is Amanda and I’m calling on behalf of ABC Consulting. We are a global business consultancy and we offer free assessment for every startup companies. We have worked with different companies all over Australia (you can mention some of your clients here) take better actions, make better decisions and produce a greater outcome with less time and effort for our clients. Would you like to have a free assessment of your company?

(If yes, proceed)

Great! If I may ask,

What problems and challenges are you experiencing right now within your organization?

One of our consultants would like to meet with you to discuss how we can help your company solve these issues.

Would you be available on (day, date and time of appointment)?

(If not, ask for prospect’s preferred date)

(If yes, proceed)

We would like to send information about our company, may I have your email address, please?

(Verify/gather all contact details: Contact Person’s Name, Job Title, Company Address, Contact Number, Direct Line or Mobile Number)

Please mark your calendar for our Consultant to visit you on (date of the appointment). Thank you for your time. Have a nice day!

Data Profiling Script

Company Name: ABC Consulting

Location: Sydney, Australia

Website: www.abcsolutions.com.au

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: Owner, President, CEO

Hi Andrew, good morning. This is Amanda and I’m calling on behalf of ABC Company. I was wondering if you’ve heard of our company before?

We are a global business consultancy. We have worked with different companies all over Australia (you can mention some of your clients here) take better actions, make better decisions and produce a greater outcome with less time and effort for our clients. I called because we will like to send information about our company and the services that we offer.

  1. May I have your email address, please? (Take note)
  2. What’s your first and last name? So I can address the email properly.
  3. What’s your specific job title for me to address you properly in the email?
  4. Do you have a direct line or ext number?

In order for me to send the right information to send you, I’d like to ask;

What problems and challenges are you experiencing right now within your organization? (Take note)

We will send you the information. Thank you for your time. Have a nice day!

Related: The Best Practices for B2B Business Calling for Consulting Businesses

Software Services

Appointment Setting Script

Company Name: ABC Solutions

Location: Sydney, Australia

Website: www.abcsolutions.com.au

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: IT Manager, IT Director, Financial Manager/Director, Accounting Manager

Hi Andrew, good morning! This is Amanda with ABC Solutions. I understand you are the best person to speak with regarding your accounting?

(If no, ask)

Who’s the best person to speak with regarding your accounting software? (Take note of the information of the person in charge)

(If yes, proceed.)

That’s great! We are currently running a free upgrade for Quickbooks. Are you currently using Quickbooks?

IF THEY’RE USING QUICKBOOKS:

  • What year and version are you currently using?
  • Also, does your company also accept credit cards? (Take note of response)

IF NOT USING QUICKBOOKS:

What accounting or ERP software are you currently using? (Take note. Thank the person and end the call)

I’m calling to see if we could arrange a short meeting with our colleagues to run the free upgrade for your Quickbooks.

(If YES, proceed)

Our colleagues would appreciate the opportunity of dropping by your office to do this. Would you be free on (offer day, date and time of appointment)?

(If not, ask for prospect’s preferred date)

(Verify/gather all contact details: Contact Person’s Name, Job Title, Company Address, Email address, Contact Number, Direct Line or Mobile Number)

Thanks for your time. We’ll see you on (mention the date of appointment). Have a nice day!

Data Profiling Script

Company Name: ABC Solutions

Location: Sydney, Australia

Website: www.abcsolutions.com.au

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: IT Manager, IT Director, Financial Manager/Director, Accounting Manager

With the Receptionist:

Hi, good morning. This is Amanda from ABC Solutions. I’d like to speak with your IT Manager, please.

IF NOT AVAILABLE: Who’s the best person to speak with regarding your accounting? (take note)

NO ONE IS AVAILABLE: That’s okay. When is the best time for me to callback for your IT Manager? (Take note)

With the Target Contact:

Hi, good morning. This is Amanda from ABC Solutions. Am I speaking with the IT Manager?

(If yes, proceed)

Great! We are currently running a free upgrade for Quickbooks. Are you currently using Quickbooks?

IF THEY’RE USING QUICKBOOKS:

  • What year and version are you currently using?
  • Also, does your company also accept credit cards? (Take note of response)

IF NOT USING QUICKBOOKS:

What accounting or ERP software are you currently using? (Take note. Thank the person and end the call)

We would like to send the details to your email, may I have your email address, please?

What’s your first and last name? So we can address the email properly?

What’s your specific job title for me to address you properly in the email?

Do you have a direct line or ext number?

We will send you the information. Thank you for your time and have a great day.

Related: How Software Marketers Overcome the 3 Biggest Marketing Challenges

Medical Industry 

Appointment Setting Script

Company Name: XYZ Company

Location: Raffles Quay, Singapore

Website: www.xyzcompany.com.sg

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: Neurologist (Doctors/ Consultants/ Neuro Nurses)

Hi Andrew, good morning. This is Amanda and I’m calling on behalf of XYZ Company.

We are a group of professionals and researchers who developed an advanced neurological disorder assessment tool, specifically for dementia. I understand you are the best person to speak with about this?

If yes, proceed. (If no, look for the best person to speak with)

Great! We have been in service for more than a decade now. Our memory assessment software is used by many clinicians to test and analyze a dementia patient’s memory. It also provides recommendation and further medical steps to take based on results.

If I may ask,

Are you currently using any neuro-assessment tool?

Great! My Director would appreciate an opportunity for a brief meeting with you for a further discussion about our neuro-assessment software and how we can help you with you assessing your patients.

Would you be available on (day, date and time of appointment) (If not, ask for prospect’s preferred date for a one on one presentation)

(Verify/gather all contact details: Contact Person’s Name, Job Title, Company Address, Contact Number, Direct Line or Mobile Number)

Please mark your calendar for our Director to visit you on (date of the appointment). Thank you for your time. Have a nice day!

Call-to-Invite Script

Company Name: XYZ Company

Location: Raffles Quay, Singapore

Website: www.xyzcompany.com.sg

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: Neurologist (Doctors/ Consultants/ Neuro Nurses)

Hi Andrew, good morning. This is Amanda and I’m calling on behalf of XYZ Company. We are a group of professionals and researchers who developed an advanced neurological disorder assessment tool, specifically for dementia. I called because we’ve currently updated our memory assessment software . Would you be available on (Day and Date of appointment)? (If not, ask for prospect’s preferred date for a one on one presentation)

(If yes, proceed)

Great! We will be sending you a calendar invite, may I have your email address, please?

(Verify/gather all contact details: Contact Person’s Name, Job Title, Company Address, Contact Number, Direct Line or Mobile Number)

Again, the online conference will be on (Day, date and time of appointment). We will send you a calendar with the login details. Thank you so much for your time. Have a great day!

Data Profiling Script

Company Name: XYZ Company

Location: Raffles Quay, Singapore

Website: www.xyzcompany.com.sg

Phone Number: 1234567890

Target Contacts: Neurologist (Doctors/ Consultants/ Neuro Nurses)

Hi, good morning! This is Amanda with XYZ Company. I’d like to speak with the Neurologist, please.

With the Marketing Manager.

Hi Andrew, good morning. This is Amanda with XYZ Company. We are a group of professionals and researchers who developed an advanced neurological disorder assessment tool, specifically for dementia.

We would like to send information to your email on how we can help you improve on how you assess your patients. May I have your email address, please? (Take note)

What’s your first and last name? So I can address the email properly.

What’s your specific job title for me to address you properly in the email?

Do you have a direct line or ext number?

By the way, if I may ask;

  • Are you currently using a neuro-assessment tool?
  • How long have you been using it?
  • How is it working for you so far?
  • Do you have any issues or problems with it?

(Take note of the answers)

That would be all. We will send you information. Thank you so much for your time. Have a great day.

Sample Cold Calling Script

Effective Cold Calling Script that Generated Customers [FREE TEMPLATE]

Don't Waste a Moment! See Sample Cold Calling Scripts For You

What makes a movie script get spotlighted as the best screenplay by award-giving bodies?

A script that presents a story that can move an audience to a certain emotional aspect, with scenes and characters that stimulate imagination, which translate into verbal or gestured reaction.

That’s how a Cold Calling Script should be.

When writing a campaign script, one has to take note of the campaign’s main objective. Whether you are to gather factual information for a lead generation campaign,  to book a prospect for an appointment setting campaign, or register attendees for an upcoming event, your script must contain keywords and substantial ideas that would stir up the prospect’s interest, otherwise, you’ll be putting all call efforts into waste.

KEYWORDS

Use words and phrases that will empower your script upon the prospect with trust and confidence:

  • Power words to express courtesy like “Please”, “Thank you”, “That’s good to know”
  • Terms from which industry your service/product belongs. If you are calling on behalf of a financial institution, choose words that are familiar to the prospect like loans, security & interest rate, annual turnover, etc.
  • Assuring words or phrases like”sure”,  “no worries”, “you are right”, can boost the prospect’s morale and would feel that his opinions and ideas are accepted.

SUBSTANTIAL IDEAS

Meaty and persuasive. Your script must contain all the important information regarding your offering and how beneficial it would be for the prospect.

  • The branding carries your company’s identity which is your ticket to ride through the call
  • The purpose of the call is the key to grab the prospect’s attention. “I’m calling about  a new software that could lessen manpower but multiple production at a lower cost” – position a benefit so that you could get hold of the prospect’s interest to discuss further.
  • Be keen to mention exact and correct details like a person’s name, company names and  addresses, email information, phone numbers, rates and figures, date and time, product and service.

Campaign scripts differ.

Each campaign script is written based on the campaign type and its objective. The basic components may differ in formats depending on the person you speak with and campaign type.

Script Formats According to Person You Speak

Format #1: For The Gatekeeper/Operator

  • greeting
  • introduction
  • branding
  • purpose
  • contact information gathering
  • closing
Sample Cold Calling Script

Format #2: For the Prospect/Decision Maker

  • greeting
  • introduction
  • branding
  • purpose of the call
  • qualifying/probing questions
  • setting up of appointment/meeting
  • contact information gathering
  • closing
Sample Cold Calling Script

Related: Follow Up your Inbound Leads with 5 to 5 Calling Rule (and Generate Over 40% Increase in Sales)

Script Formats According to Campaign Type

Scripts are customized depending on the campaign’s requirement or need and the essential components may vary or interchange in the order, for each campaign type. Below are sample telemarketing scripts from different types of campaign:

Lead Generation Campaign

A simple lead generation campaign may require just a few important information from the prospect and often would not have probing questions in terms of budget and need. Most of this type is purposed to send whitepaper, conduct a survey, or profile contacts.

Sample Cold Calling Script

Appointment Setting Campaign

An appointment setting campaign’s objective is to activate the prospect’s interest to know more about the product or service, and agree for an office or phone meeting for a more detailed discussion. Criteria are set to qualify the prospect’s interest by asking probing questions.

This type of campaign script contains assumptive clauses with possible rebuttals.

Budget, need and timeframe are most common qualifiers.

Cold calling script for appointment setting campaign

Call-to-Invite Campaign

A call-to-Invite campaign script aims to gather attendees for an event. Event details, registration links and process are emphasized in the script. Get to know more about our events telemarketing services.

Cold calling script for call-to-invite campaign

A campaign script serves as a guideline in order for the agent to deliver the spiel smoothly and confidently. It may be most of the time very technical, but telemarketers have to be innovative and creative in delivering the details based on the script, to keep a professionally trusting composure.

Takeaway: A cold-calling script must clearly and effectively describe who you are, your company, the product you offer and how it will benefit the prospect and his business. Keywords and ideas should be highlighted, that would leave the essentials in the prospect’s subconscious, translating their desire and interest into verbal or gestured reaction.

That’s how a cold-calling script gets spotlighted.

Originally appeared at  Don’t Waste a Moment! See Sample Cold Calling Scripts

Rethinking Telemarketing and Its Spammy Reputation

Rethinking Telemarketing and Its Spammy Reputation

Let’s not get bogged down in the endless telemarketing-is-dead-vs-alive debate that’s been raging for years now. It’s worth pointing out that all throughout this time, while its supporters and detractors continue to argue with each other, telemarketing has remained among the most effective tools for generating leads. That should tell us something about whether or not telemarketing has really outlived its usefulness.

It’s worth pointing out, though, that telemarketing hasn’t exactly been enjoying a sterling reputation among many of the persons at the other end of phone calls: the decision-makers.

In fact, according to one study, about 72% of cold calls tend to be flat-out rejections.

But therein lies the main issue: it’s not telemarketing itself that’s the problem. Instead, it’s how it’s being misused that’s inflating its spammy reputation. Telemarketing is still very much a useful tool, but it needs to move past the antiquated cold calling, spray-and-pray tactics in order to keep up with the changing marketing and sales landscape.

The buying cycle is evolving.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past 10 years, it’s hard to miss the signs that the way B2B buyers make their purchases has changed. The buying process has become longer and more nonlinear.

For instance, buyers are increasingly taking a more active role in finding out about solutions to their business problems, and they’re only likely to talk to sales at later stages of the buying cycle. Also, companies with 100 to 500 employees tend to have as many as 7 different people involved in the buying decision.

Clearly, dialing numbers from a list at random and delivering the same message over and over again simply won’t cut it in this environment.

Information abounds, but insight is at a premium.

Each day, we generate nearly 3 quintillion bytes (that’s 3 followed by 18 zeros) of new data. But only a tiny fraction of this will actually turn into insights that help us make better decisions and better leads.

The same thing can be said of most decision-makers ‘ situation when dealing with vendors.

Almost 60% of buyers report that sales reps are unable to adequately answer their questions, while about 42% of reps feel they don’t have enough information before making calls.

Telemarketing should be used as a platform for delivering actionable insights that help your target decision-makers reach informed buying choices. Use these effective profiling tools to eliminate unwanted data.

Telemarketing is just one piece of the puzzle.

Another key trend that should shape how you use telemarketing is the increasing adoption of so-called “multichannel” marketing strategies (combining the strengths of different marketing channels to achieve a common goal). It has proven effective in the software industry.

Telemarketing, when combined with other tools, shows some very promising results. For instance, you’re 1.7 times more likely to close an appointment with a prospect if you’re in the same LinkedIn group than if you aren’t. Also, the power of emails makes it an ideal tool for improving call response rates when used as an initial touch point.

The numbers speak for themselves. Telemarketing is no longer a stand-alone tool. It’s now part of an ecosystem designed to accompany decision-makers in their buying journey.

The Takeaway

In stark contrast to the statistic cited earlier that 72% of cold calls tend to fall flat, a survey of more than 1,000 senior executives has found that 75% of respondents say they have agreed to an appointment and attended an event that came from a cold call or email.

This really builds the case that telemarketing’s spammy reputation is highly undeserved. But, in order for this channel to rebuild its tarnished status, we also have to rethink the way we use it.

 Follow Up your Inbound Leads with 5 to 5 Calling Rule (and Generate Over 40% Increase in Sales)

Follow Up your Inbound Leads with 5 to 5 Calling Rule (and Generate Over 40% Increase in Sales)
Drive Large Pool of IT Appointments in Australia The Whole Year Round

Drive Large Pool of IT Appointments in Australia The Whole Year Round

Australia is one of the biggest economies around the world and Information Technology (IT) is one of the contributors when it comes to the Service industry.

As an IT company, there are a lot of challenges especially when it comes to sales. These challenges such as rapid and constant change in technology, cash flow because of stretching out of resources to meet the demands in the market.

So how can we overcome these challenges and eventually increase our company’s sales? Here are 5 tips to help boost your IT appointments for the entire 2017.

#1: Embrace Design and Improve Continuously

IT companies offer different solutions and services. Create products which have demands. Because technology changes so quickly, always continue to diversify your product range in order to compete in the market.  If a product or a solution is already available in the market, add new features that will make your product more attractive. Find out what your customers need and think of a better way to satisfy them. Always aim for a better quality product.

Related: IT and Software: Mastering Product Knowledge Before your First Sales Pitch

#2: Hire Qualified People and Set up a Good Production Team

Whether you outsourced a lead generation company or have your own sales team to represent your company and help you with your sales, hiring a qualified sales professional is crucial because the success of your company depends on it.

So what should you look for when hiring a sales professional or company?

According to National Association of Sales Professionals, consider the following factors when looking for the best sales professional.

  • The right fit
  • A true professional
  • Passion

Some IT companies try to diversify when it comes to sales. They even consider outsourcing a lead generation company even if they have their own sales team. Why? Having different sources for your leads means more sales for your business. Here’s what to consider when looking for a lead generation company from a post from Articles Factory.

  • Reputation
  • Method
  • The Staff
  • Clientele

Here are 3 Reasons Why Outsourcing Is Good For Any Australian Company


#3: Reach out, Know and Listen to your Prospects

Advertising is not enough to get sales. Although, it is one way of letting the people aware of your product and services, reaching out to buyers through multi channel marketing will help you know where they are and what their needs are.

Reaching out through social media, email, voice, mobile and web will help you know how your prospect behave and interact with them more. Knowing what they want, why they want to use it and how it’ll make their life easier helps you understand them better which will help you generate more sales.

Related: Is Technical Jargon Necessary in Communicating with IT Leads?

#4: Use Social Media to your Advantage – Provide Quality Content

Nowadays, a lot of people use social media such as Facebook and Instagram when planning on buying something. That is why more and more marketers use this to promote their products and create customer awareness.

However, other social media platform such as Twitter must not be used to promote a product or service. Instead, you can use it to provide interesting information to your followers by interacting with them. And in order to provide information, marketers must create good quality content for their target audience addressing their IT needs.

Here’s a great way to turn your social followers into qualified leads!

#5: Measure Results

You won’t have any idea which part of your sales effort needs to improve if you don’t know which one works and which ones aren’t. Check on your click-through-rates and conversion rates to identify what content and strategies are more effective. Every company needs to check on their data such as click-through-rates and conversion rates to identify and separate what contents and strategies are more effective.

For every salesperson, appointments come and go but opportunities are everywhere if you know where to look for it. Apply these tips to help increase the number of your appointments throughout the year.