Sales Training Consultancy - Booking Appointments - 080526

The Sales Training Consultancy Sales Training Seminars 2 Booking Apppointments www.salestraining.co.uk Manager's training notes These notes are designed to provide a checklist for the manager, prior to running the programme and to give some guidance on basic training techniques. Planning and preparation. The value of effective planning and preparation cannot be over-emphasised. Even with pre-written material such as this the manager needs to spend time familiarising him, or herself with the material and prepare well for the training session. Prior to the course have all materials, handouts, OHP acetates, pre-written flip charts, managers' notes etc., prepared and ready for use. On the training day, arrive early and re-check all equipment. Make sure the facilities match your expectations. The manager's contribution. The value of sales training is that it brings out experiences and opinions from within the group as well as giving the group the material contained within the session. The role of manager therefore is one of 'facilitating' the learning within the group. The learning process the group has to go through can be summarised simply as: Awareness: That a skill or knowledge exists Understanding: Of what it means Practice: In its application Action: Using the skill or knowledge after the training is over The course therefore gives delegates the chance to discuss work related issues practise the skills being learned. Objectives. It is useful to set objectives at the beginning of the session and review them at the end. This allows the group and individuals to measure progress and focus on their particular areas of interest. Objectives should be as specific as possible, relevant to the subject matter and, wherever possible, capable of being measured. Timings and interruptions. Ensure, wherever possible, that timings are kept to and that interrupt a minimum. Set aside some time during the session when delegates can receive messages if necessary. 1 Room layout. There is no one way to layout the room, however, the most common way is boardroom style: Manager Flip chart Projector Screen Try to ensure the room layout is such that the door is placed on the opposite side of the room to the manager. Syndicate rooms should be provided for small group work. 2 Manager's checklist Delegates Team informed of the training session Accommodation arranged (where appropriate) Team briefed by manager before attending Travel arranged (where appropriate) Venue Venue size appropriate for number of delegates Venue visited to finalise arrangements Seating style agreed Refreshments, timings etc. organised Syndicate rooms booked (where applicable) Equipment, Materials etc. Equipment checked before use Equipment ordered (where applicable) Course materials organised Flipchart, pads and pens Projector Handouts Notepaper Writing materials 3 Methods of Delivery The methods you use to deliver training will be influenced by 2 main factors: The experience and confidence of trainees The objectives of the training session This can mean the manager making a formal presentation where he or she merely gives out information, backed up with appropriate visual aids. More appropriately to a sales team would be a more informal approach where the manager confirms understanding, by discussing a particular subject with the group before giving formal input on the relevant theory. Most sales and management training is delivered with the group making a significant input and the manager acting as a facilitator of knowledge, helping to make learning happen. This takes the form of the manager introducing the topic and asking a range of open questions that are then answered by group members. The manager leads the informal discussion making sure that all the key points are covered. For this method to work the manager should prepare a list of open questions about each topic, which are clear, concise and relevant to the topic being discussed. For example: Suppose you are running a session on Overcoming Sales Objections. You could begin by introducing the subject and selling the trainees a benefit to be gained from their participation in the session. "We are now going to look at an important aspect of your Sales Techniques which is overcoming objections. As a result of the session you will understand, more fully, the psychology of selling, the different reasons why people raise objections and be able to demonstrate 3 techniques that will help you be more effective and confident in this area of your work. “ Then you could ask a range of questions, such as: Why do people raise objections? What the most common objections you come across? . When in the sales call, are most objections raised? How do most salespeople respond to objections? Think of an example. How do you feel, as a salesperson, when a customer raises an objection? Which objections do you find most difficult to overcome? What methods do you use to overcome objections? 4 You would then generate a discussion, putting in your own theoretical inputs where the group lacked knowledge. The purpose here would be to cover 2 stages of the learning process. Awareness and Understanding. Once these had been achieved you could introduce an exercise, case study or role-play to enable delegates to practise the skills of objection handling. The final phase would be to gain commitment to future action on behalf of the individual delegates to use the skills learned in actual selling situations. Points to remember when using this technique: Try to involve the whole group. The activists will naturally be forthcoming with their experiences. Try and involve everyone. If you ask a question avoid directing it to one person in particular. For example, don't say: "John, how do you overcome objections?" This puts pressure on John and gives the rest of the group an excuse not to think through the problem. Try asking: "How do you overcome objections?" Leave a short pause. Look around the group for a volunteer. If no one is forthcoming say: "John, any ideas?" This way everyone has at least thought through the question. 5 Sales training Seminar 2. Booking Appointments. Seminar outline Hints for running the sales seminar These notes have been designed to help you run the Sales Seminar on booking appointments more effectively. They contain an outline of the approximate timings for the seminar and some hints on how to get the best out of the session. Seminar objectives: The purpose of this seminar is to train your sales team in the basics of booking appointments by telephone. Sales teams learn best when they are working together. Training as a team increases results as well as having a positive effect on team spirit and morale. Appointment booking is an important topic because all salespeople need to bring in new business at some stage and the appointment is the first stage of that process. Content During this 3-hour session we will cover the following topics: • • • • • • • Principles of appointment booking Structuring the approach The initial telephone call Call structure The mailshot The follow-up telephone call Dealing with objections The session has been designed to improve the skills of the team, while making the session a fun way to liven up a sales meeting, or similar event. Here is the basic outline for the session, which is timed to last approximately 3 hours: Timing (Mins) 5 Topic Introduce the session. Discuss the team’s objectives and how the session will benefit the team as a whole. Principles of appointment booking. Begin by having a general discussion on the importance of booking appointments by telephone and the problems associated with this activity. Discuss the 5 principles of appointment booking. Page (s) 1 OHP slide Slide 1. Seminar content Slide 2. Principles 15 2-4 5 Structuring the approach. Discuss the 3-stage process mentioned in the notes. Talk about the pros and cons of this approach, which is time consuming, but more effective than other methods. Talk about the need to be well planned and to have a script, initially, to help you stay in control. 5 Slide 3. Structuring the approach 10 The initial telephone call. Discuss the structure of the initial approach. The purpose of which is to get the potential customer to agree to accept some literature. This is fairly low risk decision for the customer and helps to weed out potential time wasters at an early stage. 6-7 Slide 4. The initial telephone call 10 Call structure. This is an example of a simple script. Go through the various stages and get the group’s feedback on what they think. The general structure is of statement followed by a question. This keeps the salesperson in control, but involves the customer in a conversational style. 8-9 © TSTC 2003 www.salestraining.co.uk 1 Timing (Mins) 20 Topic Script exercise. Ask each group member to prepare his or her own version of the script. Encourage them to write the spoken, rather than the written word. Use phrases that they would use in everyday conversation. Pages(s) 10-11 OHP slide 20 Role-play. Prepare some simple customer profiles and break the team into groups of 2, or 3 to practise the initial script. If you have access to telephone taping equipment, or a tape recorder, this is preferred, as delegates don’t need to rely on memory. 12 10 The mailshot. Discuss what it would be appropriate to send to a potential client. Present the key points in the workbook. The follow-up telephone call. Discuss the structure for the follow up call. Is it likely that the customer will have read the information we sent? What are the most likely objectives we might expect when we ask for the appointment? 13-14 Slide 5. The mailshot Slide 6. The followup call 10 15-16 20 Script exercise. Complete the follow-up script using the structure described in the workbook. Present the example in the workbook and ask for the team’s feedback. 17 © TSTC 2003 www.salestraining.co.uk 2 Timing (Mins) 20 Topic Dealing with objections. Break the group team into smaller groups and get them to complete the objection handling exercise. Discuss the ideas that they come up with. Role-play. Role-play the follow-up telephone call in the same groups as earlier. Encourage the buyers to raise an objection, but ask them to be reasonable and not play the buyer from hell. Discuss the role-plays with the whole group and focus on the key points learned from the role-plays. Page(s) 18 OHP slide 20 19 15 Action plans. Ask team members to complete the Action planner. What have they learned as a result of the session and what are they going to do as a result? Close. Summarise the objectives you set at the beginning of the session. Get some feedback from the team on how useful they found the training. Agree training objectives for future sessions. 20 5 © TSTC 2003 www.salestraining.co.uk 3 Sales training seminar 2. Booking appointments by telephone Objectives The purpose of this seminar is to train your sales team in booking appointments by telephone. Sales teams learn best when they are working together. Training as a team increases results as well as having a positive effect on team spirit and morale. Booking appointments is a vital part of the sales process. This seminar will give the team an opportunity to practise this key skill and become more confident in this aspect of their work Content During this 4-hour session we will cover the following topics: Principles of appointment booking Structuring the approach The initial telephone call Call structure The mailshot The follow up telephone call Dealing with objections The session is flexible. You can choose which parts you want to use depending on the time available. Also, you can come back at a later date and revisit the session, reviewing the progress the team has made. Index Topic Principles of appointment booking Structuring the approach The initial telephone call Call structure Script exercise Role play The mailshot The follow up telephone call Script exercise Dealing with objections Role play Action plan Page 2 5 6 8 10 12 13 15 17 18 19 20 © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 1 The Principles of Appointment Booking The biggest problem we all face in booking appointments by telephone is rejection. Most of the people who we call to book an appointment will say no. In selling there are two reasons for the sale not taking place that tend to override all others. These also apply to appointment booking. – – The buyer fears making a mistake. The salesperson fears rejection. It is not natural for us to enjoy being rejected so our natural tendency is to avoid situations when rejection will occur. It is often easier not to take a risk and endure the current situation, where we are worse off rather than face rejection. This is natural behaviour that we need to overcome. Most people find booking appointments by telephone difficult and some avoid it altogether. However, if we are to sell successfully we have to speak to customers so the first stage in the learning process is to understanding some General Principles. The General Principles Telephone appointment booking is an activity that can be more successfully carried out if the following ground rules are applied. • • • • • Turn ‘cold calls’ into ‘warm calls’ by pre-warning the customer. Set aside a period of time for this activity on a regular basis. Set targets based on conversion rates you have achieved in the past. Prepare your research in advance and have all relevant information to hand before making the first call. ‘Reward’ yourself when the activity it finished. Turn Cold Calls into Warm Calls by pre-warning the customer When you telephone somebody you have no idea how convenient your call may be. Putting yourself in the customer’s shoes he or she may well be asking, “Why should I see this person?” or even “Why should I talk to this person now?” In order to make the customer feel a little bit more positive about our call there are a number of techniques we can use: © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 2 1. Mailshot – Telephone Call By sending information to the customer prior to your call and including a covering letter to say when you will be calling, the customer is at least partly ready to speak to you and should be able to judge whether, what you have got to say, might be of some interest. This interest can be further stimulated by an extra telephone call before the mailshot is sent out. 2. Telephone Call – Mailshot – Telephone Call By ringing the customer before he or she receives the mailshot you are able to distinguish your message from the many others being sent through the post every day. Each of these two methods carries a cost. It is more expensive to send out literature and adds to your telephone costs because you are making more than one call. However, these methods have several benefits: The initial phone call can screen out those people who are genuinely not interested or who are the wrong people to whom you should be selling your products. It focuses the minds of potential customers on taking an appointment. Your final telephone call is less of a shock and the customer is more likely to be in a ‘buying frame of mind’. Whether or not the customer takes the appointment it is a further opportunity to reinforce the awareness of the customer in your company and its products. The extra interest is worth it in the long run because it increases your chances of success in gaining the customers agreement to accept the appointment. Set aside a period of time for this activity on a regular basis Appointment booking is never easy although the principles are fairly simple. Regular activity in this area, using a planned approach, will produce a steady stream of appointments over the long term. The amount of time you spend booking appointments will be determined by the number of appointments you need to make and the conversion rates you are able to achieve. © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 3 Set targets based on the conversion rates you have achieved in the past You will find over time that although it is impossible to say whether a particular customer will say ‘yes’ and agree to an appointment, it is possible to look at larger numbers of potential customers and calculate what percentage will accept an appointment. Say, for example, you need to book 5 appointments. From previous experience, having logged your results, it may be that you have ‘converted’ 1 in 5 telephone calls into an appointment. On average therefore you will need to make 25 telephone calls in order to book 5 appointments if that conversion rate holds true. In reality, some days the appointments will be made easily and on others it will be more difficult. Prepare your research in advance and have all relevant information to hand before making the call Before making the telephone call you will need to be fully prepared. This means you can concentrate on your telephone skills and get into the swing of making them. On the first call you may feel a little awkward. By the third or fourth you will feel more relaxed and will become more effective. Have in front of you the list of calls you wish to make, with any literature or customer information, should the customer ask you specific questions. Clear your desk of nonrelevant material so you can concentrate your mind on the job in hand. Reward yourself after the activity is finished Psychologically, it is useful to give yourself a small reward; a cup of coffee, a biscuit, a short break, as a reward for the effort you have put in. This gives you an incentive to keep telephoning even if you have been rejected a number of times, or are having a bad day. Remember: you will be rejected more times than you will be accepted. The least you can do is reward yourself for the hard work you have put in. © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 4 Structuring the Approach Having chosen our target audience of people who are most likely to buy from us we need to decide on a strategy to give us the best possible chance of success in booking the appointment. The method that has proved most successful in the past is in 3 stages: – – – Initial telephone call Mailshot Follow-up telephone call The purpose of the initial call is to contact the customer and do your research. We need to find out some basic information about the customer and gain the customer’s agreement to receive specific literature and accept a further telephone call. The mailshot is sent out with specific literature and followed up with a second call, the purpose of which is to secure the appointment. The follow-up telephone call enables us to book the appointment, usually no more than 1 week in advance. The purpose of the appointment is to meet with the customer and try to identify the customers’ needs, and see whether we can satisfy those needs and secure the business. In order to make this process most effective we need to structure the telephone calls we make. Structure gives us more control of the call and increases our chance of success. What we don’t do is to stick rigidly to a pre-prepared script. Scripts are useful, at least at first, because they enable us to think carefully of the things we should be saying to customers. However, scripts need to be flexible and involve the customer’s in the conversation. One-sided conversations do not make for effective communications. © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 5 The Initial Telephone Call The structure we can use is summarised as follows: – – – – – Open the call Set the agenda for the call Ask questions Gain commitment Close the call In preparing your telephone script remember the general principles. A script can be useful because: • • • • It keeps us in control of the call It gives the call direction It helps us make sure we cover the key points in the call It gives us confidence The script itself must sound natural. If it does not the customer will turn off and stop listening. You must therefore use words in your script that you would use in normal conversation and be prepared to let the customer participate in the conversation. Think of a high quality drama or comedy programme on TV. These are scripted performances, but we are hardly aware of the fact due to the skill of the actors. The telephone is a help because the customer can’t see us. If we are referring to a script, that is well written and sounds natural the customer will not be aware that a script is being used. Also, the more practice we get the better it will sound. 1. Make the script sound natural Use words and phrases you would use in everyday conversation. When writing the script imagine you are talking to someone face to face. 2. Keep rewriting until it sounds like you The script will evolve over time and you should keep trying to improve the way it sounds by practising and try out new ideas. © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 6 3. Open Positively Say who you are and why you are calling. Is it convenient to speak to the customer? Be polite and respect the customer’s needs. 4. Ask questions Be careful to ask a question after you have made a statement. Asking questions helps to involve the customer in the conversation. If you make a statement and then leave a silence you are putting pressure on the customer to speak. 5. Listen to the customer Remember the customer doesn’t have a copy of the script! If the customer is speaking, try to listen effectively and avoid the temptation to interrupt. Effective listening is not waiting for the other person to finish so that you can speak. Respond to what the customer is saying, clarify any points that you don’t understand or confirm your understanding of what has been said to see if it matches that of the customer. 6. Sell a benefit early on in the call. Gain the customer’s interest Remember the customer is asking himself or herself “Why should I take this telephone call?” “What’s in it for me?” Sell the customer the benefit of listening to you. The kind of benefits the customer will gain are reassurance, confidence, peace of mind etc. 7. Make sure you are speaking to the right person This is known as ‘qualifying’ the appointment. Are you speaking to the right person? This will help you make the best use of time spent during any appointment that may result. Does anyone else from the company need to attend the appointment? © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 7 Call structure Open the call The call should be opened in a positive way. Say something like “Good morning. Could I speak to Mr Smith?” Allow the customer to reply or wait until the customer comes to the phone. “Hello Mr Smith. My name is Susan Jones from ABC Ltd. Have you heard of us before?” The customer will reply yes or no or may raise an objection. We will look at dealing with objections later on. However the customer replies, you should say something like: “Well as you are aware ...” or “You may not be aware, but ...” before describing what the company does. For example, the customer says they have not heard of your company. “You may not be aware, but, at ABC we offer a wide range of Print and Copying services to our customers.” Set the Agenda for the Call The ‘agenda’ gives the customer the reason for the call. Say something like: “The reason I’m calling you today, Mr Smith, is that we would like to send you some literature on the services that we offer. Would that be okay?” Again, the customer will answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or may raise an objection. The next stage in the call is to check that we have the correct information on the customer, by asking questions. © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 8 Ask Questions Questions that you may wish to ask will confirm details such as: • • • • • their role in the organisation whether they are the right contact correct name address postcode Gain Commitment End the call by summarising what has been agreed and what will happen next. Say something like: “Thank you for that information Mr Smith. I will send you the literature in tonight’s post and give you a call in a few days time to see if you would like to discuss it further. Is there a particular day and time when it is most convenient for me to call back? Close the call “Fine Mr Smith. I will call you next Wednesday at around 10 a.m. Thank you very much for your time. Goodbye.” At this stage, a percentage of the people we have spoken to will agree to receive literature. The next stage is to write to the customer, following this up with the second telephone call. © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 9 Development exercise. Initial Telephone call script Using the structure we have outlined, work through each phase of the telephone call and prepare a script that could be used for reference. Try to make the wording of the script as natural as possible and use words and phrases with which you are comfortable. Open the Call Set the Agenda © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 10 Ask Questions Gain Commitment to send literature Close the call © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 11 Role-play. The initial telephone call Working with a colleague, prepare a customer brief for each of you to role-play. You can do this over the telephone in your office, or role-play informally in a training, or meeting room. Having written the brief you will be asked to call the customer and gain commitment to receive literature based on the script prepared earlier. Customer profile Company name Contact name Job title Decision-making Authority …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… …………………………………………… Address Post code Notes © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 12 Structuring the Approach. The mailshot Following the initial telephone call you should aim to send out the literature and letter as soon as possible so that the follow-up call can be made, ideally, within 2 to 3 working days of the initial call. Key points to remember about mailshots: – – – – – – – – Keep them short and to the point Remember your objectives Decide what else to send Address the letter to the customer Remind the customer of your initial call Sell the benefits of the appointment Describe what will happen next Close the letter in a positive way Keep them short and to the point Avoid the tendency to put too much information into your letter. The customer is being reminded of your initial telephone call and being told you will be calling back to discuss the opportunity of an appointment. Remember your objectives The objective of the letter is to remind the customer of the initial call and generate sufficient interest so that he or she will be most likely to accept an appointment when you call again. Decide what else you will send Only include literature that is relevant to the person to whom it is being sent. Avoid the temptation of sending every piece of literature you possess. Address the letter to the individual The more personal the letter feels the more likely you are to get a positive response. The letter should be addressed to Mr Smith or Mr Jones rather than ‘The Householder’ or ‘Dear Sir or Madam’. Remind the customer of your initial call Don’t assume the customer will automatically remember your first call. We all receive large amounts of unsolicited mail and therefore the customer needs a reminder of who we are and why we called. © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 13 Sell the benefits of the appointment When the customer is reading the letter or your literature the question he or she is asking is “What is in this for me?” It is not enough to talk about your company or what you do. The customer needs to know what benefits he or she will get from accepting the appointment. Describe what will happen next Tell the customer what will happen next and when. Try to be as specific as possible while giving yourself a range of options within which you can make your call. Close the letter in a positive way The more personal the letter the more positive the customer will feel about your company. End the letter with ‘Yours sincerely’ and preferably, sign the letter yourself. Some key points about Direct Mail • • • • • • • • • Direct mail works best as a continuous process. One off mailings are less successful It is a quick and relatively cheap method of keeping in touch with customers and prospects It works best in association with other marketing activities Direct mail should be followed up for maximum effectiveness Small numbers of mailings, focused on specific targets, followed up by telephone, produce better results than large mailshots that aren’t followed up Replies should be dealt with quickly and efficiently Follow up calls should be made within 3 working days Don’t forget your existing customers. They are easiest to sell to and their response is generally 3 times greater Keep your database clean. Databases become inaccurate very quickly as people move on and things change © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 14 The Follow-up Telephone Call The structure we will use is summarised as follows. 1. 2. 3. 4. Open the call Gain the customer’s interest Qualify Book the appointment In many ways the follow-up call is a lot simpler than the initial telephone call. By now the customer is aware of our products and us and has had time to weigh up the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of accepting an appointment. Open the call Remind the customer of who you are and why you are calling. Ask the question, “Did the customer remember receiving your letter?” Whether the customer says yes or no we should: Gain the customer’s interest By reselling the benefits of accepting the appointment. Keep thinking to yourself “Why should the customer accept the appointment?” “What is in it for him or her?” Having gained the customer’s interest: Qualify the customer This means double-checking that you will be seeing the right person and finding out whether anyone else should be involved. Book the Appointment This should be done in a positive way. Give the customer the choice between two ‘yes’ answers, i.e. “Would ten o’clock be alright or would you prefer something later?” © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 15 Script example An example of a script you could use: “Good evening Mr Smith. This is Susan Jones from ABC. I spoke to you recently then sent some information through to you. Did you have a chance to read it?” YES / NO “Well, as you are aware / you may not be aware but, we offer a wide range of services designed to help our customers meet their printing and copying needs. Have you used the services of companies like ourselves in the past? YES / NO And can I just confirm that you are the person responsible for purchasing print and copying services within your company? YES / NO I will be in Liverpool next Thursday and would like to come and see you to see whether there are areas where we could help your business. The meeting should take no more than 20 minutes. Would 9.30 be convenient or would you prefer a later time? CUSTOMER ACCEPTS / REJECTS APPOINTMENT Well, I look forward to seeing you Mr Smith on Thursday 4th of June at 6.30. If you need to contact me before than my name is Susan Jones and my telephone number is (0151) 2363232.” CLOSE THE CALL This is one example of a script and will need to be adapted to suit your individual style. Also, you need to be aware that the script is only a framework within which the call will take place. Customers will ask questions and raise objections so you need to be flexible in your approach and be willing to listen to what the customer is saying, so that you understand the customer’s needs and problems and respond accordingly. Note, if the customer answers ‘no’ to the questions you may need to deal with the objection before moving on. We will look at how to deal with these later on in the programme. © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 16 Development exercise. Follow-up Telephone Call Script Using the sample script as a guide and the general structure which is, • • • • Open the call Gain the customer’s interest Book the appointment Close the call prepare your own version making sure the words sound natural and feel comfortable. Open the call Gain the customer’s interest Qualify the customer Book the Appointment Close the call © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 17 Development exercise. Dealing with objections For the objections we identified earlier, speak to your manager, or work colleagues and get their ideas for dealing with them. You can then practise using their ideas and find out which work best for you. Objection “I’m too busy” Answer “I’m happy with my current supplier” “I’m not interested” “Send me some literature” “I’ll ring you if I need anything” © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 18 Role-play. The follow-up telephone call Working with the person who took part, with you, in the previous role-play and using the same brief, prepare your follow-up call. Make sure the role-play is realistic and raise objections if you feel it will add to the realism. Notes: © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 19 Action plan Write a list of ideas you would like to put into practice as a result of attending this seminar Action required By when © TSTC 2003. www.salestraining.co.uk 20 Booking appointments by phone Our objectives for the seminar: To help you understand the principles of appointment booking and improve the success of this vital sales activity By the end of the 4-hour session you will have covered the following topics: Principles of appointment booking Structuring the approach The initial telephone call Call structure The mailshot The follow up telephone call Dealing with objections www.salestraining.co.uk Principles of appointment booking Turn ‘cold calls’ into ‘warm calls’ by pre-warning the customer. Set aside a period of time for this activity on a regular basis. Set targets based on conversion rates you have achieved in the past. Prepare your research in advance and have all relevant information to hand before making the first call. ‘Reward’ yourself when the activity it finished. www.salestraining.co.uk Structuring the approach The 3 stage approach to appointment booking: Initial telephone call Mailshot Follow-up telephone call www.salestraining.co.uk The initial telephone call Call structure for the initial telephone call: Open the call Set the agenda for the call Ask questions Gain commitment Close the call www.salestraining.co.uk The mailshot Keep it short and to the point Remember your objectives Decide what else to send Address the letter to the customer Remind the customer of your initial call Sell the benefits of the appointment Describe what will happen next Close the letter in a positive way www.salestraining.co.uk The follow-up call Structure for the follow-up call: 1. 2. 3. 4. Open the call Gain the customer’s interest Qualify Book the appointment www.salestraining.co.uk