What is the Sales Appointment Setting and Why Is It Important?

Book a demo. Request a call. Get a free quote. How many times have you noticed such buttons on websites around various industries? They are in essence sales appointment setting offerings, without an actual appointment setter. Customers are more likely to buy when you provide them with a guided shopping experience – that’s why brands offer this option quite often, no matter the niche.

Whether you are a real estate agent who uses an appointment setting to book property viewings with potential buyers or a software provider who wants to explain their demo in a personal way, a sales appointment setting is a very popular and effective way to cooperate with your prospects.

The simple reason is that customers are more likely to buy when they have an authentic, guided shopping experience.

What is a Sales Appointment Setting?

There are clear stages in the sales process – lead generation, qualification, proposal, and deal closing. Sales appointment settings take care of the second and third of them pretty well.

But what is it exactly?

If you have a product or service, the best way to advertise it is to explain it to a potential buyer. You need to talk to them, explain how it works, and show them why they need it. That’s where the sales appointment setting comes in.

For example, insurance brokers use appointment-setting teams to call potential clients, pre-qualify them, and schedule meetings with various advisors. It’s popular among businesses of any size, from software companies to small retailers.

In this time and date, you don’t need to hire an appointment setter, who might call people, send emails, or even connect on LinkedIn. Instead, of scheduling a meeting between the potential customer and a sales expert in your team, it’s enough to have the convenient appointment scheduling software integrated into your site. And the client will find you.

How Small Retailers, Software & Service Providers Can Use Appointment Setting

So, how does it work? A jewelry store calls past customers or leads from social media ads and sets private viewing appointments. Or, a furniture store books consultations for customers to discuss custom sofas.

Want some examples of how sales appointments work for real businesses? Here we go.

• Use social media and website forms (allow customers to book visits).
• Booking calls with event planners.
• Call or email interested customers (offer to schedule an appointment).
• Upsell through personalized service (convert appointments into purchases).
• Schedule service demos (allow clients to book available times).
• Contact patients to offer cosmetic procedures.
• Provide sales webinars to tell big groups of people.

Why is Sales Appointment Setting So Important?

First of all, it’s because people value a personal touch and genuine consultation a lot. Offering a virtual call or even a meeting, test-drive, or service demo, you are showing that you value the time and interest of your customers. And secondly, people are always more ready to buy after they have an appointment with you. You may want to consider these benefits…

• Filter out unqualified leads and save time for your entire team.
• Increase the attractiveness of your offerings.
• Increases conversions by interaction with only interested, high-potential prospects.
• Get closer to your customers with a personalized experience.

How to Automate Sales Appointment Setting Scheduling?

Meeting scheduling is central to a sales appointment setting.

You surely don’t need to manage all the meetings by hand. Just set up your availability through your favorite appointment scheduling software, make it available on the site, and enable prospects to choose the time that suits them.

Let’s show you an example of how it works with the BookingPress Appointment Booking plugin, which is a booking plugin for WordPress.

It allows you to set up the system according to your schedule. It supports multiple features to make any consultation a breeze, including virtual meetings, reminders, and flexible scheduling with buffer times and all the cancellation rules. Using this affordable tool, you can manage unlimited sales managers and clients, time when you can have meetings, payments, and more.

Why use automated software for appointment setting?

• Modern booking widget on your site.
• Offer paid or free appointments.
• Create shift availability if you have multiple consultants.
• Cut no-shows with reminder messages.
• Auto-sync new appointments to your and client’s calendars.
• Integrate many hacks to boost sales.

Such a system allows you to keep records of your clients and – the best part – eliminates the need for real appointment setters.

Where to Place Appointment Setting Request Call-to-Actions? 

The rule of thumb is that you should place an appointment setting request button to visible site navigations or pages, where customers are evaluating your product. Here are a few examples:

• Homepage hero section
• Sticky button in the header/footer
• Service or product pages
• Exit-intent popups
• Contact page
• Sidebar widget
• Below blog posts
• On pricing pages
• Landing pages
• Checkout or upsell pages
• Social media ads leading to a booking page
• Chatbot messages.

What Appointment Booking Text Convert? 

To entice clients to better interact with your product, let them notice that you actually have such an option on your website. The type of your niche plays a key role but you can choose:

• “Book Your Free Consultation”
• “Schedule an Appointment”
• “Reserve Your Spot Today”
• “Get a Personalized Demo”
• “Talk to Us Online”
• “Schedule a Free Call’.

Conclusion: Build a Strong Sales Pipeline with Appointment Setting

This whole process of the sales appointment setting is a super important part of the sales process because it takes care of the entire sales pipeline.

A well-structured sales pipeline gets your entire sales team engaged with prospects who have a genuine interest in your product or service. Sales appointment settings between sales representatives and individuals who have the intent or means to make a purchase are the best way to find quality leads. Consequently, you will be able to refocus your energy on relationships with high-potential prospects and increase the conversion rates of your business.

Related articles:

• How to Increase Customer Lifetime Value with Appointment Scheduling
• How to Schedule a Meeting in Outlook in 5 Easy Steps
• How to Build a Profitable Service Booking Website