How To Generate Appointments Automatically With The Right Sales Tools?

An appointment setting may seem like a simple invitation to someone to a virtual meeting or sales talk but it plays a bigger role than that.  It is an important call-to-action process that helps in the conversion of leads in the sales funnel. An appointment setting can vary in businesses, usually, it can be booked meetings, proposal discussions, or a simple product demonstration. These appointments are generally set using a phone dialer by a sales team.

Most B2B appointments are done over the phone by scheduling decision-makers to discuss business propositions and new opportunities.

Although appointments do not mean an immediate sale, they increase the conversion time of a lead. It gives an initial impression to your prospect that you are serious about doing business with them, adding impact to your lead nurturing efforts. Appointment settings and their types can be broken down into your sales funnel.

A typical sales funnel is composed of three sections. The top of the funnel (TOFU) is the awareness stage where you generate interest in your company. The middle of the funnel (MOFU) is the interest/decision stage where your leads are beginning to notice your product or service. The bottom of the funnel (BOFU) is where the action of buying happens.

Types Of Appointments You Need To Know

TOFU Appointments

This type of appointment is where you can find new leads or prospects who want to learn more about your company. You may be frustrated in this stage as it is usually mudded with no-shows and unqualified leads. It is normal since this stage sits at the top and filters out a high number of prospects and leads altogether.

MOFU Appointments

This type of appointment is where you can find prospects who expressed interest and consideration for your company. Usually, the qualified prospects are found in these appointments as they tell their pain points in this stage and discover options for their business. You can encounter high cases of objections and turndowns, so better manage your expectations well.

BOFU Appointments

This type of appointment is for those prospects who want to sign up for the product or service and typically want to discuss customization, dedicated support, and other SLAs. Your sales representative typically forwards their appointment to a product or account manager to close the deal. You must highly prioritize this type of appointment and closely monitor your prospects’ responses.

Many companies, especially B2Bs, still depend on their appointment setting campaigns. Technological advances in software and phone systems have allowed companies to advance their sales activities to the next level. With the right sales tool, an appointment setter can showcase their professionalism by reducing and minimizing manual errors in their appointment dates.

There are no more double bookings or overlapping appointments on a single date. They can also optimize their time for appointments by finding the best time to set regardless of the time zone since the appointee and business’ clocks are synchronized. The following section will guide you through what sales tools you need to generate more appointments. 

Right Sales Tools To Automatically Generate Appointments

Automatic Email Responder (Clara Labs)

As its name implies, this tool helps salespeople respond to a lot of emails daily. It becomes their personal email assistant suited for TOFU and MOFU appointments. An AER tool uses a text analyzer to identify critical phrases with potential interests that a human may have overlooked in their email inbox. Its suggestive and predictive message feature greatly helps emailers respond swiftly with contextual precision.

An automatic email responder can:

• Coordinate a booking time with your prospect
• Follow up a timely response
• Finalize a time for you and your prospect
• Add confirmed appointments automatically to your booking calendar

Appointment Booking System (Bookafy)

This tool serves as a console for all your appointments from different websites, submitted forms, email and chat appointments, etc. You can embed a pop-up notification with easy HTML code insertion to any website. You can create a personalized mini-website for your targeted events. Schedule adjustments are made easy with its drag-and-drop feature in the calendar. It functions as a single application for all types of appointments.

An appointment booking system can:

• Schedule meetings automatically with a unique link
• Authorize and process payments during the booking process
• Set automated email or SMS reminders about the booking
• Set buffer times in between meetings

Time Management App (Pick and World Clock App)

This tool can help your sales representatives to manage and organize their time schedules. In cases like remote selling, time zones are all over the place and could get confusing for both customers and representatives. It can identify the best mutual time and set a meeting via email. The mobile scheduling view in the app is suited for salespeople on the go. It also provides a dedicated link sharing for last-minute appointments.

A time management app can:

• Determine mutual availability of the appointee and the host
• Share customer URL to accommodate multiple participants 
• Send calendar invites for both parties
• Compare and convert different geographical time zones

Text Messaging Platform (HubSpot text messaging)

There are many text messaging tools in the market, but one thing that stands out is a CRM-enabled text messaging platform. You can have complete control over the interaction and view the whole context of the message. The CRM text tool provides an edge for you to follow up on an appointment in real-time and prevent no-shows.

A text messaging platform can:

• Set SMS sequence for your SMS campaigns
• Add rich media like photos and GIFs to your MMS
• Attract mobile-driven visitors to your website
• Broadcast SMS/MMS at a large scale with a fraction of a cost

Sales Dialer Tool (Aloware)

In generating sales appointments, cold calling is still preferable because it reaches out and gets an immediate response from the prospect. Cold calling gives the salesperson a lot of room to negotiate the schedule or best time for a callback. Real estate dialers are commonly used in cold calling as they detect and prevent the automated machines from connecting with the sales agent.

A sales dialer can:

• Dial as many as 500 contacts a day
• Increase human-to-human interaction
• Drop a pre-recorded voicemail
• Log calls directly to the CRM
• Trigger outbound calls for follow-ups

Chatbots (ManyChats)

This tool has become a get-go solution for businesses that want to scale and automate their inbound appointments. Many chatbot providers integrate AI chat workflows to mimic human conversation and increase response time in multiple channels. Chatbots are commonly used with Facebook messenger but can also be used in a webchat.

A chatbot can:

• Export data through spreadsheets
• Be connected with other applications
• Provide discreet options for appointees
• Answer FAQs for customer service

How To Know Which Technology Best Fits Your Needs?

Before jumping and signing to the sales tools above, you must first identify your appointment setting goals. Set an objective for the type of appointment you want to generate. Refer to your sales funnel (TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU) and see which part of the sales process you want to improve.

You should probably assess your current team since appointments can only be performed by specific salespeople. Pursuing a type of appointment in which your teams are not trained can definitely hurt your sales metrics.

Wrapping Everything Up

Gone are the days of setting appointments in a phone booth with a thick leathered planner. An appointment setting is a simple yet complex process that requires a salesperson to balance human efforts and machine automation. Technology has come a long way to penetrate the sales process, and tech solutions are popping up everywhere to solve and help salespeople with their tasks. Choosing the right tool leads to better productivity, efficiency, and generations of appointment settings in your business.