Sales appointments represent an ideal passage of the baton as in a relay between the telemarketing operator and the salesman who goes to the appointment
One of the most critical aspects of sales appointments booked through telemarketing is the misalignment that can occur between what a sales appointment is, what the vendor would like it to be, and what instead the prospect that said yes thinks of the appointment.
This is a misalignment that can occur, in an identical way, both in companies that have their own internal telemarketing structure and in companies that use an external telemarketing agency.
When it occurs, the telemarketing operator and the vendor behave like two relay members who lose their baton and do not reach the finish line.
But why does this happen?
To understand their motivations, we need to analyze the behavior of the people involved in the process, understand what goes on in their heads, and what are their motivations. Obviously, we assume that everyone is behaving professionally, that they are in perfect good faith, and that they do not exploit the situation.
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Table of Contents
The Operator
Let’s start to see what the telemarketing operator who made the sales appointment does, what he says, and what he thinks.
If things are carried out correctly, the appointment has been set:
– by informing the prospect of the product/service;
– by verifying that the prospect may be a potential customer for the product/service;
– and finally by motivating the prospect to meet the seller to deepen and better understand.
This is the task of the telephonist, nothing more. No operator can ever in three minutes go further, ask the prospect guarantees of opening negotiations, nor if she thinks to buy.
Let’s see what is going on in the prospect’s head.
The Prospect
The prospect has accepted the sales appointment:
– because in the 3-minute phone call he sensed that the product could perhaps one day be useful;
– because he was somehow intrigued by the operator to know more;
– and perhaps also because the operator was so polite and able to make it difficult for him to say “no” to her.
So, as it comes to an end, the prospect meets the seller with the aim of finding out more.
In three minutes, he cannot have understood everything about the product or service that the operator has talked about: it would be like pretending to assimilate the contents of a book by reading the presentation on the cover.
Ultimately, the prospect wants precisely only and only to deepen.
Then, on the basis of what he feels, he will assess whether it makes sense to proceed, when, etc.
He just wants to know more.
Finally, the third of our protagonists enters the scene: he’s the salesman.
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The Salesman
The salesman is definitely the person with the most responsibility.
He has to take the orders home. He has turnover targets and a boss who puts pressure on him because he doesn’t sell enough.
He also wants to get the quarterly award to take his wife on a surprise weekend.
So, he goes to the sales appointment hoping to meet a person motivated to buy.
This is where and why the misalignment is created:
THE PROSPECT EXPECTS ONLY INFORMATION FROM THE SALES APPOINTMENT.
THE SALESMAN EXPECTS INSTEAD TO FIND A PROSPECT MOTIVATED TO BUY.
But this is not the case, and will never be!
Going to sales appointments doesn’t mean meeting prospects ready to sign an order. Any hope of the automatic opening of a new negotiation is unrealistic.
Going to sales appointments just means having the door opened by the potential customer and put your foot on the door and then play the game.
Here then is how the expectation of the visit must be correctly repositioned: I, the salesman, must wish myself only and only to find a prospect who wants more information from me.
My task as a salesman is to inform the prospect and identify if they have a need, what is the priority to solve that need, what are the decision criteria.
Then, only then, will I be able to leverage on all my commercial weapons to REASON the prospect to take the next step.
Take your next step now:
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