Comments on: Setting Appointments, Part 1

By: Patrick Giordano

Patrick Giordano — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:08:55 +0000

Brandon, Mine is more a question. Do you know of any or where I can find credible standards publsihed for the number of “New” customer visits per week for a National Account or Strategic Account Manager calling on medium to large prospects? I have a client who is trying to set some key performance indicators on this specific activity. They are in the wharehouse outsourcing and logistics industry. Thanks

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:29:32 +0000

Thanks Brandon. I have just recently switched to the enterprise market and I am sure Jill’s book will help. I will look into her book. If you happen to do a posting of strategies to the enterprise market, let me know. Thanks again.

By: Brandon Hull

Brandon Hull — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:58:02 +0000

Good question Jay. This script has been successfully used when focused on managers and buyers, but not necessarily executives. It’s part 1 of the script that isn’t very effective when calling the highest level of big companies.

If you’re looking for resources on this, I’d say Jill Konrath’s program “Selling to Big Companies” is the best I’ve run across. It includes a segment on getting into big companies. Very worthwhile.

Tony Parinello has the VITO system with several related books that caught on a few years ago, and it’s VERY similar to Michael Boylan’s “The Power to Get In” from a years beyond that, but I prefer Jill’s.

By: Jay

Jay — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:07:34 +0000

What would be the take on this approach when calling on fortune 1000 companies and fortune 500 companies. I am sure there is a twist, but the question is what the twist is.

By: Dan Tudor

Dan Tudor — Thu, 18 May 2006 07:09:56 +0000

Great list, very thought provoking. As one of the posts said, some of the recommendations and targets depend upon who you sell to. But overall, great job guys…I’ll link to it on my blog and comment on it.

By: SalesTeamTools.com » Setting appointments, part 2

SalesTeamTools.com » Setting appointments, part 2 — Wed, 03 May 2006 00:18:00 +0000

[...] Some time back, we lobbed our first grenade at the current method of setting appointments through mass phone calls. It’s become one of our most popular posts. [...]

By: SalesTeamTools.com » Past posts at SalesTeamTools.com

SalesTeamTools.com » Past posts at SalesTeamTools.com — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 19:53:28 +0000

[...] So…I thought I’d add a link to a handful of posts for newcomers that give you a better flavor for the type of content we like to add here, that have also proven popular, judging by page views, but haven’t quite cracked the Top 10. High Activity SellingSetting appointments, part 110 minutes better spentQualifying prospectsBuilding rapport10 account management fundamentalsThe Sales Process 2.0The one closing technique you need to know11 bad behaviors of salespeople11 ways we deny ourselves of successLocked in [...]

By: Brandon

Brandon — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 02:28:30 +0000

Steve,

Thanks for posting.

Agreed. 7 appointments from 100 dials is absolutely achievable. The bigger issue is how many contacts you make from those 100 dials.

And frankly, if you’re cold calling CEOs you’re going about things the wrong way, in my opinion. I’ve got multiple posts addressing that on my blog. Better to call people who know you or expect your call and arrange appointments from there.

But if you have to cold call, this way not only increases your credibility factor with unknown individuals, it really will increase your number of appointments.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 20:01:12 +0000

I partially agree with what yopu are saying, however I think the key thing you overlooked is it’s very much dependant who you are calling. If you are calling the CEO of corporates you would probably only make 15-30 calls in a day as you would have so much research to do before you pick the phone up. If you are just selling a standard product you your average IT Manager perhaps these ratios are about right. Although I would also say that in over 10 years in sales I’ve never known anyone who could consistently achieve 7 appointments out of 100 dial spins. Perhaps the market is different in the US to the UK?

Regs,

Steve

By: Brandon

Brandon — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 18:06:53 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Nina. You’re right, it’s a much different approach. As I’m sure you’ve learned, sales is more art than science.

But actually sales people I’ve worked with have gotten better results. Read it over carefully, for every 100 companies we’ve called, we’ve gotten 15 appointments. Now, we did call 15 of them a second time, but that’s better than calling hundreds more to get the same number of appointments. And these are averages – it doesn’t play out every week of every year with every 100 block of contacts.

As far as your number of contacts per 100 dials, I’ve had 40 contacts out of 100 validated time and again by literally dozens of sales professionals in multiple industries in a B2B setting. By B2B, I mean calling on small to medium businesses’ owners and executives.

Some of the difference in the number of contacts reached comes from how well-qualified your calling list is. Your approach in getting to that person can affect it as well.

What matters most is to have success and not feel burned out by making so many calls. This approach is designed to help with the former and prevent the latter. The burn-out factor is a real one.