6 Tips For Landing More Appointments With Prospective Clients

6/7/22, 12:00 AM 6 Tips for landing more appointments with prospective clients
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6 tips for
landing more
appointments
with
prospective
clients
Sujan Patel
Updated: Jun 01, 2020 · 8 min

read
Toolkit for download in this article
Get more referrals
Closing a deal is always the most heavily

emphasized aspect of sales, but you’ll never Grow
have the opportunity to close deals without without
landing appointments first. the chaos
https://keap.com/business-success-blog/sales/sales-process/land-more-appointments 1/14
Get more referrals Keap's suite

of CRM, sales,
and marketing
Prospecting and setting sales appointments is tools help you
get organized,
arguably the most important step in building follow up, and
an effective sales process. But it’s also tricky automate to
create peace
to do. To secure appointments, you have to be of mind,
strategic, bold, and relentless. To put it bluntly, increase
sales, and
you have to earn it. save time.
Effective salespeople need to know when to

Stop
ask for an appointment (and when not to), how
the
to leverage technology for appointment chaos
scheduling, and how to prevent momentum-
killing no-shows. But proper discovery,
confidence, and setting a conversational tone Related blog
are also crucial to securing the appointment. posts
Here are six tips on how to get more B2C or B2B Sales -
Here’s How to
appointments in sales with prospective clients
Succeed at Either
and eventually close more deals. B2B-Sales · 7 min read
Create a
1. Make time for discovery

Successful Pre-
Marketing Plan:
Tips from The Big
Drive Finalists
Sales · 3 min read
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The number one reason so many salespeople

fail at securing appointments is they
continually use the same rehashed email
template or cold calling script. Sure, the
majority of your emails will have similar
elements and calls-to-action, but no two
emails should be entirely the same. You have
to find a way to add personal touches. With
enough personalization, the recipient should
feel like you’re talking to them, and only them.
Making time for proper discovery is very

important. You need to to get to know
prospective clients before hitting that send
button by following these email prospecting
best practices. Otherwise, your email ends up
unread, deleted, or marked as spam like the
majority of the other emails people receive

every day.
Here are some ways can learn about a

prospective client:
Take a look at their LinkedIn profile for job

descriptions, endorsements, recent awards,
promotions, and other interests you can use to
personalize your conversation.
Google them to find public social media pages

so you can learn more about their interests,
motivations, values, influences, and personality.
Comb through their company website (if they

have one) to read news stories, vision
statements, product releases, about us
information, and any other section that can
provide basic context about the company.
2. Always show confidence
Getting a response from prospective clients is

half the battle, one that you’ll almost always
lose if you don’t sound confident in your

emails and over the phone.
Most cold calling fears stem from salespeople

feeling like they’re taking up someone else’s
time. Salespeople who don’t speak with
confidence use phrases like:
“I’m sure you’re very busy.”
“I would be super grateful for just five minutes

of your time.”
“My schedule is wide open. What works for

you?”
“Thanks so much for your time.”
Those types of phrases come across as

desperate, needy, and insecure. Also, it gives
them all of the power because now believe
even more that their time is more important
than yours and they’re doing you a favor.
An alternative approach is valuing your own

time, showing confidence in yourself, and
believing in your product or service. If you
truly believe what you have to offer could
solve a pain point for them, then your call or
email may be the most important thing they
receive that day. Approaching every
interaction with the right attitude will pay
dividends in securing more appointments.
3. Lead with a conversation

Scheduling an appointment after you’ve just

met is highly unlikely. Far too many
salespeople try this approach and naturally
come on too strong, too fast.
Instead, the goal for the first two to three

interactions should be to start a conversation.
Shift their focus away from the fact that you’re
a salesperson and towards your value
proposition. To do that, start a conversation
that disarms them, enlightens them, and
possibly even compliments them.
According to customers, the three most

important elements of a positive sales
experience are a salesperson who 1) listens to
their needs, 2) isn’t pushy, and 3) provides
relevant information. Usually, if you ask the
right questions and provide the right
information, you’ll keep them engaged long
enough to get them asking you questions.
Each interaction should build on the other so
the conversation earns another response.
The questions you ask should serve two

purposes:
1. To qualify the lead
2. To engage and spark the lead’s curiosity
As soon as they’re curious, engaged, and

qualified, then you can slowly begin to share
examples of how clients with similar pain
points, interests, or needs have benefited
from meeting with you.
Take Keap's Lifecycle Marketing Assessment

to identify growth opportunities for your
business.
4. Ask for the appointment
Once you’ve positioned yourself to secure the

appointment, there are two ways to go about
it:
1. Ask them for the meeting
2. Get them to ask you for the meeting
The majority of salespeople ask the

prospective client for the meeting. There’s
nothing wrong with that because it certainly
works. You just have to make sure you do it the
right way. To begin, be specific and clear
about why you want the appointment, and give
them all the appointment details—date, time,
and place (if you’re meeting in-person).
The key here is to make your ask small. Don’t

ask for an hour of their time. If you need an
hour to deliver your pitch, then you’re talking
too much and should work on tightening up
your pitch. Instead, you should only be taking
up 15-20 minutes of their time. If they want to
meet with you again after the first
appointment, that’s when you can get more of
their time.
Salespeople who secure appointments without

asking for them take a slower, more
methodical approach. They ask the right
questions, emphasize the prospective client’s
pains or goals (not the appointment), and
consistently spark curiosity. In fact,
salespeople that take this approach almost
always avoid talking about their service,
product, or making an appointment. This
method entails starting a conversation,

building suspense, and adding credibility until
finally, they ask for the meeting.
5. Use appointment
scheduling technology
Getting attention and building the case for an
appointment should be the tough part—not
the scheduling of the appointment itself. The
best salespeople make it easy to say “yes” by
using software to schedule the appointment.
Tools like Calendly, Keap, and ScheduleOnce

allow prospective clients to click a link in your
email which takes them to a webpage where
they can see your available appointment slots
by date and time and choose a time that works
for them. Scheduling this way requires minimal
effort and avoids the endless back-and-forth
emails that usually come with scheduling. This
Is a win-win for everyone.
6. Follow up to prevent no-

shows
Securing the appointment doesn’t mean you

can let your guard down. Ask any salesperson
how often they get “no-showed,” and they’ll
tell you it’s a standard occurrence. The key to
preventing no-shows is by following up
strategically.
The right way to follow up is all about

positioning yourself as a partner, not a vendor.
Partners don’t “check in” for no good reason,
and neither should you. Write the follow-up
email or call with new information, something
to share, or an important question.
If they still don’t show up, follow up tactfully.

Lisa Jackson, VP of Sales & Customer Success
at Proposify, says:
“We follow up at least three times—two emails

and a phone call. If there’s no response, we add
them to our nurturing sequence. We have
decreased our percentage of no-shows by adding a
specific agenda to the meeting invite to remind
them why we booked the appointment and what

we’ll be covering during the appointment.”
Setting appointments over the phone with

prospective clients takes persistence and
determination. You’ll hear ”no” far more than
you’ll hear “yes,” and there’ll be plenty of no-
shows. But you can’t let that get you down.
Make sure you carve out time to personalize
your approach, radiate confidence at all times,
engage in thoughtful value-packed discussion
and master the art of following up. If you can
do that, then you’ll naturally book more
appointments—and close more deals.
Sujan Patel is a leading expert in digital

marketing. He is a hard working and high
energy individual fueled by his passion to help
people and solve problems. He is the co-
founder of Web Profits, a growth marketing
agency, and a partner in a handful of software
companies including Mailshake, Narrow.io,
Quuu, and Linktexting.com. Between his
consulting practice and his software
companies, Sujan’s goal is to help
entrepreneurs and marketers scale their
businesses.
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6/7/22, 12:00 AM 6 Tips for landing more appointments with prospective clients

Products  Features  Pricing Interesting stuff 

All blogs Subscribe

Updated: Jun 01, 2020 · 8 min

Toolkit for download in this article

Get more referrals

Closing a deal is always the most heavily

Get more referrals Keap's suite

Effective salespeople need to know when to

1. Make time for discovery

Products  Features  Pricing Interesting stuff 

The number one reason so many salespeople

Making time for proper discovery is very

majority of the other emails people receive

Here are some ways can learn about a

Take a look at their LinkedIn profile for job

Google them to find public social media pages

Comb through their company website (if they

2. Always show confidence

Getting a response from prospective clients is

lose if you don’t sound confident in your

Most cold calling fears stem from salespeople

“I’m sure you’re very busy.”

“I would be super grateful for just five minutes

“My schedule is wide open. What works for

“Thanks so much for your time.”

Those types of phrases come across as

An alternative approach is valuing your own

3. Lead with a conversation

Products  Features  Pricing Interesting stuff 

Scheduling an appointment after you’ve just

Instead, the goal for the first two to three

According to customers, the three most

The questions you ask should serve two

1. To qualify the lead

2. To engage and spark the lead’s curiosity

As soon as they’re curious, engaged, and

Take Keap's Lifecycle Marketing Assessment

4. Ask for the appointment

Once you’ve positioned yourself to secure the

1. Ask them for the meeting

2. Get them to ask you for the meeting

The majority of salespeople ask the

The key here is to make your ask small. Don’t

Salespeople who secure appointments without

method entails starting a conversation,

Tools like Calendly, Keap, and ScheduleOnce

6. Follow up to prevent no-

Products  Features  Pricing Interesting stuff 

Securing the appointment doesn’t mean you

The right way to follow up is all about

If they still don’t show up, follow up tactfully.

“We follow up at least three times—two emails

them why we booked the appointment and what

Setting appointments over the phone with

Sujan Patel is a leading expert in digital

All Sales E-Commerce CRM

Products  Features  Pricing Interesting stuff 

You may also like

Sales | 2 min B2C-Sales | 9 min B2C-Sales | 6 min

How to 5 Easy 4 Tips to

Infusionsoft is now Keap, learn why 

Keap CRM Blog Customer Who we