Flexibility With Prospects

Flexibility With Prospects

Does this scenario sound familiar: Reaching out to a sales prospect multiple times and finally setting that appointment that you have been working on for months and get a call that says “I had something come up today and I am not able to meet with you at our set time”, “Can you meet with me 2 hours later or maybe tomorrow?”

Chances are when you get this type of call; you have already booked your day and won’t have an available time slot to accommodate the last minute request. What can you do to prevent this from happening? Here are some tips on offering flexible scheduling:

1. Follow-up. Take the time to follow-up with your sales appointments 2 days before the scheduled time. This will not help with last minute cancellations but can remind clients of the original appointment date set. Consistent follow-up will boost sales success rates.

2. Electronic correspondence. With modern technology at our finger tips, a great tool to use in correspondence with prospects is email and fax. Drop notes to your contacts reminding them of your conversation as well as the appointment set for next Tuesday at 10:00. This allows the prospect to recall what you spoke about as well as remember you. A lot of times we reach prospective clients that are in the middle of something and might dismiss the entire conversation after the call ends.

3. Prospects. If you are setting appointments with prospects and they are canceling before the scheduled appointment time, chances are you are reaching out to the wrong contacts. Re-evaluate your calling list. Know your market to guarantee you are reaching out to those that have a true need for your offerings. It is equally important to know your product or service as well as knowing who to contact.

4. Beating a dead horse. A prospect that hasn’t responded to 6 contact attempts over a two-week period needs to be eliminated from your calling list. Even though they appeared to be the perfect prospect in the beginning, you are wasting energy on a dead lead. Use your time wisely with other potential customers.

Try to be as accommodating as you can when setting appointments. We all have that unforeseen emergency or events that come about when we are a not able to give advance notice. Flexibility with scheduling is good for both the sales person and the prospective customer.