English
English

Pro tips

Pro tips

Need to book more demos and appointments? Add these 3 tricks to your outreach process

READ TIME: 3 MINUTES

Calendly

Calendly
May 28, 2020

book more demos

In the sales development world, efficiency is the name of the game.

You’ve got lists to build, hundreds of emails to fire off and dozens of dials to make, all in the race to crush demo and appointment quotas. There’s no room for low-ROI activity.

At the same time, you know that completely automating your outreach process will end in deleted messages and unanswered calls. Keeping outreach efforts personal is crucial to getting responses, but it’s also incredibly time-consuming–and your to-do list is already full-to-bursting.

So how do you cater to prospects in a way that gets them on the phone, while still ensuring that others don’t slip through the cracks in the rush?

3 tactics to increase engagement with prospects

These three tricks, which can be easily built into your own outreach process, will ensure that prospects feel respected and cared for — and, therefore, way more likely to book an appointment — without sucking extra hours out of your day.

1. Ask for just FOUR minutes

Time is money, both for you and your prospect. If you’re hesitant to hand 15 precious minutes over to someone you don’t know, so are they.

To make “yes” the easier answer, make your ask smaller–under five minutes.

I cannot tell you how many invites I’ve sent for four-minute calls. It’s such a short amount of time that I see at least a 70% success rate. And of course, once we’re on the phone, four minutes always turns into more.

Emilie Norton

SDR at Rivalry

2. Get out of your own schedule’s way

If you’re still setting up all your meetings by email, you’re forcing one prospect to wait to while another one confirms (or changes–again) a proposed meeting time. That’s like offering them a cupcake, then giving it away to someone else.

While trading emails with Prospect A to set up a demo, you inherently make Prospect B wait for your attention until Prospect A’s call is scheduled. So Prospect B feels uncared for and unimportant, and as the email thread drags on, Prospect B eventually abandons.

Including a scheduling app in your sales toolkit, as software companies CallRail and Katalon have done, empowers each prospect to set up a meeting as soon as they’re ready, rather than making them wait in a slow-moving line. And less waiting for them = more bookings for you.

Webinar: Getting Started with Calendly

Webinar: Getting started with Calendly

New to Calendly? Join this webinar to learn how to get started with help directly from the experts!

3. Don’t use templates that suck (OR: include phrases that prove your prospect’s time is important) 

There’s definitely a right way and a wrong way to use email templates and scheduling tools. Insightpool CEO Devon Wijesinghe nailed how annoying it is to be asked for a favor, then expected to do extra work:

tweet reading "Amazing to me that people will ask me for a meeting and then tell me to go to their calendar and book a time #poorform"


Remember — it’s all about the prospect, not you. While you already know that templates and tools make life easier for everyone, it’s imperative that you prove to your prospects that their time is valued, and that automating administrative work is really a win for them.

If you’re inviting people to meetings like this, you’re doing it wrong:

I have some questions for you and I want to talk on the phone. Book an agreeable time here: [scheduler link]

Someone without a sense of etiquette

Wow. Talk about a recipe for success.

If you’re putting the focus on their time and needs, however, rest assured you’re doing it right:

Would love to connect with you. I’m free today at 2pm Eastern and tomorrow at 10am Eastern. If those don’t work for you, though, want to avoid the back-and-forth by grabbing the time that works best for you here? [Replace this with the link to your scheduler]"

"I’m happy to work around your schedule. Just choose the time that’s best for you here, and I look forward to continuing our conversation then: [Replace this with the link to your scheduler]

Someone who is thinking of others first

E-book: Scheduling etiquette

E-book: Scheduling etiquette

Are scheduling links rude? Depends on how you share them! Download this e-book for advice on sharing your calendar link politely.

Your turn

What tricks do you use to book more demos and appointments while still staying on top of your to-do list?

Tweet at us with your strategies. We're excited to hear your input.

eBook: The art of cold outreach

E-book: The art of cold outreach

Learn how top sales pros book more discovery calls, get replies, land meetings, and generate more revenue — and how you can do the same.
Calendly

Calendly

Calendly's modern scheduling automation takes the work out of connecting with others so you can accomplish more.

Don't leave your prospects, customers, and candidates waiting

Calendly eliminates the scheduling back and forth and helps you hit goals faster. Get started in seconds.

Calendly eliminates the scheduling back and forth and helps you hit goals faster. Get started in seconds.