It’s always a hot topic and everyone wants to know how to get more appointments, because the name of the game is appointments and sales!
I’m going to cover several parts of my system in how to set appointments. For many canvassers and event promoters this is the Holy Grail subject. If you can get more appointments then you’ll be more successful.
In this article I’m going to cover the following 3 parts of my system.
- How do you start the conversation with a prospect? Introduction and offer
- How do you transition from obtaining the lead to setting the appointment
- Setting an appointment
Before I get started I want to clarify what’s different between mine and any other system for generating leads in your face-to-face marketing efforts. The biggest difference is that in most systems the canvasser (or event promoter) is going for the appointment from the start, as soon as the conversation begins. Most teachings are to get the appointment first.
I flip the entire system. I get the lead first, then the appointment. There are several problems with going after the appointment as the first objective; or attempting to get the prospect to pick a product or service and then working to put them into an appointment. This approach is riddled with barriers. The prospect has a resistance to who you are and why you’re there, plus, they weren’t thinking about you or your product or service before you made contact with them. The barriers you face at the start of the conversation are monumental. 9 out of 10 times the interaction between the prospect and canvasser or promoter ends up into a ‘back and forth’ verbal game resulting in the prospect saying no out of frustration. It’s not a comfortable situation for either party. That was the catalyst for creating the new system that I did. I practiced and taught the traditional appointment first/lead capture system. I was really good at the traditional method and produced great results. However, just the top percentage of my students could develop their skill set to a high level. Most students struggled and didn’t like being in that high pressure situation.
In the traditional model the offer to the prospect is setting an appointment to becoming a lead. I changed the offer to providing valuable information for them for the ‘if or when’ they ever look into the product(s) or service(s) you offer.
From here I’m going to focus on how you secure the appointment once you have the lead. Here’s how my introduction and offer will get you more appointments. By offering an information guide rather than forcing a prospect to pick a product or service or jump into an appointment, you’re lowering the prospect’s guard and making it easier to cooperate with you, agreeable with the direction of the conversation. When you put the prospect into a pressured situation (real or implied) their instinctive reaction will be a ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction; and most of the time they’ll tell you they’re not interested. Prospects know the types of products and services you represent are sizable investments. My ‘information’ opportunity offers them something ‘comfortable’ in an ordinarily ‘uncomfortable’ situation. My offer is congruent with most people’s habit for ‘researching’ products and services. What do people do today who are looking for a product or service? They go online and ‘shop’ the information available to them for free. This becomes an opportunity we easily move into to capture the lead rather than put pressure towards the prospect by moving them too quick towards an appointment.
Most advice being given today on this subject is coming from a sales perspective or from someone who’s never walked a neighborhood, knocked on doors or worked an event for any length of time. This new approach is revolutionary and soon everyone will adopt my approach.
To recap, you should being working to get the lead contact information first before the appointment.
The Strategy from Lead Capture to Appointment Setting
Once the lead capture is done I’m going to transition to my second offer (which most marketers do first), which is the appointment. It’s important to understand; though I make a safe offer to the prospect with an information guide, there is a choreographed way to get the appointment. Because of my initial offer, which lowers the prospects guard and resistance there is the possibility that guard will go back up when I start asking the prospect for an appointment, unless it’s done correctly.
The transition from offering free information to working to set an appointment is a delicate process; one you do through scripting, practice and controlling the tempo of the conversation. You control the tempo with your wording (script).
If you don’t do this properly the prospect can tell you to send them the information and they’ll call you when they’re ready. How you transition is critical.
Once you’ve captured the lead you make it seem as if you’re done, this is where the conversation will end. They think the next step will be that you’ll leave their door and the information will be sent to them.
Even if during the early parts of the conversation the prospect said or indicated they wouldn’t be doing anything now or couldn’t afford the product or service you’ll still make the offer for an appointment. Not to do so is a disservice to the prospect. Every prospect deserves the opportunity to obtain all the information necessary to make an informed decision on your product or service. Your belief or disbelief in this will demonstrate the level of value you place in that which you’re out offering to people. If you don’t think it’s the best product or service and of great value then you’re likely to give up on the appointment sooner than later. If you believe your products and services are of great value to people then you’re not likely to give up on the prospect. The empirical data I’ve obtained from years of doing this is that it works to do it in this order. Many wondered why not go for the appointment first and if the prospect isn’t ready then offer the information. The problem with this order and proved in my data is the appointment first turns off the prospect and very challenging to back track with an information guide.
So my first offer is for information and my second offer is to the opportunity to get a price quote. The first offer, for the information guide, is free but one that doesn’t require a commitment of time or money (in their minds). What it does though is gets the prospect to agree to an offer, setting up an agreement pattern. This is helpful to you in your second offer, for an appointment (opportunity), which also is free, but will require their time and put them into a selling environment.
After your introduction and information offer and the start of your transition, you pause, let the prospect collect themselves from what’s taken place. This helps keep their guard down.
Transition Response from Lead Capture to Appointment Setting
Here are the keys in the transition. First is offering it as an afterthought, unplanned. The reason is because they’ve indicated an interest by accepting the information guide and it’s only natural they find out the options available to them. The one thing they can’t get from the information guide is a price quote to plan and budget for their specific situation. You must be clear on this to avoid any confusion. The opportunity for an appointment is the only way to get a price quote and how it’s different from the information guide. The transition script I created is very important and when my students follow it, using the words, pace, tone, inflection and body language I teach, they’re very successful with it.
The transition script into appointment setting demonstrates to the prospect the ease of getting a price quote and how it benefits them to plan and budget even though they may not be thinking they’re ready right now to buy your products or services.
*** Canvass King Members have access to all training calls and specific scripts on the methodology behind the wordtracks. The recorded calls have live examples of me role playing the appointment setting process. If interested go to www.canvassking.com to sign up for membership and access the membership achieves.
Appointment Setting
From the last line of the transition statement I go directly into the first part of appointment setting. I have 3 levels of appointment setting.
When they’ll be home and when we might meet with you. The key in the presentation is not to pause between the end of the transition and the first line of appointment setting. You need to assume the appointment and your effectiveness with this is going to be in your voice (tempo) and body language.
1st level of appointment setting: General Times
The first level is finding General Times; zeroing in on when the prospect would be available for an appointment. Start with general times first because it’s the easiest commitment to get.
2nd level of appointment setting: Days
The second level of commitment on the appointment is to put them into an option based on their first commitment, or a more specific day.
In level 1 we get the prospect to commit to a general time and then in level 2 we build on that commitment and provide several choices of days that are best for the prospect.
3rd level of appointment setting: Specific Time
In level 3 we’re going to target in on a specific time for the appointment. At this point we no longer need to provide choices like we did in levels 1 and 2. Now we can ask open ended questions and pry a little to find when they get home or how long they might be home.
Number of Appointments Expected
The big question I get when I teach this is, “What number of appointments should I expect?”
Here are the numbers I’ve found to be consistent. Let’s consider you get to 50 doors on an evening shift in a couple hours. About 30% of those doors will get opened (15 doors). This varies in neighborhoods, though they’re average numbers. I also know of those 15 doors that do get opened, they’re not all qualified prospects, meaning they’re not the prospective buyer or the person who’s capable of making a buying decision. Of those 15 doors (10-11 will be qualified), on average. Of those qualified prospects half of them (5-6 of those) will accept the information guide. And a third of those (2-3) will set appointments. So you end up with 5-6 leads and 2-3 appointments made right on the spot. Now, with practice and perfection of my process will increase these numbers, but these represent the results from a competent presentation.
In addition to an increase in appointments the confirmed appointments and actual sales visits will increase as well.
Many prospects will delay setting an appointment with you because they falsely believe they don’t have the time for an appointment or afford the product or service you offer. That’s why you must perfect your presentation skills and learn the proven methods for setting appointments.
If you have questions on setting more appointments you can submit questions to me at www.AskTheCanvassKing.com.
Committed to your canvassing success,
Chris Thompson
The Canvass King