Are you looking to increase your sales while simultaneously reducing customer acquisition costs? Appointment setting and lead generation serve as powerful strategies that drive streamlined lead flow, providing you with a steady influx of qualified prospects.
Learn how this method is revolutionizing the way businesses convert leads into paying customers and why it could be an essential tool in your marketing strategy. Let’s get started!
We are all aware that the world of B2B marketing is far more difficult than that of consumer marketing. As a result, many firms rely on demand lead generation or appointment setting to attract their target audience.
Demand generation marketing and appointment setting are both excellent strategies for any business. And considering B2B customers, both strategies are crucial for the success of the lead generation process.
The question now is whether we should pursue both techniques or just one of them. So let’s dig deeper into both areas for a better understanding. You will discover how to set up lead generation, demand generation, and appointment setting in this blog.
How Does Lead Generation Work?
Lead generation attracts people to your company and progressively moves them through a funnel to become paying clients. Unfortunately, some people still associate lead generation with large email blasts and pushy messages.
In today’s online marketplace, both B2B and B2C customers are bombarded with people fighting for their attention. Being aware of it, customers tend to filter out messages that make no sense to them. They are more likely to respond to personalized messages than promotional ones.
So, in the world of lead generation, relying on one or two channels to blast a prospect list and follow up with a phone call is an outdated strategy.
There’s more to modern lead generation, including:
- One-to-one targeting
- Message consistency across many channels
- A focus on customer education
- Developing meaningful relationships
Modern lead generation may also involve numerous departments inside a company. For example, if free trials are available, the process will normally begin with marketing before moving on to the sales or business development team.
The process starts with finding leads through cold calls, messages, or generating email lists of subscribers. After proper evaluation, the next phase is appointment setting, where initially, you need to find the right person.
Appointment setting is a continuous process. It starts right from the first interaction with your customers and goes post-delivery as long as customers remain with you. The quality and effectiveness of your lead generation rely heavily on how well you manage appointment setting.
The modern lead generation program for SaaS businesses will likely involve product or service teams.
See Also: 13 Best KPIs to Measure Sales Success
How Lead Generation Gives Boost to Your Business
Embracing lead generation is essential for any B2B or B2C firm that offers a high-involvement purchase.
We’ve discovered that firms that use a mature, well-developed lead-generating strategy may generate 133% more revenue than ordinary companies. As a result, there is an obvious revenue generation advantage.
On the other hand, a robust lead generation process that generates warm, well-qualified leads can boost business morale and efficiency.
An automated lead-generation process will allow your sales force to spend more time selling and less time prospecting and doing administrative tasks. Furthermore, while the lead generation process likely involves numerous departments, it frequently begins with marketing.
If the marketing staff can be observed collaborating with sales to attract more consumers, it is clear that marketing truly assists the company’s growth. This can help with the impression of marketing as a useful component of the firm that helps make money rather than a cost center.
Also Read: How Do You Write a Sales Copy That Converts?
How Can You Leverage Appointment Setting?
Appointment setting is a tactic for bringing in new prospects through scheduled appointments. However, it is more challenging than it appears.
When it comes to appointment arranging, the sales team usually has to contact the established leads. However, once they contact them, they are accountable for qualifying them as prospective clients who are likely to make a final decision.
Then, they schedule a meeting with the prospects to discuss the product or service with a salesperson or representative. However, relying on an in-house appointment setter may not be a wise decision. That’s because:
- Both B2B and B2C customers have become mindful of unnecessary messages, push notifications, and cold calls.
- Nowadays, selling a product or service requires tactful thinking, a convincing tone, and problem-solving attitude – and a high level of patience.
- One needs to be tech-savvy, analytic, and efficient enough to figure out the target prospect’s preferences, mindset, and intent.
Above all, customers nowadays already have loads of options. Therefore, you need to make every effort not to let the prospect shy away. This is where professional appointment-setting services can save you time and money, enabling you to make the most of your B2B demand generation activity.
Companies regularly outsource the appointment-setting component of prospecting. This frees up time for the sales staff to prepare for the sales meeting and other profitable activities.
Once the meeting is set, it is up to the salesman or representative of the company to guide the prospect through the sales process and close the purchase.
Related: 5 Business Automation Examples and Tools (Software)
How Lead Generation Pipeline Works
Your B2B demand generation marketing efforts pay you back when a visitor starts to show interest in your product or service. This is where an effective lead generation program can help you turn them into customers.
Any good lead generation program should have a well-defined sales funnel. Anyone who isn’t currently in your pipeline is likely to benefit from top-of-funnel marketing (TOFU) and falls into one of the ‘cold’ categories listed below:
- Unaware: These potential clients still need to be made aware of your company.
- Aware: These potential clients know your brand and may have visited your social media pages or website to learn more.
- Friendly: These are potential clients who are aware of your brand and may have visited your social media platforms or website several times. They are your target demographic interested in your product or service but have not yet purchased it.
The lead generation process can be divided into four stages:
- Stage 1: When a prospect gets attracted to the company’s products or services and shows their consent to be contacted. This is a sign that the company’s demand-generation marketing tactics are on the right track.
- Stage 2: When the prospect moves from the top of the funnel (TOFU) to the middle of the funnel (MOFU), they’re segregated into marketing-qualified leads (MQL) and/or sales-qualified leads (SQL).
- Stage 3: At this stage, both MQLs and SQLs are being contacted. Based on their historical data, the appointment setter plans to take the discussion further into maturing those leads. The aim is to get them sales-ready.
- Stage 4: When the prospect decides to try a product, they become product-qualified leads. Although this may be the final stage of B2B lead generation, the appointment setting will remain there as the lead transitions into customers.
How Appointment Setting Fits in Demand Lead Generation Marketing
A company’s sales team uses B2B appointment-setting services to establish a list of prospects and contact potential leads, whether by cold calling or emailing. Once the sales agent contacts the prospect, they must determine if they are the key decision-maker (KDM) and whether the firm qualifies for their product or service.
A prospect becomes a lead if they meet their company’s ideal customer requirements. A sales representative will continue to nurture the relationship, add value, and qualify the lead until they reach the end of their purchase cycle.
When a lead is ready to make a financial commitment, the salesperson arranges a sales meeting between the prospect and the company’s business owner, account executive, or another team member in charge of sales and client management. During the sales meeting, the business owner or account executive delivers a sales pitch to the lead to convert them from a lead to a customer.
Must Read: 7 Best Lead Generation Tools for Small Businesses
FAQs
What is lead generation?
Lead generation is known as the practice of generating consumer interest in a product or service to convert that interest into a sale. In internet marketing, this is often accomplished by collecting a visitor’s contact information (referred to as a “lead”) using a web form.
Which are the four steps of the lead generation process?
Here are four methods to improve lead generation if your company is digitally mature and striving to overcome competitors.
- Determine your target customers
- Create interesting content
- Increase cross-channel traffic
- Convert website visitors into leads
What is the role of an appointment setter?
An appointment setter is a specialist who sets appointments between sales employees and prospective clients, ensuring that crucial meetings for the sales team are scheduled.
What is the main goal of appointment setting?
The main goal of appointment setting is to create a connection between a potential customer and the company representative. Through an appointment, the company representative will have the opportunity to introduce their product or service and provide detailed information that may not have been possible through other means.
It also provides a convenient timeline for communication between both parties, enabling them to move on to further discussions or negotiations at later dates with more confidence in one another. Appointment setting creates an environment of trust and respect that leads to opportunities for business growth.
What are the benefits of appointment-setting services?
By using appointment-setting services, businesses can save time and money by not having to manually research leads and qualify them as potential customers. This leaves more time for strategic initiatives such as new product launches or expanding into new markets. Additionally, an appointment-setting service can increase the efficiency of sales operations by providing real-time feedback on leads, performance information, and customer satisfaction data.
Not only do appointment-setting services provide a tremendous benefit to businesses, but they also can help enhance the customer experience by ensuring that prospects get the best quality advice from knowledgeable professionals who have a deep understanding of the products and services being offered.
See Also: Advanced LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategies for 5X Leads
Conclusion
As we already explained, you cannot work solely on an appointment setup. It relies almost completely on lead generation.
So the real question is whether or not an appointment setup is appropriate for your business. Of course, if you work in the B2B industry, the answer is clear: appointment setup is essential.
Lead generation and appointment setup can work together to improve your overall marketing and sales strategy. If you do it correctly, it will result in more conversions for your company.
