Knowing how to manage appointments with leads effectively can dramatically increase the number or sales meetings you have and new customers that you acquire. In this article we provide some tips on how to ensure that your leads show up to meetings, how to handle no-shows, and how to follow up after your meetings.

Ensuring that Your Prospects Show Up

One of the disappointing situations in business is when you have a meeting scheduled with a lead and you take the time to be well prepared for it but the lead does not show up. Here are some tips to help ensure that your meetings take place.

● Explain to the lead why being in the meeting would be worthwhile for them.

● On the day before the meeting and the morning of the meeting, send the lead a message by email or text to remind them of the meeting. This process can be automated.

● Your reminder messages can also include an option to reschedule the meeting. This is helpful in case something comes up for the lead and they need to change the meeting time.

Handling No-Show Leads

Unfortunately, despite your best efforts to send reminders, some leads will still not show up for your scheduled meeting. Here are some tips for handling this situation.

● Remain calm and professional. Various things could have happened to cause the lead to not show up, so don’t make any assumptions.

● Have a system ready for getting back in touch with leads that did not show up for your meetings. For example, you can have a template message ready that you can customize and send. The message can let them know that you tried to reach them, include some information about what you had planned to cover in the meeting, and give them an opportunity to reschedule via a link to your appointment calendar. To save time, you can set up a series of automated messages to help you reschedule appointments.

Following Up After Your Meeting

Effectively following up after your meeting is an important part of your sales process. Here are some tips:

● Send an email that summaries what you discussed and lets the lead know what the next steps are. Ask for any additional information you may need from the lead.

● Send information for your next appointment. It is ideal to set the second appointment in your first meeting so that you already have an agreed upon time for the next meeting. This saves you time and helps you to move your sales process forward.

● If you had told the lead that you will send them pricing information, be sure to send it in a day or less.

● Wait a couple of days for the prospect to get back to you before following up again.

A coach can help you to develop an effective appointment setting strategy. Get in touch today!