15 minutes? Is it really worth it?
This isn't anything new; I blogged about this back in 2006 having witnessed this same thing in a classic "boiler-room" appointment setting company (see "The Meetings Game": Some truths about B2B Appointment Setting).
So, is it worth just going for 15 minutes?
Without doubt, the less you ask for the higher the conversion you'll get.
Going for a telephone call will pull more results than going for an more traditional 1 hour meeting.
Years ago when I ran a sales team with reps "in the area" we would always push for a "15 minute drop in" just to put a "face to a name".
Our pitch would go something like "Look, we'll both know in the first 10 minutes if this is something for you; let's put aside just 15 minutes and, if you think it's worthwhile then I'll stay longer".
That always worked a charm.
But, that was because we were "in the area", so it was actually a productive use of our time. Plus, the number of meetings attended was a metric.
For most of our clients, however, this isn't the case.
When we're booking appointments with senior decision makers we're usually committing our clients to a long journey which usually results in breaking up their whole day. We need to make absolutely sure that it's worth their time attending.
So, on balance, I prefer to play everything with a straight bat and only book appointments where there is a clearly qualify interest in meeting.
That means a lower conversion than if you shoot for "just 15 minutes".
I only advocate softening my stance on this if I had a very tight wish-list and found going for a longer meeting wasn't getting traction.
But then you need to think beyond those first 15 minutes.
Our clients would need a rock solid process to turn that 15 minutes into a second, longer and more productive meeting.
Otherwise, they really will be wasting their time.
Labels: appointment making, appointment setting
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