Don’t you hate it when you finally get a prospect to set an appointment and they cancel, or even worse, they are a “no show?”
And, do you ever find yourself reluctant to confirm the appointment for fear that it will give your prospects an opportunity to cancel?
This topic came up during a recent coaching call with a client participating in my program. I’ll let you in on some of the ideas and conversation we had. I hope you find it helpful for your own business.
1. Secure a solid introduction that piques the prospect’s interest. This is such an underutilized strategy. Collaborate with your referral source for an introduction that truly entices the prospect to take your call and then meet with you. Discuss why they thought of this person and why they think it might be a good match. Discuss what they need to say to the prospect (usually in the email introduction) to pique their interest. Work with your referral source to create a highly relevant introduction and follow up from you. If you’re not relevant, you’ll be ignored.
2. Discuss the agenda with the prospect before the meeting. As you’re scheduling your first meeting with your prospect, discuss what they’d like to cover at the meeting. What caught their interest enough to take your call and decide to meet with you? What might they like to accomplish in the first meeting? Build the agenda around their needs and wants (as well as your process).
3. Create more engagement before the meeting. An engaged prospect or client means that you have begun to establish a value connection and a personal connection. They like the questions you are asking, the concepts you’re covering, and your responsiveness. They also feel good about you – you’re being genuine and confident, but not pushy. Send something of value before the meeting, such as a (compliance approved) guide, checklist, or link to a short video. Send them a link to a website related to one of their personal interests that you’ve discovered. Get the engagement process started quickly.
4. Keep your referral source engaged. You always want to keep your referral source in the loop as you follow up on their introductions. Let them know that you’ve set an appointment and see if they will put in another good word about you before the meeting – to speak to, email, or text the prospect.
5. Confirm both the meeting and the agenda. When you confirm the meeting, reinforce what they said they wanted to discuss and/or accomplish at the meeting. Keep them engaged with the value, with you, and with their agreement to meet with you.
If you follow the steps above and the prospect truly can’t make the meeting, they’ll reschedule, rather than cancel or be a no show. The steps above will create that all-important sense of engagement with you and your value.
