The moment an unknown number flashes on your mobile phone and your true caller application shows that it could be from a sales agency, you slam the phone down or pick it up and say you are busy. But from the sales man's perspective, he was just trying to do a simple appointment setting. Yes, this is what every sales executive does as a first step in order to generate leads and gain more leverage in their sales figures. But the act of setting an appointment is not easy as customers of today don’t pay much heed for b2b telemarketing campaigns. Here are a few do's and don'ts listed for sales executives to know before making their first b2b telemarketing call. Have a look:

Have a nice opening statement

Appointment setting is the most crucial and difficult part of business development as it paves way for an addition of new customers to the business there by improving sales. The first phone call or voice chat has to be attractive with a great opening statement. Sales representatives should sound casual and there should be no fear in one's voice. Also one should not sound as if he or she is desperate to close the deal which again is a bad approach. Hence one has to imbibe a friendly tone and clear diction in order to create interest and curiosity among the leads. It’s a good practice to frame a good sentence read it over and over again before you make the call. The speaking tone must be balanced and it must not sound like news report.

State user examples

If the sales executive has been successful in convincing his lead to listen to him, he should start to narrate a user story where in their product had helped the customer to solve some real time problem situation. This creates more curiosity among the leads and might make them ask queries that strengthen the conversation further. This creates a good rapport and the next campaign will be easy and straight forward. It’s not about getting one customer but one satisfied customer will surely introduce other customers and thus helps to generate good amount of lead for the company.

Do not put company's repute at stake

Appointment setting is an art and if the sales executives of a company are not adept at it, it is ideal to outsource the same to a lead generation service. This is a better option as every time a sales guy calls a prospect on behalf of a company, he puts his company's repute at stake. Even one wrong word can bring the company's name down. Proper training under experienced trainer will ensure to have a profitable conversation taking the company’s name to its next level.

Do not follow leads continuously

If a lead asks the sales rep to call back after a week, it is a good practice to drop in a reminder call the following week. But if a lead expresses his contempt over the phone call, it is ideal to discontinue calling him temporarily. Hence one can try some other means of attracting such customer instead of wasting effort and resource running behind disinterested customers.

A good sales begins with trust and faith!