Background: With our email marketing sequences running we must plan for the next step. Customer meetings. Setting up meetings is a logistical challenge.
In 2013 a salesperson got so fed up with scheduling meetings he built a tool to solve that problem. That tool is Calendly. Calendly allows customers to schedule meetings directly into your calendar based on your availability. In the ensuing years many competitors cropped up with different twists and features. We’ll discuss 3 of the most common scheduling tools and some best practices for how to get started.
Shopping List:
Meeting scheduler of your choice:
Calendly - Strong brand recognition and integrations with most cloud calendar services make Calendly the best all-around tool. If you have a small sales team and do a mix of automated marketing as well as individual marketing look no further.
HubSpot Meeting Scheduler - If you’re already using HubSpot you can get most of the same features and a tighter integration with your CRM means you won’t have to log new contact events.
Chili Piper - For larger teams, teams running a lot of email marketing, or teams with many digital customer acquisition tools, consider Chili Piper. The tool is designed to route new leads optimally. It is also focused on data from each customer touch point, aka your entire funnel. From the first email to the first meeting, and beyond.
Optional: Email client access to add a scheduling link to your signature
Optional: Website admin access to show scheduling options on your website
While it may be best to leave this to the web developers, it’s important to know this is an option. Take a look at our meeting page.
Cooking Instructions:
Connect your calendar to the scheduling service of your choice.
If you’re using iCloud, Google Workspace, or Microsoft Office 365 this will be a matter of a few clicks.
Consider what times to make available.
Be sure these are times when you are in a place to talk with customers. You can set a variety of time ranges for each day. You can even set restrictions so that someone can’t book a meeting that starts 5 minutes from now.
Finding the right balance between being too busy and too open is hard. All of these tools, and your emails, should remind folks to reach out if they can’t find a time available.
Create individual links for various meeting types.
You may want your email signature to have a “book a 30 minute call” link so that all emails allow customers to book time with you.
You can create other links for specific calls, for example 15 minute check in or 60 minute strategy call.
Each of these links can all have different times available too.
Add a link in your email signature block.
Check the data.
Every few weeks take a look to see if you are booking more meetings. Are you converting more leads or improving business? Are customers not finding times available?
These tools are largely free, or have free trials. Experiment!
If you still find yourself scheduling meetings the “old way” don’t be afraid to ask customers what they think of the tool you were using.
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