Frequently Asked Questions

Questions

 

1. Should I stop wasting my top salespeople on cold calling?

2. How do we get started? How fast can we get started?

3. Do you provide lists?

4. How do you customize our appointment setting campaign?

5. What reports do you provide? How comprehensive are these reports?

6. Why should I outsource our appointment setting?

7. Do you offer a satisfaction guarantee?

8. Do you provide a performance guarantee?

9. How long has Blue Zebra Appointment Setting been in business?

10. I am concerned that we have to pay in advance.

11. I would prefer not to have accents from certain parts of the country.

 

Responses

 

1. Should I stop wasting my top salespeople on cold calling?

Yes, many companies have realized the cost effectiveness of outsourcing their appointment setting and lead generation needs. By implementing “The Modern Sales Management Model”, which has been employed by many national sales organizations, many companies have doubled or tripled their revenue. The key to this model is the separation of cold calling, lead generation and appointment setting from the actual face-to-face selling performed by an outside sales force. Many benefits are realized from using this model. First, the laser beam focus of each function allows both teams of professionals to specialize. The top salespeople are left to do what they do best – use their knowledge capital, top-notch communication, presentation, negotiating and closing skills to close deals. Since 93% of all outside salespeople hate or dislike cold calling with the telephone, they perform poorly. By outsourcing the cold calling, the outside sales team is using their time and skills more effectively. They spend more time in front of qualified prospects selling and less time pursing marginal leads. As a result, the top salespeople close more sales, while the company experiences an increase in revenue. Secondly, the qualified professional appointment setter is doing what they do best – cold calling to set qualified appointments. The separation of appointment setting and outside selling creates specialization and an increase in revenue. In addition this approach furnishes the outside sales force with a consistent pipeline of qualified leads and appointments furnished by the professional appointment setters. To further investigate this model, please feel free to investigate the fastest growing companies in the Fortune 500, Global 3,000 companies and Inc.’s 500 fastest growing companies. You will discover the implementation of “The Modern Sales Management Model” is common to most successful organizations. Think about it. It does make sense. Why not take action today and gain market share?

 

2. How do we get started? How fast can we get started?

First, we are very excited about the opportunity to partner with you to accelerate your sales. Second, please call us to further discuss your needs and to determine how we can best serve you and your marketplace. Third, we will request that you sign our standard agreement, send us any hardcopy materials or literature you would like us to have, as well as a check. Once we receive these materials, we would require three weeks to launch your appointment setting campaign. Once you come onboard, the customization process begins with a telephone strategy session. For more comprehensive information on the customization process, please click on the Customization under our "Services" or continue with FAQ #3 and #4 listed below.

 

3. Do you provide lists?

Yes. We can provide a list for you or you may use your own list. The choice is truly yours. We prefer to use the better list. The investment in the pilot project includes an initial list of 300 leads to test from our third party source. You may also fold in your own list.  Depending upon pilot results and your intended renewal, you are welcome to purchase more leads from our source.  In all cases, we will partner with you to identify your Ideal Customer Profile or list to target in terms of size (# of employees or revenue), vertical markets and industries (SIC codes), as well as, the geographical area (zip codes, cities, metropolitan areas, counties, or states). Finally the list will be sent to you prior to the start of your campaign in an Excel format so you can remove existing clients or prospects.

 

4. How do you customize our appointment setting campaign?

We plan with you to identify the target results you want to achieve. During a telephone strategy session, we completely customize your campaign to meet your needs. The customization and strategy process is as follows:

 

• Identify your Ideal Customer Profile to target in terms of size (# of employees or revenue), vertical markets and industries (SIC codes), as well as, the geographical area (zip codes, cities, metropolitan areas, counties, or states)

• Develop your script.  We partner with you shoulder-to-shoulder to develop an effective, powerful, attention-generating script after reviewing your value proposition, benefits, specific offering and previous scripts available.

• Identify the five most common objections

• Identify the five most effective rebuttals to those objections

• Uncover answers to FAQ’s such as “How long have you been in business?” and “Who are some of your clients?”

• Memorize and learn your product or service offering by reading your literature and web site content.

• Utilize 800 numbers as a way to seamlessly respond to your prospects.  When our Professional Appointment Setters receive call backs, they will identify themselves with the name of your company.  It appears seamless as though we are working from your corporate office.  In essence, we become your inside sales team.

• Avoid burnout and maximize performance and results by having our Professional Appointment Setters, only dial a maximum of three hours per day on your project.

• Match the most appropriate Professional Appointment Setter to the needs of your campaign.  As one of the most critical steps in assuring the success of your project, we evaluate your needs and match the best Professional Appointment Setter based on their background, experience level, skill set and personality.

• Quality Assurance.  We dedicate a Project Manager to your account for the purpose of meeting or exceeding your expectations in terms of results.  The role of the Project Manager is to communicate with you and the Professional Appointment Setter.  The Project Manager will talk with you on a regular basis to exchange information in order to accelerate ramp up and climb the learning curve rapidly.

 

5. What reports do you provide? How comprehensive are these reports?

We e-mail daily metrics or a maximum of four reports to you by 1:00 PM ET. These four reports authenticate all companies called and accounts for every minute of calling.

• Report #1 includes your appointments with all the address information confirmed and includes all the corporate information and pertinent notes. We confirm all appointments for you two days in advance.

• Report #2 includes requests for literature. All address information is confirmed. If the prospect requests the information be mailed via the postal service, we will e-mail the request for literature and request your staff mail the literature.  If the request is to email the information, we will gladly do it for you or have you send it - the choice is yours.  In both casesm we will input the information into our software pipeline and follow up. Our seasoned Professional Appointment Setters have the skills to determine a genuine request for literature and one that is a “red herring" smoke screen or bogus.

• Report #3 consists of overall statistics such as the total number of dials, the number of presentations to decision makers, the % conversion ratio of those two metrics, the number of appointments, the number of cancellations, the number of call backs and the number of requests for literature.  We are constantly monitoring these statistics and welcome your input.

• Report #4 is the most important, popular and valued report according to our clients. This report provides an accountability of all the companies and decision makers that were contacted. All of our Professional Appointment Setters use ACT software, a Contact Management or CRM software that is connected to the dialer via a modem. You can open this report in MS Word and will receive a report of all the companies and contacts made during the previous three hours of calling including the company information, contact information, titles, a date stamp, a time stamp, the duration of each call or “hang time plus all the notes, comments and history for every call. You will never have a question as to how the time was spent or ask, “I wondered if the Professional Appointment Setter called today? Every second and minute will be accounted for during the three hours of calling.

 

6. Why should I outsource our appointment setting?

Outsourcing reduces your costs and increases your revenue. By outsourcing your cold calling, sales lead generation and appointment setting, you will realize a significant savings in hiring, managing and providing infrastructure support, as well as, an increase in revenue. By outsourcing, we act as your inside sales team, which allows you to focus on your core business, so you can do what you do best.

 

7. Do you offer a satisfaction guarantee?

Yes we do. If for any reason you are dissatisfied with our professional appointment setting services, for non-performance or any reason whatsoever, we will stop your campaign and return any unspent monies minus the customization fees. This guarantee emanates from our governing values and principles. We operate with 100% integrity in every aspect of our business. As a result, we do not believe in locking you into a contract, but instead are focused on truly serving you and developing long-term relationships. We have the confidence in our seasoned professional appointment setters and their ability to perform to make this offer.

 

8. Do you provide a performance guarantee?

We appreciate your request. At this time, we do not provide a guarantee of performance or a pay-for-performance model nor do we work for a percent of the commissions. We do not provide a guarantee of performance by saying we can produce X amount of appointments per unit of time because there are variables outside our control such as the economy, local market conditions, competition and many other factors including your perceived position in the marketplace. What we have found is that all our clients really want are qualified appointments and a strong ROI. Some of our customers have used three or four appointment setting firms before using our services. They have shared every imaginable horror story and bad experience. In some cases, clients have shared their choice to hunt for a pay-for-performance option only to discover they received many unqualified appointments, and therefore, the ROI was missing. However, we can make it comfortable for you to have us set appointments for you to increase your sales. We can provide proof and evidence that we can produce results with an ROI that has you continue using our services month after month. The following assurances can be offered as proof that your campaign has a high probability of being successful. We invite you to be the judge. Please read the proof offered below and tell us what you think.

• We can provide an accurate estimate based on metrics from previous calling campaigns.

• We can provide you with as many references as you would like of long-term clients who come back month after month based on results.

• We provide a maximum four reports, on a daily basis by 1 PM ET, Report #4 is a report derived from our CRM software that identifies every company we called and accounts for every second and minute of dialing with all the corporate information, contact information, date stamp, time stamp, notes, comments, discussion points, highlights and next action steps typed in.

• We offer you a clause in our agreement that allows you to break our agreement at any point in time, for nonperformance, at will, or for any reason whatsoever and you would receive any unspent monies. At this time, not one single client has ever asked for an early termination of the agreement for the initial pilot.

• Integrity, honesty, trust, keeping promises, accountability, responsibility and “The Golden Rule” are our governing values -- the cornerstone on which our company is built. Our principles are never compromised. Period. The owner answers to a higher authority and will not tolerate anything less than 100% compliance. Zero tolerance is the standard. Period.

• Results, Results, Results Focused. 

• We only hire experienced Professional Appointment Setters that have performed in the upper 20% of performance rankings. We verify each Professional Appointment Setters performance with their last three employers, as well as they must pass a rigorous multi-session interview which includes several challenging role playing scenarios. This is where we set the bar. We hire the best-of-the-best, the best-of-breed, the Top Guns in the industry.

• We require a minimum of 7 to 10 years of business experience. We are not a call center or a “boiler-room” operation. We do not hire people out of high school or college. We feel a certain amount of business savvy and business acumen is necessary to effectively navigate through corporations and have an intelligent dialogue with top executives, “C”-level executives, middle management and presidents and owners of businesses, and most importantly, to communicate in a confident, professional, conversational-style type of dialogue.

• We require a minimum of 5 to 7 years of professional appointment setting experience with performance in the upper 20%. Many of our Professional Appointment Setters have 1.5 or twice that amount of experience. What this means to you is the PAS’s are familiar with the concept that it is a numbers game, rejection, voice mail and how to get around gatekeepers and to the decision makers. And they are in the top 20% of performers.

• We match the most appropriate Professional Appointment Setter to the needs of your campaign. Unlike other appointment setting firms, we do not take the next person off the bench or in the queue. Instead, as one of the most critical steps in assuring the success of your project, we evaluate your needs and match the best Professional Appointment Setter based on their background, experience level, skill set and personality.

• Quality Assurance. We dedicate a Project Manager to your account for meeting or exceeding your expectations in terms of results. The role of the Project Manager is to communicate with you and the Professional Appointment Setter. The Project Manager will talk with you on a regular basis to exchange information in order to accelerate ramp up and climb the learning curve rapidly.

 

9. How long has Blue Zebra Appointment Setting been in business?

We have been in business since 1999.  We were formerly known as The Sales Executives Organization and now, in the last eighteen years, as Blue Zebra Appointment Setting.

 

10. I am concerned that we have to pay in advance.

Please know, in our industry, this policy is standard practice. In order to ease the requirements, we have decreased the initial pilot to 20 hours over a 3 week period. You will find other companies, within our industry, require 100 to 500 hour commitments to get started. In addition, the initial investment, with other firms within our industry, is within the range of $2,000 - $10,000.  And finally, we have stated, in writing within our contract, that you may terminate with us “at will” and we agree to return any unused funds minus our customization fees.

 

11. I would prefer not to have accents from certain parts of the country.

To begin the process, we listen intently to understand who you are and who your target audience may be. We believe people buy from people who are like themselves. As a result, we will do our best to match expertise in your target industry. We will also match communication styles, tone and voice qualities to you, as our client, and to your target audience, your potential clients. In addition, we will gladly orchestrate a 3-way conference call with your assigned professional appointment setter to assure their communication skills such as articulation, tone, resonance meet your needs for your local and regional market.