Going For the Appointment

Mattson’s eighth rule for salespeople is, “when prospecting, go for the appointment”. This rule intertwines with many of his other rules in the way of respecting the prospect’s time and not coming across as pushy. When qualifying a suspect to transfer them over to the prospect category, it is essential to highlight the accomplishments you have reached to act as the hook. This hook can often times get you an appointment where you can really dig deeper into what the prospect is looking for and what their true needs are. In the early stages of selling, you are not discussing the features and benefits, technicalities, advantages, disadvantages, pricing, etcetera.  At the prospecting phase, you are only identifying the prospect as someone that could benefit from using your product or service by gauging interest. Once you are past this stage, you can move into the selling phase. This is when you may qualify the opportunity through discussing the details and various aspects of the product or service you are offering.

A great example of going for the appointment first and foremost is the method in which my sister uses when she is on sales calls. She is a faith representative for Turning Point USA, so she connects and networks with many pasters in the area to provide them with various resources to spread the importance of Biblical values being implemented in the public square. To do this, she must make many cold call type of connections to land a meeting with pastors or other representatives of a church. Once she opens with who she is and what she does, she does not push the sale right away. She asks the pastor (or whoever she is speaking with) if they would like to set up another call to discuss what she does in further detail as well as the next steps for them. This method has proved successful time and time again because she has mastered the hook that gets them interested in learning more.