There should always be a strong focus on needs in business appointment setting. You are in the business of software because you know there are companies who see power in digitizing business information and streamlining its management. However, there is the conventional wisdom that declares a strong difference between wants and needs. You must only focus on the latter and it is surely impossible to actually transform them into each other.
What if you can though? Better yet, what if you have to?
Of course, not every want can transform into a need (and vice-versa). The main point here though is that what people perceive to be mere wants can actually be needs. That is how you begin the transformation.
- Step 1: Know common problems – Good marketers are those who may have a limited amount of general knowledge but have the cunning to maximize its use. The best example is a general knowledge of common problems. They may not know hard coding but they know what many businesses struggle with when it comes to recording and analyzing critical business data.
- Step 2: Understand the effects of those problems – The effects of bad information management can make for a very long list. Regardless, that list should already be known by your appointment setting services. They understand both the long-term and short-term consequences of this poor management. They have the means and the resources to create materials that spread awareness.
- Step 3: Is willing to educate – While your salespeople would also like to engage and educate prospects, that does not mean your marketers cannot. In fact, it saves the trouble of showing the basic stuff and start cracking down on the harder problems. It is always better to have an appointment setting process that helps salespeople save their energy and effort.
When people insist on focusing on needs, they are either:
- A.) Well aware of their problems.
- B.) Pretending to be A.
Unfortunately, B can be the case for a lot of businesses who are hostile to marketing and sales methods like appointment setting. Your marketers have as just much responsibility as they do to prevent needs from being misinterpreted as wants. Do you know what goes in the minds of poor decision makers who cut corners? It is actually the same thing. They believe that by saving up on minimizing software dependence, they can stay afloat.
Obviously, as with many cases of corner-cutting, the consequences end up costing more than the price of your own product. The biggest tragedy is that it could be too late by the time it happens.
Your current prospects (and even your current clients) need to know this danger and appointment setting is your way of sharing that information.
Finally, what about prospects who are aware of their problems? Does this awareness rule them out or qualify them as a potential sales lead? Actually, they can provided that you quickly realize you are telling them something they already know. This only means that you should qualify them for appointment setting right away! Because like you, they realized that was once a want had now become a need.
