Today I’m going to show you how to set more appointments for sales meetings so you can increase your sales and revenue. And I’ll show you how to qualify those leads automatically.
With this system, you can leave Donkey Land in the dust. In other words, you can stop spending thousands of dollars a month on sales reps or SDRs who do manual outreach to find and qualify leads and book meetings for your sales team.
Wondering how much automation can really streamline sales outreach? With this system, our customer booked $1M in new sales in six months using Customers.ai for qualifying leads and booking appointments—all through automation!
That means you can set your sights on Unicorn Land, where you can automate sales outreach and setting appointments to scale sales meetings at a fraction of the cost.
Grab your map to Unicorn Land and get our step-by-step guide to automated appointment booking:
You can get to Unicorn Land with a sales outreach automation tool like Customers.ai that connects to email, Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Ads, website, SMS, and your other contact databases. Let’s dive in.
Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Appointments With Sales Outreach Automation
Here’s your step-by-step guide to an automated, effective way to book more appointments for your sales team.
Experience an appointment setting sales outreach automation for yourself by commenting “XRAY” on this Instagram post from your Instagram mobile app.
Setting Appointments Step #1: Pick a starting point
First, choose the triggers to connect prospects with your appointment setting automation. Customers.ai offers several automation starting points, including:
- Instagram posts
- Instagram stories
- Instagram DM welcomers
- Facebook posts
- Facebook message welcomers
- Facebook or Instagram ads
- Website chat
- Prospect or contact lists — whether your own customer or prospect list or prospects from Customers.ai RoboBDR B2C, Creator & Influencer database
To get started with one of these options, open your Customers.ai dashboard and head over to the Automations tab.
Click to create a new Ultimate Welcome Funnel and choose the platform you want to use. For this example, let’s go with Instagram so you can see it in action for yourself.
From the dropdown menu, you can choose one or more Instagram triggers. (Don’t worry: You can add more starting points later.)
In this case, we’ll go with Comments on a Post, which automatically responds to comments with a series of DMs in Instagram Direct.
Setting Appointments Step #2: Ask qualifying questions
Once you choose a starting point, the automation builder sets up the input trigger for you. Click on it to set up the automated sequence of messages you’ll use to qualify leads.
You could let the automation reply to comments on all Instagram posts. But since we want to find qualified leads for a certain product or service, we’ll link this automation to a specific lead generation post.
Before choosing an Instagram post, it’s a good idea to set up the entire automation first. That way you can activate it before your Instagram post is live. When you publish it, all you have to do is go into your funnel and select the post.
Next, set up the qualifying questions you want to ask prospects. We typically start with collecting contact details so we have multiple options for connecting with potential clients.
Since this example shows sales prospecting for our exclusive Unicorn Booker program, our next few questions focus on the potential buyer’s business type, company size, and industry.
Note that you can leave questions open-ended or suggest answer options to keep prospects on track. It’s helpful to provide options so you can use these answers as filters to qualify leads later.
What should you ask? If you’re a creator, you might ask about the prospect’s niche. If you’re a business growth consultant, you might ask how long the prospect has been in business.
No matter what you sell, it’s always a good idea to ask about budget so you can make sure the prospect is a good fit. In this sample automation, we’ll ask a couple questions about ad spend and deal size.
Finally, wrap up your autoresponder with a brief thank you message. Then you can let the Unicorn Detector do its thing and set up a re-engagement automation.
Setting Appointments Step #3: Re-engage qualified leads
Customers.ai’s Unicorn Detector automatically separates unicorn leads from donkey leads so your sales team doesn’t have to qualify leads manually.
All you have to do is tell the Unicorn Detector which qualifying factors you want to use. You can add multiple filters to make sure your leads check all the necessary boxes.
For example, say we’re seeking big businesses that are actively advertising and that have large average deal sizes. We can set up a series of filters to qualify these prospects as unicorn leads.
First, we can filter by prospects who selected 150+ as their company size. Then we can add filters for prospects who selected $1+/month for ad spend and $500 for average deal size.
Next, set up automated SMS messages for both types of leads. For qualified leads, finish the booking workflow so you can set up sales meetings (no appointment setter necessary).
In this example, we’ll send unicorn leads a link to Larry’s calendar and ask them to grab a good time for a phone call. Just like that, we’ve connected with decision makers.
For unqualified leads, there’s no need to ask about a good time to talk—at least not yet. Instead, think about sending a helpful resource and fostering a relationship.
After all, leads who aren’t a good fit for one product could be perfect for another that you’re offering now or in the future. In this example, we’ll suggest they check out our free trial of Customers.ai.
Now your sales outreach automation for appointment setting funnel is ready to go and the Unicorn Detector is firing on all cylinders
Setting Appointments Step #4: Run a promotional campaign
The final step is creating an Instagram post that gets decision makers to comment.
When you want to drive a lot of potential clients to your automation, think about a limited-time offer for new customers. You could also create a giveaway to promote your new product.
In your Instagram caption, invite prospects to comment to get your offer or enter your giveaway. To filter out spam, you can ask them to comment with a specific keyword. (Just be sure to add that keyword to the input trigger at the very beginning of your Instagram automation.)
To get people to start the process, we ask viewers to comment “XRAY” on the Instagram post. Go here to comment on the post and experience the automation for yourself.
How Setting Appointments Automatically Can 10x Sales Meetings
With this appointment setting automation you can avoid two common donkey moves. You can stop wasting time on repetitive sales outreach tasks (like cold calls) and avoid spending time in meetings with unqualified prospects.
Using your unique Unicorn Detector, you can book more qualified meetings for your sales managers by automating outreach and qualification. In other words, you can always be closing. By leveraging lead sources where you have the highest affinity and engagement, you can take your sales process to the next level.
Ready to set up your own appointment booking automation? Get started with a free Customers.ai trial and start setting appointments automatically.
Frequently Asked Questions About Appointment Setting
Why is setting appointments important?
Booking calls helps you fill your sales pipeline and meet your business goals. But that doesn’t mean you have to set appointments manually.
With Customers.ai’s automation builder, you can create workflows that fill your calendar with qualified leads. That way you can spend more time talking with qualified decision makers and less time on repetitive outreach tasks.
What is it called when you set appointments?
There are tons of other terms for setting appointments, especially in a sales context. For example, booking sales calls and scheduling sales meetings both refer to setting appointments with decision makers.
How do you set sales appointments?
You could manually reach out to potential buyers and try to schedule calls. But if you want appointment setting tips that help you save time and reduce costs, take a look at the workflow above.
Using Customers.ai, you can learn how to create an online booking system free from repetitive tasks. That way you can fill your sales pipeline in less time and with fewer manual tasks at a fraction of the cost.
How do I make an appointment?
You can test out our automated appointment setting workflow here on Instagram. Leave a comment on the Instagram post and follow the DM prompts to see if you qualify for our program.
Keep an eye out for a follow-up text. We may invite you to book a call with our team!