What is meeting booking?
Meeting booking is a fundamental part of the sales process for any business. As digitalization has made its way into the sales scene, many salespeople have started to de-prioritize meeting booking as it may no longer seem relevant and can also be seen as time-consuming in an otherwise busy day.
But the meeting between you and your potential customer, business partner or new supplier is far more crucial than you might think. We all know that first impressions can make a huge difference when we meet with others. This is true even if the meeting is for business purposes.
The first meeting is not only about the impression you make, but also about establishing the right foundation, creating a positive and constructive environment and setting the right tone. All of these factors help lay the foundation for a strong, lasting relationship, whether you're looking for new markets, partners, manufacturers or customers.
In short, this answers the question, what is meeting booking?
B2B meeting booking
Within the B2B-In B2B commerce, meeting booking is very much an important discipline. Unlike B2C commerce, you automatically think more long-term when doing business with other companies. Here, more than anywhere else, the focus should be on long-lasting relationships and lasting collaboration to ensure mutual growth.
A common B2B meeting booking mistake is to seek out meetings with companies where your focus is "only" to land a sale. If you shift your focus to creating and maintaining close collaborations that not only benefit your own success, but also the development and growth of the party you're reaching out to, you'll eventually find that your B2B meeting booking will not only become more targeted and more effective, but will also pay off on the bottom line, as it will result in more of the sales you initially hoped for.
Therefore, make sure your dedicated B2B meeting booker is clear about your plan and budget. Whether you hire an external B2B meeting booker or use an in-house one, it's important that they understand your strategy in advance. It's not just about booking a meeting, but booking the right meeting.
3 great meeting booking tips
1) Plan, align expectations, define
Even before you start booking meetings, you should clarify with yourself and your colleagues what your plan is for the meeting, what your expectations are and from there define your goal for the meeting. It may sound obvious, but many people make the mistake of simply finding potential leads, reaching out to them and then "going through the motions".
While it's true that great salespeople are adaptable and good at navigating conversations and negotiations that come out of the blue, you shouldn't take that approach when it comes to meeting booking. Preparation is key. Make sure you're sharp and precise:
- Who you reach out to
- Why you reach out to them
- What you can offer and what they get out of it
- What you expect to get out of it
- How far you are willing to go in a possible negotiation
- What alternative solutions can be proposed, if any.
It may sound like a long to-do list to run through before you dive into meeting booking, but you'll be well prepared and super clear on the "what" and "why".
2) Know your contacts
The definition of meeting booking is, in most cases, reaching out to contacts you don't actually know. That is, you haven't been in contact with them before. Meeting booking is often about how you establish a good contact for the first time.
So it may sound paradoxical that you need to know your contacts in advance. But what it means is that you have done your homework on them. First, you should make sure that you have selected the right target group. This involves not only narrowing down, but also qualifying, which means that you have found leads that fit your objective based on a completed profile.
In the second step, you should further narrow down your target audience. By curating your potential leads based on relevant criteria, you will be left with the strongest bids for future customers. These criteria could be, for example:
- size
- purchasing power/budget
- seniority
- References.
3) Prioritize your time and resources
Always be efficient with your time. This is true in all commerce and for all businesses. But especially when it comes to meeting booking. When it comes to meeting booking, you often see schedules slipping. There are so many practical considerations to take into account whether you're trying to book a physical meeting or an online one.
A typical meeting booking process will consist of many emails or calls, often before you even get in touch with the right person on the other end. Illness, maternity leave, busyness or many other factors may cause the meeting to be postponed or rescheduled.
Meeting booking isn't just about grabbing the bone, dialing the number and getting a "yes" or "no" for a meeting. Everyone is busy, especially other businesses. So make sure you prioritize your time. That way you'll avoid phone queues, failed calls, and slipping schedules. Budget for contingencies and allocate appropriate amounts of time and resources.
This is again why planning is so crucial. The time you spend before the actual meeting booking takes place will save you huge amounts of time and effort in the end. Good planning should not only minimize many of the technical and practical formalities - making the meeting booking process itself as short and efficient as possible - it also ensures you don't waste time on irrelevant leads.
