Inside Sales Telesales Tips Blog

From our mailbag: How do I cancel an unqualified appointment graciously?

  

  

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Lots of people read this blog, including a number of field salespeople who’ve told me that the advice in this blog helps them to better qualify prospects by phone before taking the time to physically visit them. I’ve even built an inside sales techniques training course for field reps that I’ve delivered to the outside reps of a number of companies. 

Last week, I received an email from a field rep that presented a dilemma he was facing. The situation affects both inside and outside sales reps. So here’s “Dave’s” question, and my response: 

I'm an outside territory manager and a portion of our weekly meetings are scheduled by our Inside reps. From time to time, we get a meeting scheduled that has not been qualified and we have to find a way to back out of the meeting or assign it to another outside rep that handles some of the smaller products. This is an uncomfortable situation and can be challenging while trying not to upset the prospect. What we really want to say is “you're not worthy of my time,” but we can't. Any ideas on how to make this a little easier, while saving face with the customer?
- Dave

Hi Dave, There isn't an easy way to tell an unqualified prospect that "you're not important enough." When this occurs, I'd suggest that you call the unqualified prospect and apologize that you have been accidentally double-booked, but say that the prospect is important enough that the meeting will instead take place by phone, rather than delaying the conversation to a future meeting. This saves face for the prospect, tells the prospect that he or she is important, but saves you from having to meet with an unqualified prospect.
- Geoff 

Today’s topic isn’t merely a tip. It also underscores the value of completely qualifying every lead on every call. If you end the call prematurely, call right back and get the answer to the question you forgot to ask. There’s no crime in forgetting to ask something, but there is a crime in not calling right back to fix it. Add qualifying on very call to your Best Practices playbook.