No Shows are the bane of existence for an outbound sales team.
You do all the hard work to identify a prospect.
Find their contact information.
Get the messaging dialed in. Actually speak to them and finally…success. They agree to a meeting.
But… they no-show.
Ghost you. And all that hard work is down the drain.
So how do you stop this from happening?
Here’s our process.
Step 1: Place the appropriate degree of importance on the meeting
The first issue we see when diagnosing no-shows is not enough importance was placed on the meeting in the first place. It was positioned as something that might be helpful, or as something that the prospect might like to see.
This is wrong. Remember, business people are employed to solve problems, or stop problems from occurring in the first place. The prospect isn’t doing you a favor by agreeing to meet. They’re going to get some valuable information that can help them solve a real business problem. Make sure your communication from this point onwards reflects this.
Step 2: Make sure the meeting invite is accepted within the first 24 hours
The first milestone is to get the meeting accepted on the prospects calendar. If you have them on the phone when you schedule the meeting, send the invite and get them to accept it when they’re on the phone with you. If this isn’t possible, ask the prospect to accept the meeting as soon as they can, and explain that you’ll follow up the next day to make sure the invite is on their calendar.
Schedule this follow up task in your Sales Engagement platform so you don’t forget. Continue to reach out to the prospect once per day until the meeting invite is accepted.
Step 3: Layout the confirmation process you’ll follow for the prospect.
Before you get off the call with the prospect (or during the email / LinkedIn exchange that generates the meeting) explain the confirmation process you’ll follow so that expectations are clear. Here’s how this should look.
“Alright. So what I will do is circle back quickly tomorrow to make sure you’ve received the invite and then follow up again the day prior to the demo just to check there are no conflicts. If we need to push it or pull it an hour or so, no worries. Sound good to you?”
By setting this expectation, and then following through. You’re helping to place the appropriate level of importance on the meeting.
Step 4: Account Executive Introduction
If you’re scheduling meetings for someone else on your team, you’ll want them to reach out to the prospect prior to the meeting. This is best done 48 hours before the meeting is scheduled to take place. This should be a quick introduction delivered via email (bonus points if there is a video message included). It should also provide a quick agenda of what the meeting will cover.
Step 5: Reconfirm 24 hours before the meeting
The final step of the process is for the rep to re-confirm the meeting 24 hours before it’s due to take place. Here’s what that should look like:
“Hey Matt, this is just a reminder for the meeting we booked last Monday for this Fri April 8 @ 11 AM EST. I saw the meeting link was confirmed on your end, so if you need anything else from me at this point please reach me here. Otherwise we are looking forward to chatting to you tomorrow.”
Notice we’re not giving them an opportunity to opt out here. We’re simply reminding them that they’ve accepted the meeting and that it’s going ahead as planned.
Step 6: Rescheduling a no-show.
If you follow this process you’ll see a 85%+ show rate. But in the odd instance the prospect no-shows you’ll want to follow up, placing the proper level of importance on them following through with what they agreed to. Here’s how to structure that communication:
Hi Matt, we had that demo booked yesterday that you didn’t show up to. Haven't been able to get a hold of you. When are you available next week to follow through with that meeting you agreed to attend?
Notice again, the assumption is that the prospect will attend the meeting. It’s just a matter of time. All of your follow up with the prospect should take this tone.
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