There’s nothing more annoying than a prospect who schedules a demo or a sales call but then doesn’t show up.
Not only does it waste your valuable time, but it also disrupts your workflow and can be demoralizing for your sales team. No-shows are an unfortunate reality in the world of sales, but they don’t have to be a constant source of frustration.
The good news is that there are proven strategies you can implement to significantly reduce the number of no-shows you experience. By taking a proactive approach and employing a few simple techniques, you can improve your attendance rates and make your sales process more efficient and effective.
In this blog post, we’ll explore 10 easy-to-implement tips that can help you minimize no-shows for your demo and sales calls. Whether you’re a seasoned sales professional or just starting out, these strategies will help you keep your calendar full of engaged prospects who are ready to learn about your product or service.
So, let’s dive in and discover how you can turn those potential no-shows into successful sales conversations!
But before we dive into the details, let me make it easy for you.
In short, these are the 10 tips to reduce no-shows for demo and sales calls
- Send Multiple Reminders
- Confirm Client Availability
- Provide Value Upfront
- Offer Multiple Scheduling Options
- Make Communication With Prospect Personal
- Create a Sense of Urgency
- Make It Easy to Reschedule
- Use Calendar Invites
- Follow Up on No-Shows
- Qualify Leads in Advance
With that in mind, let’s dive into each tip individually.
1. Send Multiple Reminders
Prospects forget. That’s something you need to keep in mind.
They have a lot of things going on in their life. They don’t have only your demo call to remember. They have other meetings, tasks to finish, and family to take care of.
That’s why you need to send multiple reminders to prospects before your call. Some scheduling tools like Calendly lets you automatically send reminders to prospects before 24 hours and 1 hour of the call. That way, you can guarantee that the prospect didn’t forget the call.
Other than the automated reminders, you can send a personal email to the prospect asking them to confirm if they will join today’s call or not. If the prospect, took the time and replied to your email with “yes, I will be there” or something like that, that’s when you know he’s serious and will join your demo call.
That’s the first tip, so let’s check the next one.
2. Confirm Client Availability
It’s important to confirm that the client is still available before the demo call. Sometimes, prospect get unexpected events in their life that prevent them from joining your demo or sales call.
It’s not always the prospect’s fault. Sometimes they will apologize and ask to reschedule the call. To avoid this problem, make sure to send an email to the prospect 1 hour before the meeting to confirm their availability. That way, you can reschedule the call if they’re not available and avoid the no-show call.
3. Provide Value Upfront
Providing clear value is crucial in reducing no-shows because it gives prospects a compelling reason to attend your demo or sales call.
Imagine someone who already saw and tried your product in advance before the sales call! He will no longer be a cold lead, you already warmed the prospect before the call.
If you’re working in the software industry, the best way to provide value in advance is to send an interactive product demo to your prospect. The prospect can see and use your product without wasting time on long meetings.
There are many tools to create interactive product demo, but the best one is Dymolab. Dymolab lets you create an interactive product demo with tooltips, modals, zoom, forms, and even videos in less than 5 minutes. You can then share the link of the demo with your prospect so they can see how your product looks like.
That’s one way to warmup your prospects before the sales call.
4. Offer Multiple Scheduling Options
Use scheduling tools that allow prospects to choose convenient times for the call. These tools will make your life easier by showing only times where both you and the prospect are available for the call. They can also automatically handle timezones which is a pain for international clients.
If you’re not a big fan of these scheduling tools, make sure at least to provide at least 3 available times for the prospect to choose from.
That’s another tip to reduce no-shows for demo and sales call.
5. Make Communication With Prospect Personal
This may look obvious to you, but you will be shocked to know how many sales reps ignore this tip.
You need to remember that the prospect is a human being not a money matching. Don’t talk to the prospect using “Hi prospect” or “Hi there”. Use their name, ask where are they from, ask about their day. Don’t make the conversation only about you and your product.
And remember, the best sales reps are those who help the prospect solve his problem, not those who take the most money from the prospect.
So be professional, use the prospect’s name, engage with them on social media, and talk to them as a friend not as a sales rep.
If you ignore this tip, don’t be surprised when they ghost you.
6. Create a Sense of Urgency
Creating a sense of urgency can reduce no-shows if the prospect knows for example that only 2 discounts are remaining.
Many companies use this technique in their marketing strategies. However, this strategy can backfire if not done correctly.
What I mean by done correctly?
I mean being honest. Don’t lie and show a 24-hour timer that reset every time it reaches 0. Or tell the prospect this is the last day to get a discount but it’s not.
Lying is lying. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling a product or talking to friend. Everyone hates liars. Especially if they’re trying to sell something.
7. Make It Easy to Reschedule
Unexpected things happen to everyone, including prospects. So having an easy way to reschedule the call is crucial to reduce no-shows in demo calls.
The prospect may be really interested and willing to buy your product, but something happened that prevented him from showing up. An easy tip to avoid unnecessary emails when this happen is to make it easy to reschedule the call.
Include a rescheduling link in the invitation email. Or send a reminder before 24 hours with a note at the bottom: “You can reschedule the call using this link…”.
8. Use Calendar Invites
Sending calendar invites with a link to put the meeting on Google Calendar, a Zoom link, a description, and a rescheduling link is a must-have nowadays.
Put everything in one email. Make that email a reference for the prospect if they want to see what this call will be about or if he needs to reschedule.
9. Follow Up on No-Shows
Even if you apply all the tips in this article, there’s still a chance a prospect doesn’t show up.
That’s where follow ups come in use. You can send something like this:
Hi John,
I hope this email finds you well. We had a call scheduled for today at [time], but it seems we weren't able to connect. I understand that unexpected things can come up, and schedules can get hectic.
I'm reaching out to see if you'd like to reschedule our discussion about [brief mention of your product/service].
Would any of these times work for you to reschedule?
[Option 1]
[Option 2]
[Option 3]
If none of these work, feel free to suggest a time that's more convenient for you.
Looking forward to speaking with you soon.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
[Your Company]
P.S. If your needs or interests have changed, please let me know. I'm here to help and can adjust our discussion accordingly.
10. Qualify Leads in Advance
Qualifying leads is an important step in reducing no-shows and time spent on prospects who will never converts.
There are 3 easy ways to qualify leads before the sales call:
1. Interactive Demos
Use Dymolab to send an interactive demo to the prospect and include a CTA at the end of the demo for the prospect to schedule a call with you. If they watch the demo until the end then they schedule a call with you, they’re more likely to convert.
Otherwise, if they’re not interested to spend 5 minutes to watch your demo, why waste 30 minutes talking to them?
2. Pre-Call Questionnaire
Send a brief survey before scheduling the call, asking about company size, budget, timeline, and specific pain points. Use the responses to gauge their fit and tailor your presentation.
3. Discovery Call
Offer a short (10-15 minute) discovery call before the main demo to assess needs and ensure there’s a good fit.
Reducing no-shows for demo and sales calls is not just about protecting your time—it’s about optimizing your entire sales process.
By implementing these 10 easy tips, you’ll not only see a decrease in missed appointments but also an increase in the quality of your interactions with prospects.
Remember, the key is to provide value, communicate effectively, and respect your prospect’s time as much as your own. With a bit of effort and consistency in applying these strategies, you’ll create a more reliable and productive sales pipeline.
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