We regularly get asked whether we will work on a "pay-per-appointment", "pay-for-performance" or "pay for results" basis for our appointment setting services.

And whilst we do work on a pay-per-appointment basis for some clients, it's worth exploring the subject further to explain our views on this model for appointment setting.

For many, "pay-for-results" is the holy-grail of marketing. With the popularity of Google's pay-per-click and other pay-per-lead online offerings it sounds like a no-brainer, right?

Well, like most things in life, it's not that straight-forward.

Here are 4 things we consider when deciding whether a pay-per-appointment or pay-for-performance appointment setting campaign is appropriate:

1) Risk - pay-for-results appointment setting is all about a transfer of risk. With most telemarketing companies you simply pay them to make the calls with no guarantees of results. With a pay-per-appointment campaign, we take all the risk since you don't pay us until we deliver results.

We typically evaluate the risk in running pay-for-appointment campaigns based on our understanding of the market and how compelling we believe your proposition is. If we have good market knowledge, previous experience of campaign metrics and believe you have compelling value proposition, we are more likely to back a pay-for-performance appointment setting campaign.

Other aspects we consider include supporting collateral and client credibility in the market-place.

For example, if a client has a compelling offer in a sector which we understand clearly, then running a pay-for-results appointment setting campaign becomes an attractive proposition for us.

However, if you're a start-up with no track record selling into an unclear space then pay-per-appointment is more of a punt.

2) Qualification - another aspect that determines the suitability of pay-for-performance appointment setting is the qualification criteria. I've written previously about this (see my post Just what is a qualified appointment?) but it's worth stating again.

A "qualified" appointment means that the person booking the meeting has to apply their skill and judgement to evaluate whether they should book the appointment. This involves asking qualifying questions and deciding whether the meeting is worthwhile for all parties. Inevitably, this means that we will decide to not book some appointments.

So, in the context of deciding whether a pay-for-results appointment setting campaign is appropriate, the tighter the qualification criteria, the less appropriate this model is.

If we're asked to book appointments with specific decisions makers or key influencers in targeted companies then pay-per-appointment works well.

We refer to these as "creds meetings", ie: it's a meeting to introduce your company, present your credentials or provide an overview of your proposition. This type of meeting is ideal for a pay-per-appointment model. We guarantee the quality of the contact, but there's no guarantee whether these meetings will progress to a firm proposal. Essentially, our clients have to sell at these meetings.

However, if the qualification criteria requires us to establish budgets and time-scales, and only book appointments when specific criteria is met, then a pay-per-appointment deal doesn't make sense. Why? Because in this instance you're asking us to follow a process that runs counter to the deliverables we are paid for.

Delivering highly qualified sales appointments with prospects that are "in the window" takes time and requires a significant investment in lead nurturing over a extensive period of time. I'm talking about real prospecting - sifting out the poor quality opportunities until you find that rare golden nugget.

[Btw, we actually have a better model for this type of appointment setting which combines low monthly fees with a % commission on new business won]

Pay-for-results appointment setting works best where we are delivering against clearly defined authority & interest criteria (ie: they’re the right person and are interested in a meeting).

3) Commitment - another thing we consider about pay-per-appointment or pay-for-performance appointment setting is the commitment from clients.

As I've blogged about many times before (see Is telemarketing a short or long-term investment??) much of the value in a telemarketing campaign comes from developing relationships over a number of touches.

Whilst pay-per-appointment setting campaigns can be used to find "low hanging fruit", we also uncover medium- and long-term leads which can be converted to sales appointments at a later date.

If a client simply wants us to set up a few appointments and then turn off the campaign all the additional work which we've done has been wasted.

Just because it's a pay-for-results appointment setting campaign it doesn't mean that the dynamics of building a prospect pipeline are any different; we invest heavily at the start of any campaign and expect to capture the value we have created at a later date.

So, after a pilot period has been completed, we would expect a client commitment to continue taking appointments from us over an extended contract period, typically a rolling 6 months.

Pay-for-results appointment setting works best where clients have established sales processes and require a partner to deliver a steady flow of sales appointments over time.

4) Cost - finally, on any pay-per-appointment setting campaign we consider the cost for each appointment. This is dependant on a number of variables, including the perceived risk, qualification criteria and contract duration as outlined in the above three points.

However, there's a simple principal here; if we're picking up the risk of a pay-for-results appointment setting campaign then we expect a superior return for our time.

What that premium is, again, depends on all the factors already outlined above.

Where we clearly understand your market & proposition and can estimate performance metrics from past campaigns we are able to more accurately assess an appropriate price per appointment.

It's worth pointing out here that no two appointment setting campaigns are the same; even a campaign for the same client and same proposition at a different time (and different market conditions) will pull different results.

Also, while we're on the subject of campaign metrics - here's a common problem we encounter:

When we first start speaking with clients about pay-per-appointment campaigns they often start with "oh, we made a few calls the other day and got four appointments" or "it's really easy, we had a guy in the office and he got an appointment every hour".

Now, it's not that I'm saying these people are lying, but it's just that when it comes to estimating metrics I think many people put on very thick rose-tinted glasses :-)

Occasionally you do get an appointment setting gig that's like shooting fish in a barrel. But it's very occasionally.

So, the above 4 points are the key considerations we make when deciding whether to accept a "pay-per-appointment" or "pay-for-results" appointment setting campaign.

If we turn down a pay-per-appointment campaign it's because one or more of these criteria is missing.

More often than not, we encounter companies that are looking for pay-for-performance appointment setting simply because they don't have any budget to invest in marketing. The problem is that they're usually hoping to get lucky and close a deal quick enough to keep paying for more appointments. In my experience, it seldom works out that way.

From our perspective, pay-per-appointment doesn't make sense for these clients because they lack commitment (as in point 3) and often have unrealistic expectations of the cost-per-appointment.

Over the years we've found that a pay-per-appointment model works best with clients who are looking for a long-term partner to deliver a steady flow of qualified appointments on a pay-per-results model.

These clients usually have established sales teams & processes and understand their key performance metrics.

They know that they can convert X % of sales appointments and so a pay-per-appointment model enables them to accurately forecast a cost-per-acquisition for new business.

So, if you think that pay-per-appointment could work for your business, call us and let's see if we can open doors for your business.

Labels: appointment setting, appointment setting services, b2b telemarketing, pay-per-appointment