In this blog, we will explore:
- Why Prospects Don’t Show Up to Calls
- Tips to Increase Call Show Up Rate and Improve Call Quality
- FAQs about How to Increase Call Show Up Rate
Why Prospects Don’t Show Up to Calls
No-shows happen for lots of different reasons. The prospect can forget because they don’t have enough reminders. The prospect sometimes has a conflict and they just don’t show up. A lot of times the prospect has doubts between the time that they actually book the call and the time they’re supposed to show up. They start thinking about stuff. They go check out competitors and get a bunch of doubts.
Also sometimes the prospect actually gets embarrassed. So if they don’t have reminders and they miss the call and you reach out and ask why they didn’t show up to the call, they get embarrassed and then they just ghost and then you lose the client for either forever or for a period of time because they’re embarrassed that they didn’t actually show up to the call.
Explore More: Why Booking More Meetings Is the Wrong Metric for AI Appointment Setting
Tips to Increase Call Show Up Rate and Improve Call Quality
You can increase the call show up rate by:
- Prioritizing High-Intent Bookings Over More Bookings
- Using a Pre-Call Qualification System
- Limiting How Far in Advance Calls Can Be Booked
- Optimizing Your Thank You Page
- Using SMS Reminders
Prioritize High-Intent Bookings Over More Bookings
The most important thing that’s going to affect show up rate and call quality is literally what happens before the call is even booked. What is the context of the actual call?
Customers or clients or leads can self-book calls. They go on a website, find it, and they book a call. Then sometimes a company wants to increase this number, so they hire a bunch of SDRs or sales development reps. These SDRs are supposed to reach out to all the leads that come in and try to get them to book calls. Sales development reps are incentivized to book the call so their focus is often on quantity (more bookings) rather than quality (serious prospects).
The SDR booked calls have a much higher no show rate. In retrospect, this is pretty obvious. People that are self-booking their calls are very incentivized and have high intent and high commitment. They want to do it. They’re doing it themselves as opposed to somebody calling them up and asking if they want to book a call.
There can be a dramatic difference in the context in which the call was booked. The method dramatically affects the quality. Looking at the way you booked calls on your site is going to dramatically determine the results.
Use a Pre-Call Qualification System
Number two is a pre-call booking questionnaire. Some people just put a calendar there or whatever. It’s a really good idea to do an application type funnel so people actually apply before they even get to the booking link. The reason you do that is because you can do qualification within this form.
For example, you can figure out if they have money or do they not have money. If people are showing up to the calls and they don’t have any money, they’re not interested in spending money, your sales people are going to be really upset. You can ask that question inside the questionnaire and siphon off the people that said that they’re not willing to invest in themselves or whatever.
You can also do form customization. If you serve multiple different avatars e.g., beginner vs advanced, small business vs enterprise, agency vs e-commerce. Instead of sending everyone to the same call, you ask questions in the form like what type of business you are, what are you looking for or what’s your budget or goal? Identify their avatar (type of customer) and siphon them off to the right offer, the right salesperson, and the right product/demo. That can help out quite a bit.
You can still use SDRs , but you should make them focus on doing more qualifications
Or you can also do SDRs better and do more qualifications. When SDRs are calling up all the leads, make sure that the incentives of SDRs are aligned so that they get the right people booking calls, not just anybody, not just total number of calls. Incentives are very important. They will show you the results.
Limit How Far in Advance Calls Can Be Booked
Limit how far in advance someone can book. Between the time of the calendar booking and the time of the actual sales call, anything can happen. Often there is doubt, fear, objections, priority shifts, and competitors. They’ll book a call and then as soon as they do, they’re riding high, but they still have to wait until next Tuesday and then they start browsing around. Maybe they find a competitor. Maybe they start thinking that a competitor is better. Lots of things can happen.
What you want to do is really limit that time window. The max you would want to do is honestly 14 days, and even that is really long. It depends on your business and how fast it moves.
B2B sales usually have more flexibility than B2C. B2B people have teams, they have schedules, they do it for their job, and if you have to loop in stakeholders, they’re a lot better at waiting like a week or two to be able to get on a call. Sometimes not always. But B2C people are very fickle. So if you’re selling to actual consumers, you want to dramatically limit it even more. Optimally three days or less. Limit your calendar setting so they can only book three days out. The optimal thing is as soon as they get on the site they can call you or you can call them. Limiting this is going to help out a lot.
Optimize Your Thank You Page
Number four is a customized thank you page. After they book the call, they go to a thank you page, like a confirmation type page. Create a video or VSL so as soon as they book, they’re going to watch this video.
A lot of times people are going through your funnel, they get very excited, they book a call, and then their brain just shuts off. They forgot why they booked the call, they forgot what the call is about. So putting something on the thank you page like a video that can do a lot of confirmation, that can tell them what to expect, and all these different things is going to help out a lot.
You can put a video up at the top, then instructions on what to do next if there is something to do, and what to expect. Then below that put testimonials or proof. The whole purpose is to get them hyped and really set the frame for them going into the call..
Moreover via thankyou page, you can increase Commitment with Psychological Triggers in the following ways:
You can actually assign tasks to get people to show up really interested and involved. If you want prospects to come prepared to the call with something, you can ask them to bring that particular information with them, so the call becomes more useful and productive
You can also offer a bonus for showing up. Sometimes people know that they’re going to get sold, so you could say if they actually show up to the call, you’re additionally going to give them this extra discount, a training, or something like that.
Another popular thing to do is explicitly explain your no-show policy. Say if they have booked a call, they have to show up to this. If something comes up, they can reschedule, but no-shows are not allowed. If they just don’t show up and waste your time, then they can never book another call again. That can help avoid big gaps in a sales calendar, just wasting time and wasting money.
Use SMS Reminders
This is one of the easiest things you can do and it’s going to help people show up immediately.
People are on their phones all day long. This is the thing that grabs their attention. That’s why SMS is so powerful right now. If you just text them reminders like our call starts in an hour, our call starts in 10 minutes, our call is starting now, this is going to literally instantly increase the show up rate and you don’t have to literally change anything else. You can forget all the other tips and just put in SMS reminders and you’re going to get higher show up rates for your calls.
FAQs about How to Increase Call Show Up Rate
1. What is the most important factor affecting call show up rate and call quality?
The most important thing that affects show up rate and call quality is what happens before the call is even booked. The context of how the call was booked and whether the lead has high intent dramatically determines the results.
2. Why do SDR-booked calls have higher no-show rates?
SDRs are incentivized to book calls, so their focus is often on quantity rather than quality. This can lead to lower intent bookings, while people who self-book are more committed, have higher intent, and are more likely to show up.
3. How does a pre-call qualification system improve show up rate?
A pre-call booking questionnaire or application funnel helps qualify leads before they book. You can ask that question inside the questionnaire and siphon off the people that said that they’re not willing to invest in themselves or who do not align with your products and service .
4. What psychological tactics can increase call show ups?
You can actually assign tasks to get people to show up interested and involved. You can also offer a bonus for showing up. Sometimes people know that they’re going to get sold, so you could say if they actually show up to the call, you’re additionally going to give them this extra discount, a training, or something like that. Another popular thing to do is explicitly explain your no-show policy. If they just don’t show up and waste your time, then they can never book another call again. That can help avoid big gaps in a sales calendar, just wasting time and wasting money.
