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Guide

What is appointment setting? Process, roles and tools

Appointment setting is the work of turning prospects into booked sales meetings. Here is how it works, who does it, and the tools that make it faster.

By RevboundUpdated
Summarize withChatGPTPerplexityClaude
Quick answer

Appointment setting is the part of the sales process that contacts prospects, qualifies interest and books a meeting with a salesperson. It is done by appointment setters or SDRs, in-house or outsourced, using cold email, calls, LinkedIn and scheduling tools.

Closers close. Appointment setters fill their calendars. Splitting the two lets each role focus on what it does best.

How the appointment setting process works

  1. Build a list of accounts and contacts that fit your ideal customer.
  2. Reach out by cold email, phone or LinkedIn.
  3. Handle replies: answer questions, deal with objections, route referrals.
  4. Qualify against criteria such as budget, need and timing.
  5. Book the meeting on the closer's calendar with a clear agenda.
  6. Confirm and remind to cut no-shows.

Appointment setter vs SDR

Appointment setterSDR
Main goalBooked meetingsQualified pipeline
Typical channelsPhone and emailEmail, phone, LinkedIn
Qualification depthLightDeeper, often with research
Common inAgencies, B2C, SMB salesB2B SaaS and enterprise

Titles vary by company. Read more in what is an AI SDR.

In-house vs outsourced

  • In-house: more control over messaging and quality; costs salary, tools and management time.
  • Outsourced: an agency runs outreach and books meetings, usually on a retainer or per meeting; faster to start but less control.

Metrics to track

  • Reply rate and positive reply rate.
  • Time from positive reply to booked meeting.
  • Meetings booked per week.
  • Show rate.
  • Meetings that become opportunities.

Tools for appointment setting

  • Sequencers: Instantly, Smartlead, Email Bison.
  • Calendars: Cal.com, Calendly, Google Calendar.
  • Reply handling: Revbound, which puts replies from several sequencers in one inbox and books meetings from them.

Revbound handles the reply-to-meeting step for appointment setting teams and agencies.

Try it free for 3 days

FAQ

What does an appointment setter do?

They contact prospects, qualify interest and book meetings for salespeople.

Is appointment setting the same as lead generation?

Lead generation finds prospects; appointment setting turns interested prospects into booked meetings.

Can appointment setting be automated?

Parts can. Sequencers automate outreach, and tools like Revbound automate answering positive replies and booking the meeting.

What is a good show rate?

It varies by market. Confirmations and reminders 24 hours and 1 hour before help raise it.