Good Marketing, Good Business

008: Using Calendly To Book More Sales Calls - Part 2

• Shannon Stone • Episode 8

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If the foundations covered in Part 1 of this mini-series weren’t enough, in Part 2 of using Calendly to book more sales calls we take it up a few more notches and share some specific ways in which you can book even more sales calls.

By listening [and taking notes], you’ll learn:

  • The abundance of places you can be publishing your Calendly link 
  • How to reduce friction by using keyboard shortcuts as quick ways to share your link
  • How to use social proof as a strategy to book more sales calls

When done right, using Calendly or any form of booking system will help you to increase the number of leads you book in as well as cut down time spent fussing about trying to find your next clients.

Enjoy!

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Shannon Stone:

Hey guys!

Shannon Stone:

Welcome to the podcast and welcome to part two of using Calendly to book more sales calls. I hope by now you have implemented everything we discussed in part one. We addressed a lot of the foundations and we know a strong foundation makes for a strong business, especially when you want more sales coming in. So hopefully by now you've done that. Now jumping into part two today, so we will be going over some strategies and tactics so you can really get your call out there to more people or build up more of that interest for people wanting to come work with you through using a sales call as that vehicle. We'll also be talking about how all of this increases the number of leads you get, how you can get calls booked in faster. So we'll be covering all of that today.

Shannon Stone:

The first thing I recommend that you do is you use something like Bitly B-I-T dot L-Y as a tracking link. So use Bitly as a tracking link, because the Calendly and of and other platforms and things out there is they don't have the data on when people are clicking, where they're coming from, how often they're clicking, so they're not collecting all this data. So what this means to you as the business owner is that, well, I've got this link to my calendar, but how do I know if people are actually visiting it other than the calls that end up coming through? So you're not really able to gauge what is working, what's not working are people actually visiting this? Because if you don't have the data, how can you make any decisions around it? So use Bitly as a tracking link. So whenever you are sharing this link with anyone, you've got that information. So Bitly will get that data for you, because Callan Lee doesn't get it for you. If you've got the link on your website, I assume you've got Google Analytics or some tracking things set up there. Depending how tech savvy you are, you may be able to look at that, or it might just be easier for you to just use Bitly for everything wherever you're sending this link. All right, that's the first thing.

Shannon Stone:

The next thing I want you to do to increase call bookings, and this is the first and foremost thing you have to do. Like this is almost like the lay of the land for increasing call bookings using Callan Lee. You need to publish the link in all the right places. So you need to go through with a fine tooth comb all the contact bits and pieces in your whole marketing ecosystem to find where you should be putting this link. So the stock standard places would be your website, maybe on your web, and this would be various places on your website as well, so not just on your contact page. It might be in some content that you've got on there, or maybe you do a pop-up on there, or maybe you have a banner to book a call. You got to have it in all the right places on your website in any social media bios, any blogs that you do, any newsletters that you send out, any lead magnets that you do as well. So if you do a PDF, a lead magnet maybe on the last page. It's love to see how it can help you.

Shannon Stone:

Let's do a borrowing capacity check. Here's a link to book into my calendar. So just a little hint if you are putting your link into things like lead magnets, just think through is this link going to expire? So when you do get that bitly tracking link like you have to be committed to this link that it's not going to change again and again and again. Because if you're adding that link into a PDF and then in a month or a couple of months you decide that link is you're going to change it or whatever it may be, then that link isn't going to work in those lead magnets. So just be mindful of where you're putting this link. Same would go if you're adding the link into email sequences as well.

Shannon Stone:

So publish the link in all the right places. So you need to sit down and go through what are all the touch points, go through your whole marketing ecosystem and get it out into all these different places. Now this is sounding like so much work on your end, but if you put yourself into the shoes of your leads and your prospects, they're going through a couple of these places. So how can we make sure that wherever they go through in your marketing ecosystem, they can find that link to book a call with you? Whether you did a post on social media, they saw your stories and you added the link in there, into your bio, into your lead magnets, into your email sequences. You want to have it everywhere.

Shannon Stone:

So, once you've done the stock standard places, the next kind of places that you can publish the link is in any campaigns or strategies that you may be doing. So, once you've got your calendar set up and you've really started to apply all of these steps and tricks, at some point in time, however, if it's into your overall marketing, your overall goals, you might do a campaign or a strategy to push even more sales calls. So you might do I don't know a two week blitz of getting these calls booked in. And so what does that look like? How could you create a lot of value for people that they do want to book in for that call? Are you running a challenge online? Are you doing something extra that would make people want to book in for this call? Are you speaking at an event? And so you're making sure that link is going out to people. What is the campaign or the strategy to help to push people to this call even more?

Shannon Stone:

Okay, the next thing to help you to increase call bookings is to use keyboard shortcuts on your phone. So if you are someone who uses online quite a lot, especially on your phone to do marketing, or people reach out or someone tags you in a Facebook group or you see something in a Facebook group or on LinkedIn, whatever it may be, instead of going looking for your well, first things first, instead of sending them to your website, send them straight to book a call with you and instead of going fishing for that link to your calendar, what you want to do is create a keyboard shortcut on your phone. So my keyboard shortcut, so I get the link for Calendly. And if you don't know how to do keyboard shortcuts on your phone, google it. It's gonna save your life. But any of the frequent links I send all have keyboard shortcuts.

Shannon Stone:

So you get that link, you pop it into your keyboard shortcut and then you add a shorthand or a short form name so you can easily just populate the link. So mine is SS Disco, because I do discovery calls. So in my phone when I'm texting anything, I can just type SS Disco for Shannon Stone Discovery Call. That's what I know it stands for. But I just type in SS Disco and it's really easy for me to get that link out there.

Shannon Stone:

And what that does for people is it reduces the friction of you having to go looking for your link or typing in that link or sending people to your website. You want to be sending everyone to this call and say, for example, like time really is money and the more friction there is, the more time it's going to take and you're probably gonna skip past opportunities at certain times. You might see something online but you're really busy and you're like, ah, I'd have to go looking for that link. Or even if it was in your notes app, that's still friction, you have to go looking for it. So when you add it as a keyboard shortcut, it's really quick and easy for you to just type in SS Disco or your initials and call and it'll populate that link where it needs to. Really quick, really easy way to increase call bookings as well. It also stops you from saying, okay, I'll come back to that later, or I'll save that or I'm gonna add that on my to-do list to send my calendar link to that person, it all just becomes more to-dos, whereas if you can do it in the moment because you've seen it, it's done, it's dusted, and if you think about that lead or that prospect again hopping into the shoes of that person, if you think about them, they are actively looking for someone to buy from to solve their problem, and so don't add any more time or time delay between when you've seen it and when you've sent the link to them. And in whatever way that looks like maybe someone's emailed you, or maybe it is a post on social media, whatever it might be so add the keyboard shortcuts to your phone. Okay, a couple more ways to increase core bookings using Calendly.

Shannon Stone:

The next is to use social proof that you're having these calls. So if you don't know what social proof is, the traditional way is that walking into a retail store say, you walk into a shoe store and the shoe store is empty, but you walk in anyway. You see something that catches your attention and a few minutes later you look up and now there's people in this store as well. So this is the traditional social proof. The same goes online. When people see people taking certain actions, it breeds more of those actions.

Shannon Stone:

So if you are having these calls with people, whatever you end up calling them discovery calls, audit calls, borrowing capacity checks, whatever your thing is make sure you're sharing in your marketing and your stories are great for this Make sure you're sharing with people that you're doing these calls. Or you can do more longer form content to say really excited to or in past tense. I spoke to a great new client today. We had a discovery call. Here are the things that we discussed or here's some of the problems that we spoke through. I'm really excited to help them and obviously within reason and with appropriate discretion, if you're saying that you're talking to people, but show people that you are having these calls, because imagine all the leads, your audience, all the prospects who are not booking calls. If they start seeing that you are posting about and sharing about and in your marketing all the times that you are having these calls with people, that's going to breed more people booking in those sales calls. And it's these little moments as well, these micro conversions or these micro opportunities, that warm people up quicker to wanting to see if you can help them.

Shannon Stone:

So use social proof that you are having these calls and you can do it in lots of different ways on your stories, in your content, in your conversations. Use social proof, because it does breed more people acting out that same behavior. So it's almost like just pull the curtain behind what you're doing in your business already. If you want more people to be doing that with you, okay, the last idea I have for you to increase call bookings is to create a campaign or a strategy to get more of these calls in. So everything that we've covered is the absolute foundations. To some people it's not the foundations, but to me it is. It's like these are the things you have to have in place, because if you don't, nothing else would matter.

Shannon Stone:

So once you've done all of that, you may want to do a campaign or a strategy to get even more of these sales calls booked in, or these discovery calls, whatever you call them. So you might do a webinar, you might create a lead magnet, you may create an email marketing sequence or a newsletter, you might run ads to these calls, you might do more active networking in person or speaking at events, whatever your thing is but creating a campaign or a strategy to increase the number of call bookings that you're getting is going to help you to sign up more clients, because all of this leads to calls, and remember when I said we have to stay committed to the call. So it's like we have today created this sales call or this system using Calendly to get more of these calls booked in, and so this is the filter. This is how we get people to sign up with us even more. So how can we bring more traffic to that call, more awareness to people wanting to book in that call? So say you did a webinar, or say you did some more networking, or maybe you wanted to run ads straight to your call. Whatever campaign or strategy works for you, this would be where you would take it up a notch. This is where you would take it up a step, and so you might do this seasonally, as often as you want to get more clients, or it may be a consistent thing that you do. Maybe every single month you're doing a webinar, or every single month you're creating a new lead magnet. So is there a campaign or a strategy that you can do to help to get more of these calls booked in?

Shannon Stone:

Okay, as we start to wrap up, here's a few benefits and objections that I find a lot of people have when it comes to Calendly. So we'll start with the benefits. So sales calls do get booked in faster because you have a more seamless process of taking someone who's interested in speaking with you to finding out if you can help them to then signing up to work with you. You've qualified them because you've got those qualifying questions in there, you've displayed the results and the results pack a punch. It's like these are the results. These are the type of things that that person really needs to see from me in order to buy, and so they're more primed and inclined to want to work with you. So sales calls get booked in so much faster and stronger because of this.

Shannon Stone:

The other benefit is that people can book in a call without you being there. So on the flip side and I did the same for this I didn't want people to book in a call unless I told them the dates, unless I told them the times. But if we can release that control or that mindset around, I have to be in full control over my calendar and I don't want people booking in unless I give them the time and I double check it with my eyeballs. All of this is like automation and we can take that out of the mix. So people can book a call without you being there. They can see your content that has a call to action and then they can go ahead and book in a call. Or they can read a blog that you've written and you've got the link in there. They can go ahead and book a call.

Shannon Stone:

So it's like your job starts to evolve your role as a business owner or pushing the sales in your business. It evolves from finding the individual people that you want to become your clients to then creating the assets and the value in your business that would bring the people to you. So an asset or the value could be a blog, for example. Or maybe you hopped onto a podcast and you shared the link, or you shared the lead magnet that had the link in that lead magnet, and so they book a call there. And so you start to elevate the activity that you do in your business to not just being about who are the exact people I need to speak to, but rather what are the assets and what's the value I need to create in order to get people to book a call without you being there.

Shannon Stone:

The next benefit is that it increases the number of leads that you get. So just by putting this link in more places and going through your business like a fine tooth comb, more people are going to see it and that's what's going to lead to more people wanting to book in with you, especially when you've got those foundations in place. They're like the things that carve out the success. Not just it's never just one thing, it's everything. So we want to make sure we published it in more places, and all places. So we did talk about the stock standard places. So your website, in your content, in your email sequences, we could go on and on. And then there were the campaign and strategy things that you can do as well to really dial up the number of sales calls that you're getting.

Shannon Stone:

So huge benefit when you increase the number of leads that you get by doing all of this activity, which can raise the question, or, I guess, the feeling, that people can be afraid to be too busy. It's like if I do all of this, I'm going to get way too many leads and way too many clients, and I just can't handle that. As much as people say they want those things, when it comes down to the reality of this of like oh my God, I have to do all of this and then what will happen is I'll get so many people reaching out and so many people booking all these calls. Number one isn't that what you want? You do want more clients and more customers. But two, it's an amazing problem to have too many leads. It's an amazing problem to have, so you can deal with that when that problem starts to happen. But what a lot of people do is they won't even allow that to happen. They will push the brakes on the action so that doesn't even happen. So hopefully it happens. Honestly, it's a great problem to have, but it's not a problem until it's actually happening. Right now, it's just a thought in your head stopping you from taking any of these actions, so it will increase the number of leads that you can get. You can handle those leads and if you do get too many leads, that's an amazing problem to have. Okay, not the last benefit, but the last benefit I'll share with you.

Shannon Stone:

There's so many benefits of using Calendly to book more sales calls, but it definitely saves you time. You're not having to go back and forwards with people trying to find a time to book in with them, and this has happened to me when I wasn't using Calendly. I would give people times and then someone else would book those times and then there's so much double handling going on. So when you use Calendly, it's definitely going to save you time because you're not going back and forwards. It's also going to save you time in the long run because it will produce more leads that you don't have to go searching for. So a lot of this exercise is just actually reallocating a lot of the time you're spending elsewhere. So we all have different targets we have to meet in our business, or you have different goals of how many clients you want to have in your business, and so what are you doing to actually bring those clients to you? Are you just going to be hitting more networking events, hitting more ads, hitting more emails, or can we look at the things that kind of really sharpen the sword, that really make it laser focused, so that whatever activity you end up doing packs a bigger punch? You're going to get more conversions from the work that you're doing. It's like less input, or maybe the same input, but your output, as in leads, is going to be far greater and that will save you time.

Shannon Stone:

Okay, now to the last section of what we're covering and I wanted to address a few objections that I find, because it's like we can lay out the perfect strategies and all the bits and pieces that you have to do, but people can often have these little objections or resistance to putting all of this in place. So I wanted to make sure we address that Now. The first one is what if people book a time that you can't do so? In part one we spoke about your schedule and your availability. You have full control over this, and we did talk about putting in the buffers. So two kinds of buffers. You can put in buffers of time before and after call. So say, if someone booked in at 11 am and it was an hour call, but you did have 12 o'clock also available, if you put in a buffer of 15 minutes, that 12 o'clock will not be available anymore when someone books 11. So then you're not having back to back calls. So that's going to help you to lighten your schedule or make sure you're not feeling suffocated by lots and lots of people booking in. You can also change your schedule as well. One week you might want lots of calls, another week you don't. Or one month you do, one month. You don't. It works around you. So what if people book at a time you can't do? Well, that's completely up to you. There is also that other buffer of people can't book in 24 hours in advance. If that was your metric, so you can put these things in place so it works for you.

Shannon Stone:

The next objection I get often is that it's easier for people to just cut this out. The next objection that often comes up is when people say well, it's just easier for me to tell people the times. I don't think it is, because if you think about it, say we've got five people over the course of a month who want to book in a time to see if you can help them. You're telling five people different times, you're going back and forwards with those five different people and in the moment it might seem really easy to do. But say you spend 15 minutes per person times five. That's really starting to stack up versus here's a link to book in, plus all the other perks of when they do go through something like Calendly, where it's got your results in there, it's got your qualifying questions. So it's not easier for you to just tell people the times and hold their hand the whole way through. It's very professional to use something like a booking system. So I would really invite you to adopt this form of automation in your business, because it's going to save you so much time. And where can you reallocate that time to your clients? To helping them Like, let's stop getting caught up in the admin and even some of the sales and marketing. That is unnecessary. This could spin into lots of different things, but it is not easier for you to just tell people the times, okay.

Shannon Stone:

The next objection that comes up is what if people can't find a time that suits and that lead disappears. So what? My argument for this is the risk versus reward ratio. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's outweighing the risk versus reward. And with many things, sometimes there's more risk and sometimes there's more reward, but in most cases there's a bit of both. But what is the balance there? So the risk of having these calls available to anyone and everyone to book any time without speaking to you is that it does open up the chance that someone might go to your booking page and they may not book in at all. They just disappear. So that can definitely happen. That is a real risk. But the reward in doing that, in having your booking link in all the places, is the upside is more people are probably going to see that link. So you're going to increase the number of leads because you're taking that risk and you're willing to swallow that risk because it's outweighed by the reward.

Shannon Stone:

Now, if you are in contact with a lead say you meet someone at a networking event and you chat with them afterwards online or whatever it may be, and you send them a link to book in with you and that person you know. The next day you notice all they haven't booked in and the day after they still haven't booked in. Well, you are in contact with that lead, you know exactly who they are. So there is nothing stopping you from saying, reaching back out to them and saying, hey, were you able to find a time that suited? Otherwise, happy to find out. You know a time that works for the both of us. You've got some control over following up with that person. So hopefully that addresses what if people can't find a time and they disappear Way up the risk vs reward ratio. But any contacts or any leads and prospects that come to you but don't end up booking a call, you can follow up with them. There's no problem in that.

Shannon Stone:

Okay, the last objection to address is this idea that it feels more personal to tell people what time to book in vs sending them the link. And what I say to this is that you can achieve so much in the words that you use and the way that you approach things, the way that you say things, so that you're not losing the personal touch. If they don't book after a day, you can, like I mentioned, you can kindly touch base with them to say, hey, were you able to find a time that suited? Otherwise, happy to work out a time. You can also add in personalization in other ways. So when they do book, you can email them personally to acknowledge they booked their call. So it's like spend your time where it is a value.

Shannon Stone:

Someone who has booked in a call with you is valuing your time. They're valuing their time. So maybe you want to send them an email to say, hey, thank you so much for booking in, thank you so much for filling in the questions, really looking forward to our call. Here's what to expect. You could also automate that as well and that's an option for you, but you're not taking away any form of personalization and that white glove experience that I know a lot of my clients like to give in their business to their clients. You can provide a lot of this personalization and white glove experience through using something like Calendly. Especially when you look at the qualifying questions, like it creates an increased level of this person really is asking the right questions. They seem to understand you know my problem and when they read your results as well, maybe you share a very small case study or a summary of a case study of you know a result or a problem you solve for a very similar type of personalization and so you can bring in that personalization through, I guess, this whole ecosystem. So you're not taking away that personal factor at all by any means. So hopefully that addresses some of the objections there and I've got you over the line to use something like Calendly to book more sales calls, like I mentioned right at the very start.

Shannon Stone:

There's other tools out there. Calendly is just one of many. Check out Google's one as well. But do you see how powerful using Calendly or a booking system is, and do you also see how deep we have to go in order for it to be a success? It's not just about. I've got a Calendly link and I put in my availability and it's published in one or two places and you know we're good to go. That is ultra surface level, and surface level doesn't get results. It doesn't. It leaves out the core components, such as like eliminating the ad hoc calls you're doing or including the results in the description. So we have to go deep if we want to see the true results and the complete potential of what we can cover with using something like this in our business to get more sales calls. So that's what I have for you today and that concludes the mini series on using Calendly to book more sales calls.

Shannon Stone:

Like I mentioned at the end of part one, I hope you go ahead and implement everything we've discussed here in part two. You can take a look at the transcript at any point in time as well. If you don't know about the transcripts, they're a written version of these complete audio conversations. So check out the transcript in the description of the podcast and you can use that as a way to go back through, see everything there written and use that to help you to implement it all in your business. So we'll leave it at that for today.

Shannon Stone:

I hope you found this useful and we will talk again very, very soon.

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