Is Appointment Setting Worth It for a Small Singapore Business?

Is appointment setting worth it for a small service business?

It can be, when three things are true: you have a list of businesses that could plausibly buy from you, you can explain in one sentence why you are calling, and you can handle the meetings that result. If any of these is missing, paying someone to call will not fix it.

The reason owners consider it is time. A Salesforce survey released on 1 August 2024, which included 100 sales professionals in Singapore, found they spend an average of 29% of their work week connecting with customers. In a small firm the owner is often also the person who delivers the work, so cold calling is the first task to slip when a busy month arrives. Handing the calling over keeps the pipeline moving while you serve existing clients.

When does it make sense, and when does it not?

It makes sense when your service is sold to other businesses, a single new client is worth a meaningful amount over a year, and you already have names and numbers to call. Accounting and corporate secretarial firms, software and point-of-sale vendors, and cleaning or pest control firms fit this pattern, because the buyer is a company and the first step is a short meeting.

It does not make sense when you sell mainly to individual consumers, when you have no list and expect the caller to find prospects, or when you cannot take meetings within a week or two of them being booked. It also does not suit offers that need a long technical explanation before anyone will agree to meet, since a short call cannot carry that.

Do the sum before you decide. Take the value of one new client to you over its first year, then compare it with the price of a batch. If that value is below the batch price, a single client would not cover the cost, and you would need several meetings to turn into clients just to break even.

How does the cost compare with calling yourself or hiring someone?

There are three ways to get calls made, and they charge differently. Doing it yourself costs your time, which is the hours you do not bill or sell. Hiring someone means a salary, training, management and a period before they are productive, whether or not meetings come in. Outsourced services price in different ways: per meeting, per hour of calling, or per number called. Compare them on what you pay if few meetings result, because that is where the models differ most.

Greetsby charges per number called. A batch of 1,000 numbers costs S$1,800, 2,000 numbers S$3,600 and 3,000 numbers S$5,400, which is S$1.80 a number and covers up to 4 attempts on each. It is paid before calls start, with no contract and no monthly fee. When a batch is finished you decide whether to order another. Greetsby does not guarantee a number of meetings, so the cost is known in advance but the number of meetings depends on your list and your offer.

What should you check before paying anyone to call for you?

Check your list against the Do Not Call Registry first. The Registry's own site, dnc.gov.sg, says organisations must check the Registry before sending telemarketing messages to Singapore numbers, and the check is made there. Whether a particular call falls inside the rules depends on who is called and why, so as general information only, read the PDPC Advisory Guidelines on the Do Not Call Provisions and ask a lawyer about your specific case, especially where your list mixes business and personal numbers.

Then ask about the practical points. Will calls show a Singapore number? Are the calls recorded, including the ones that did not book, so you can listen to them? Is there a named person responsible for your campaign? Do you approve the opening and the reason for the call before it starts? What happens to your list afterwards? Greetsby's answers are a Singapore number that stays the same for each person, recordings of every call that you can play, a named caller reachable in working hours, your approval of the opening, and a list used only for your campaign and deleted when you ask.

If you are a financial adviser representative or insurance agent, you cannot sign up yourself. Under MAS Notice FAA-N02, only the financial adviser firm may appoint an introducer, so the request has to come from the firm.

How can you test whether it works for your business?

Run one batch and judge it on your own numbers. A first batch of 1,000 numbers shows what your list and your opening produce, which is more useful than any average from other businesses. Track four figures: calls made, people reached, meetings booked and meetings held. Greetsby reports these every week, and sends a reminder before each meeting and contacts no-shows to rebook, at no extra cost.

After the batch, work out the cost of each meeting held and each client won, using your own results. If the figures work, order another batch. If they do not, you have spent S$1,800 to find out, with no contract to exit. Listening to a sample of the recordings will also tell you whether the problem was the list, the opening or the meeting itself.

To ask a question first, write to hello@greetsby.com. Replies come within one working hour, between 9.00am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday. To start, you pick a batch on the Get started page.

Questions

Sources

• Salesforce: Sales professionals in Singapore spend just 29% of their time selling
• PDPC and DNC Registry: Do Not Call Registry, information for organisations

General information for businesses in Singapore, not legal advice.