There is so much time, effort, and resources involved in engaging a lead, reaching out, and organizing a demo only for it to end with a meeting no-show. It’s particularly frustrating during a time of downturn when it can feel like prospects are few and far between.

We know last-minute cancellations do occur, but if no-shows are commonplace, then it’s time to refresh your tactics. This blog is designed to help make meeting no-shows a thing of the past (or at least reduced significantly).

Ortto’s new template directory has a collection of SMS, email, and journey templates that can help sales representatives improve meeting attendance and follow up post-meeting to increase your chance of a conversion.

Set yourself up for success with lead capture forms

Before a meeting is even on the table, you need your soon-to-be lead to complete a sales form (i.e lead capture form) to gather the right information.

This works two-fold. Firstly, collecting certain information will help qualify leads and prioritize them for your sales team using scoring software. Secondly, the details you gather can be stored in your CDP and help you build out and personalize meeting reminder emails, SMS’s or journeys.

When building your lead capture forms consider the following:

• Create a list of every field you would ideally like to include, then highlight the must-have information you need (e.g email and first name.)

• From your list, ask yourself if any of these can be filled in by a data enrichment tool like Clearbit. If so, remove them from your list.

• Then take time to prioritize the remaining fields that will help ensure your communications can be relevant and personalized for that lead. For example, company size or asking an open-ended question like “How can we help?”

• Think about the length of your form. Shorter forms generate more leads, but the quality of the leads may be lower. Visitors willing to provide more information are more likely to be genuinely interested in your product. Try and find your sweet spot - not too long, not too short.

Following these suggestions when building out your form will help generate a good volume of quality leads and allow you to provide the best customer experience going forward.

4 templates to help SDRs improve meeting attendance

These templates can all be automated in Ortto, meaning your Sales Development Representatives (SDR) can improve attendance in meetings while also focussing on big picture items.

SMS meeting reminder template

A simple yet very effective reminder tool, SMS as a communication channel boasts an extremely high open rate and people are more likely to open an SMS immediately, while they may sit on an email for days. This makes it one of the best pathways for your SDR's to utilize.

This SMS meeting reminder template is designed to remind people about the upcoming meeting and prompt them to confirm their attendance. By replying with a 'yes' the lead will receive further meeting details, or if their response is a 'no' then a URL is sent to reschedule.

This SMS template uses Calendly data, such as Meeting name, Meeting time, Meeting Join URL and Rescheduling URL.

Once this template is customized to fit your needs, Ortto can automate the whole process and send the reminder SMS at a chosen time. This is where the information from your capture lead form comes in handy. Your collected lead data helps you create a highly personalized automated message including the lead's name, company name, and even the team member who the lead is meeting with.

SMS appointment reminder template

This is similar to the template above however, this SMS appointment reminder is a simpler version as there is no journey triggered if the meeting attendee responds.

Designed to be more of a reminder notification rather than an interactive experience, this simple yet effective template can be received on any device regardless of internet coverage.

Making the extra effort to personalize this template with your attendee's details will add extra finesse and help further improve the number of on-time arrivals and reduce the number of no-shows.

Custom Calendly confirmation template

Sync your Calendly data source with Ortto, customize the Calendly confirmation emails with this template and prepare to see a decreased rate of meeting no-shows.

When an event (confirmed meeting) is created, this template journey is triggered to send a confirmation email to the attendee. Then a reminder is emailed one hour before the start of the meeting and includes a join button. This template is specific for online meetings however, the CTA can be tailored for in-person catch-ups. For example, you could link to a Google map of the meeting location.

This entire journey template can be customized to suit your meeting process. For example, you may prefer to send a reminder email 30 minutes beforehand and then, if the email is not opened, send an additional SMS 10 minutes beforehand as an additional prompt.

Sales email with Salesforce lead signature template

Once your Salesforce data is synced with Ortto, this sales email template provides a highly personalized experience ensuring the right SDR’s email signature is added to the email. This is acheived by using Salesforce profile data of the assigned lead owner. The same format can be adopted for opportunity owner.

This template is valuable to companies with a sales team located across different regions. For example, say a lead located in the UK books a demo, the confirmation email triggered will include the email signature of your UK sales representative.

There are a few factors to keep in mind before you send this email or add it to a journey, verify you have:

• Checked from name and email values and set fallbacks

• Checked the fallback values of merge tags in the email and test the email

If you prefer SMS, as an Ortto customer you can use merge tags to populate a personalized SDR sign off in your text message using Salesforce custom object value. You can personalize other elements too, like the lead's city.

2 Templates to help SDRs improve conversions

These customizable templates are designed to provide that extra push needed to turn leads into paying customers.

Sales demo follow up template

This template sits at the top of the funnel, and goes through the following sequence once the lead submits a “book a demo” form through your website.

When a demo is requested, the lead is assigned round robin in Salesforce and a personalized email is sent to the lead from the assigned user. The email contains a booking link, typically Calendly and the lead can then book a time that suits them.

The workflow that follows once a lead submits a “book a demo” form, can be a completely automated process run through Ortto, so you never miss out on a lead again, and your leads know that you’re serious about their business. The sales demo follow up template helps create a seamless and hassle-free experience for both the lead and your Sales team.

Before switching this template on, there a few factors to double check, including:

• From name and email (from the lead owner)

• Calendly booking link (make sure its correct on the button)

• Slack notification (or the channel your prefer)

SMS loyal customers thank you template

While this template is not specific to helping your sales team improve conversions, like all Ortto templates, it can easily be adapted to fit your needs, like thanking the lead for attending the meeting.

This thank you SMS can be sent at the time delay of your choice, whether that’s one hour or one day after the meeting. The follow up will give your sales team the opportunity to thank the lead for their time and offer a special promotion, for example 1-month free subscription to help nudge the lead over the line.

Final word

Improving meeting attendance is made easy with Ortto’s range of sales-specific templates on offer. If you’re looking to improve meeting attendance and need that extra post-meeting nudge then its time to start automating. Try Ortto’s templates for yourself by signing in or signing up today.