Did you know, an average salesperson spends 66% of his time on non-selling activities?

Yes, that's true!

The top activities that consume their workday are scheduling meetings, logging activities, and entering sales data and customer notes in the system.

In shouldering these responsibilities, 57% of the sales rep miss their quota every year.

I'm sure, your sales team loses time in these activities too.

So, how do you get them to sell more?

By getting them a meeting scheduler as part of their tech stack. It will make their lives easier, as they can stop worrying about sending back and forth emails to book appointments, following up with the prospects, managing communication across time zones, and rescheduling meetings. Owing to this, your sales reps will not only have more time on their hands to improve prospecting and refine their sales processes but also get time to close more high-quality leads.

Now, if you're wondering how to choose the best scheduling software, I've got you covered. What you need to look for is the set of features it offers.

So, given below is a list of 8 functionalities that can make a world of difference in your sales reps’ lives.

Let's have a look, shall we?

8 Cutting-edge Features to help you choose the best meeting scheduler

1., Adaptable & Integrated Calendar 

With a meeting scheduling tool, you can set your schedule, block availability, and let prospects book your time when they want to.

Your sales team probably uses an embeddable calendar to schedule and book meetings. But having a sales appointment scheduling software that integrates with your existing calendar and syncs all the activities, helps you view all the upcoming meetings in one place. This includes new appointments, rescheduled appointments, and canceled appointments.

Customers receive an email as soon as they make the booking and get instant notifications if the sales rep has rescheduled or canceled the meeting. They also get a reminder before the meeting to eliminate confusion at both ends.

2. Intuitive & User-Friendly Interface 

When a prospect is trying to book a meeting with you, they should be able to do it easily without facing any hiccups.

The scheduler app should make adding new participants, sending a meeting invite, editing the invite, or canceling the meeting easily. Moreover, the prospects should also be able to accept the meeting easily, respond to the invitation, and attach files if need be.

Another important thing is you should look for a meeting scheduling tool that is mobile-friendly. Most of us are always on the go, so it’s important that the scheduling app is responsive and adaptable to different screen sizes, such as tablets, smartphones, PCs, and laptops.

Before purchasing the tool, test it on different devices to check for navigation and ease of use.

3. Integrations with other apps

81% of salespeople believe it’s important to have a connected view of data, via integrations.

Salespeople work on several apps to manage different aspects of the sales process, so it’s important to pick a scheduling app that offers a lot of integrations. This allows the sales reps to integrate scheduling into the workflow organically.

Outplay for instance offers several integrations such as PipeDrive, HubSpot, Zapier, etc. to easily schedule meetings, coordinate with the prospects, and manage internal communications between the sales team, managers, and SDRs.

4. Easy rescheduling 

A flexible scheduling app allows customers to reschedule or cancel an appointment. Having an option to reschedule means a prospect will take the chance and book a new date rather than canceling the meeting.

Ensure the meeting scheduler you’re planning to buy for your sales team has this functionality to prevent valuable leads from slipping through.

5. Automated Message Templates

Your sales team has a long list of tasks to complete in a day, so the more activities that can be automated, the better it is for the team. Turns out, you can automate a whole lot without losing the human touch.

Meeting invites to the prospects can be automated with pre-written message templates, which can be later customized as per the client. Not all meeting schedulers offer this feature, so look for the software that offers similar functionality, if not the same.

6. Lead Routing

Lead routing entails distributing incoming leads among the sales reps. Rather than a manager assigning leads, a good meeting scheduler platform automatically assigns appointments to sales reps based on their availability.

Outplay can help to liaise with team members by auto-distributing the leads among the representatives, freeing up the time and space for sales managers.

7. Round robin distribution

The basis of round-robin scheduling is there should be an even and equal distribution of leads within the sales team. The distribution rules are built on numeric logic, which is then implemented in a sales software system to schedule and assign leads. This takes place on the basis of qualifiers such as ‘next free agent,’ ‘best call agent,’ etc.

If you already use this distribution method or are thinking of implementing it, it’s wise to look for a meeting scheduler that supports the round-robin assignment.

With the Outplay Meeting Scheduler, you can set up your own robin rules, introduce them into the workflow, and ensure equal distribution of leads among the sales reps.

8. Conversion rate optimization

 It’s great to score more sales calls or meetings, but it’s important to know how many prospects convert into customers. This is one of the most important features to look for in a meeting scheduler app because it tells you about the leaks and gaps in your current prospecting and helps you create strategies based on the leads that convert.

Sure, you can track conversions on external software, but wouldn't it be great to have everything in one place? Track bookings from open to close, generate comprehensive reports on scheduling metrics, and analyze results to improve performance, all within the same platform.

Wrapping Up

Your sales team has a lot on its plate. Make their lives easier with an all-comprehensive, intuitive, and responsive meeting scheduler that can automate booking, reschedule or cancel meetings, send timely notifications, and more.

There are common functionalities that can be found in all scheduling apps, but only the best meeting scheduling software offer the features we mentioned above. Another important element to pick is the right sales engagement platform that can help significantly boost sales reps' efficiency and productivity while reducing and automating their time on clerical tasks.

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