The 7 best B2B appointment setting companies in 2023
AuthorMichael Maximoff
Published:2023-08-25
Reading time:14 m
Appointment setting is a numbers game: You can have 0.5% conversion or 3% conversion to make this work. So 1,000 leads can convert into 5 appointments or 25 depending on multiple factors.
If you don’t have the in-house capacity or lack expertise, you can be stuck at 0.5% (5 appointments). Outsourced partners like Belkins can increase your B2B sales outcomes including more appointments and successful conversions, so the whole channel can actually look different.
We at Belkins know the markers of success in appointment setting services. For example, our expertise drove a 297% YoY growth and spurred a pipeline increase exceeding $10M for our clients’ businesses. Nevertheless, we understand that our expertise might not be a perfect match for every particular project and scenario.
But fret not, as we have curated the 7 best B2B appointment setting companies in 2023. Each offering in the list possesses unique strengths to cater to your diverse requirements.
Criteria for choosing the best B2B appointment setting agency
If you decide to outsource sales appointment setting, this should be a strategic move offering a cost-effective extension or even a potential replacement for your in-house sales operations.
However, it comes with its fair share of challenges and risks. One of the key considerations is ensuring they have a deep understanding of your business domain and how it operates. Another crucial aspect is evaluating the effectiveness of their appointment setting process.
So let’s review several pivotal factors.
Criteria 1: Credibility backed with social proof
Outsourcing any business process always involves researching public customer feedback. Look for a reputable partner with a stack of positive reviews and be sure to watch out for objectives and achievements articulated in clear terms, such as:
"With our assistance, the marketing and advertising company achieved 3x YoY growth, secured a $1.5M deal in the pipeline, and booked 25 appointments within just 3 months."
Now, here’s a word of caution — watch out for the fake-it-till-you-make-it trick! This dishonest approach includes creating fake reviews or case studies to appear more successful than a company truly is.
To ensure you’re getting authentic testimonials, head over to external review sites like Clutch and G2. Ask your team representatives to thoroughly vet each client represented in their portfolio. Besides, pay attention to the video testimonials: They are very hard to forge.
Word of mouth remains a potent force, and B2B agencies are no exception. To discover reliable appointment setting companies, you can inquire within niche groups on LinkedIn (e.g., Chief Executives, CMO Network) or communities like Forbes Councils, Indie Hackers, and BLKNS. You can also connect with industry events.
Criteria 2: A team of experts aboard
When selecting appointment setting firms, having a competent B2B sales team is crucial for effective and efficient lead generation. Verify their expertise through certifications, awards, and industry recognition.
Additionally, check LinkedIn or similar platforms to authenticate their experience, connections, endorsements, and activities. Beware of embellished achievements or skills, as the issue with millions of fake LinkedIn accounts continues to be a significant concern.
Consider the following critical points about the agency’s staff:
Expertise range: Understand the variety of skills, knowledge, and experiences they offer for crafting successful appointment setting strategies.
Alignment with your company: Ensure they resonate with your company’s culture, values, and mission for a fruitful collaboration.
Problem-solving ability: Look for team members who are innovative and adept at overcoming challenges, ensuring smooth lead generation processes.
Assessing these areas guarantees a skilled team aligned with your goals, prepared to excel in appointment setting tasks. You can trust such a vendor with no doubts, regardless of its location.
Criteria 3: Industry expertise and focused approach
Understanding your industry’s specifics, target audience, and challenges allows the company to customize its approach and generate top-notch leads. You can easily check it by going through the company’s case studies.
For example, here’s a glimpse into our own processes we developed for 2 different sectors and described in our success stories.
SaaS
Consulting
Challenge
It’s hard to connect with the right decision-maker.
Selling general business consulting is highly competitive.
Solution
Avoid reaching out directly to busy C-level executives but approach preselected employees to find an internal champion.
Narrow down your ICP and reach out to smaller companies’ CEOs and CIOs.
Approach
When re-engaging unresponsive prospects, employ tailored variables for different industries.
Divide your portfolio into smaller products and promote them separately to a specific target audience.
Note: Explore proven email sequences that brought our clients up to a 66% reply rate across 10 industries.
Criteria 4: What’s special about their framework?
When it comes to business visibility, it’s essential to learn how much your chosen vendor prioritizes openness with their techniques, processes, and approaches.
Are their marketing materials packed with practical, insightful advice they follow themselves, or do they merely post generic content? Do you like the content on their own site and social media?
What kind of techniques and tools do they use to qualify prospects they are about to approach?
How deeply and creatively do they craft email templates, targeting both bulk audiences and individuals?
Understanding the “why” behind their actions and the “how” behind their strategies can give you valuable insights into their level of transparency and expertise. B2B appointment setting companies that lack clarity on their methods might raise suspicions.
About: Belkins is a dedicated B2B appointment setting and lead generation company. Their team includes SDRs with B2B sales background, dedicated account managers, lead researchers, email template writers, and tech email specialists. Belkins has collaborated with over 50 industries and served more than 1,000 satisfied clients, delivering a total of over 200,000 B2B appointments.
Strengths: Belkins specializes in booking qualified appointments through personalized, engaging sales appointment emails, LinkedIn outreach campaigns, and ABM approach to initiate meaningful connections with your potential clients. Their tried-and-true workflows guide every step of the process, from negotiation strategies to lead organization, appointment setting, and even addressing no-show situations.
Also, Belkins were the first B2B lead generation agency that built an email deliverability team within the client delivery department. Thus, their cold outreach campaigns drive more reply rates due to zero spam rate and 100% of emails that land recipients’ inboxes.
A meticulously designed sales methodology is central to their B2B outreach success. It all begins with a comprehensive lead research process aimed at identifying your ICPs and establishing connections with the most qualified leads.
We generate from 1,000 to 1,500 inbound and outbound leads every month. Out of them, 30% convert into opportunities and open deals. We close on average 10% of these opportunities since we are picky. We have a 3-stage qualification process since we want to make sure that the clients we sign up have the best win potential for our delivery team. Now, 60% of all opportunities are inbound, and 40% are outbound.
Michael Maximoff, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Belkins
Pricing: Includes 3 plans, each for different budgets and sales teams’ capacities. Custom packages are also available.
Awards and social recognition: The effectiveness of Belkins' approach is also evident from their track record of over 160 positive reviews on Clutch — which makes them #1 on this platform in the lead generation category — and 63 testimonials on our G2 profile. Thier awards include:
Listed in the top 1,000 companies according to the Clutch Global Awards 3 years in a row
Interested in our appointment setting approach? Contact us today and start your sales journey.
Proprietary products:
Folderly — an AI-based platform designed to enhance email deliverability: 150+ companies currently rely on Folderly to enhance the performance of their email campaigns.
Charge — an Outlook-compatible product that helps us to customize and improve bulk emailing
Case studies:
Born & Bred, a rapidly growing brand agency, collaborated with Belkins to enhance their client base. As a result, they achieved remarkable growth: 20 deals won in 2 years with an average deal size of $75K, reflecting a 297% year-over-year growth.
Unifocus applied to us to help them pursue new clients in the U.S., Asia-Pacific, and Europe. In 8 months, Belkins assisted in booking 50+ calls and became the third most successful lead acquisition channel for the company.
Client’s voice:
Belkins managed the lead generation and capture process. They identified clients using a specific set of criteria and expanded our Rolodex with many hard-to-reach and previously unknown customers. They created a custom lead gen database, launched targeted email campaigns, and booked more than 30 high-profile meetings. The Belkins team met with us weekly to provide regular progress reports and made adjustments to their strategy based on our feedback.
Chief Strategy Officer, Burch Energy
#2. Martal Group
Headquarters: Oakville, Canada
Founded: 2009
Company size: 200+ employees
Industry focus: Technology, software, manufacturing, healthcare, life sciences, finance, banking, professional services, cleantech, renewable energy.
Best for:
Canadian and U.S.-based medium and large companies seeking to bolster their B2B lead generation within the domestic markets
Companies beyond North America that plan to enter this regional market
Businesses that prefer account-based sales approach due to their complex B2B products
Notable clients: Bosch, monday.com, Polygon
About: Martal Group is a B2B appointment setting agency primarily focused on the U.S., with dedicated teams for the U.S. (60%) and Canada (20%). Serving a wide spectrum of B2B businesses, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies and tech giants, they also specialize in projects starting at $5,000, tailored to small businesses.
Strengths: Their accomplishments stem from a dynamic multichannel strategy that incorporates lead nurturing, email, LinkedIn, and phone calls. The company possesses an extensive contact database, housing 100 million prospects. Martal Group offers comprehensive guidance tailored to its approach for each industry, and its business model is structured around multitiered service packages. Finally, the team operates in English, German, French, and Spanish.
Pricing: Available upon request. They offer 4 types of pricing plans depending on the project’s details:
Outbound lead generation
Inbound lead generation
Outbound lead generation, sales & customer onboarding
Lead generation, customer onboarding & account management
Awards and social recognition:
75+ positive Clutch reviews from clients worldwide, including the U.S. and Canada, and multiple Clutch awards, including Top Appointment Setting Company of 2022
Highlighting appointment setting for SMEs, a case study features MAX USA Corp, a U.S. industrial machinery provider (~50 employees) achieving 5,000 prospects and 15 qualified leads monthly via email and LinkedIn campaigns.
For a larger perspective, look at Polygon, boasting 6,600+ employees. Martal Group’s strategy garnered 8,300 monthly prospects, resulting in 7 qualified leads.
Client’s voice:
We’ve been working with Martal since the end of March. It’s been about a year and a half since they started campaigning. So far, we have received numerous prospects that have set appointments as well as 100 market-qualified leads.
Executive Director, Business Brokerage Firm
#3. CIENCE
Headquarters: Denver, CO, USA
Founded: 2015
Company size: 1,000+ employees
Industry focus: Industrial automation, computer software, media production, financial services, nonprofit organizations.
Best for:
U.S.-based and global companies with vast marketing budget seeking to incorporate AI-guided, quick lead research in their domestic markets and beyond
Organizations with very small sales teams that require assistance with cold calls, cold emails, and LinkedIn
Young businesses who build teams and start selling from scratch
Notable clients: Yamaha, Uber, Okta, Western University of Health Sciences
About: CIENCE is an expanding B2B appointment setting vendor with a focus on developing sales products that facilitate lead generation. They use a data-driven approach to appointment setting, which involves manual lead research, qualification, and scheduling appointments with the fittest prospects.
Strengths: CIENCE provides an AI-powered lead generation and analytics platform that can be seamlessly integrated with other products and workflows.
Pricing: Available upon request. According to the reviews that disclosed the partnership details, it varies from $4,000 to $9,000.
We just signed our first 2 deals that came from CIENCE’s prospecting efforts! We’re looking forward to more in the coming months as our sales process can be fairly long. Besides those successes, CIENCE generated 83 appointments, made 10,447 calls, and sent 11,610 emails so far in 2022.
CMO, B2B Technology Company
#4. Callbox
Headquarters: Encino, CA, USA
Founded: 2004
Company size: 800+ employees
Industry focus: IT Products, manufacturing, financial, health care, telecommunication, logistics
Best for:
Companies around the world seeking transcontinental and localized B2B lead generation
Businesses that require one-on-one conversations with prospects via direct marketing channels, chatbots, and social media
Notable clients: Acer, AMD, NEC, Zendesk
About: Callbox is a prominent B2B lead generation company in the United States, using multichannel, account-based marketing to generate qualified leads for B2B businesses. They operate from at least 8 strategically located offices in diverse regions, with their headquarters based in California.
Strengths: What distinguishes Callbox is its proficiency in more than 15 languages, including major Chinese dialects, Hindi, Malay, Thai, and important languages from the Latin American region, such as Spanish and Portuguese.
Pricing: Available upon request. The reviews on Clutch indicate, though, that the minimal project price is $10,000.
Proprietary products:Callbox Pipeline is Callbox’s proprietary marketing automation platform that helps to automate the appointment setting process.
Case studies: A Latin America-based client, a seasoned nearshore IT services provider, partnered with Callbox to amplify their U.S. market presence. Seeking effective approaches to reach U.S. prospects, they achieved significant results: 63 sales appointments, 31 MQLs, and 32 successful conversions.
Client’s voice:
We have grown market awareness towards our brand from 31% to 61%. We have generated an average of 20 leads per month over the 3-month project.
Marketing Analyst for SEA Region, Equipment Company
#5. Leadium
Headquarters: Orlando, FL
Founded: 2016
Company size: 100+ employees
Industry focus: Software, food & beverages, education, consumer products
Best for:
Small and medium U.S. companies seeking to cultivate highly personalized B2B connections within the domestic market
Businesses that can afford delayed results due to the agency’s hyper-personalized approach to each campaign
Companies that want to pick between telemarketing, cold emails, and other channels
Notable clients: Signalware, People.ai
About: Leadium is a boutique B2B appointment setting service headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. Distinguishing itself with a strong team representation, Leadium showcases personalized profiles and sample call records for its team members, underscoring their proficiency. Showcasing transparency, Leadium’s B2B reps freely share practical insights via personal podcasts and blogs.
Strengths: They prioritize a human-centered sales approach, employing email, phone, and social outreach, with a strong emphasis on effective cold calling. Notably, they express interest in projects starting from $1,000, indicative of their focus on assisting small business clients seeking B2B connections.
Pricing: Available upon request. Their partnership provides month-to-month contracts.
National Excellence Award from UpCity and several other achievement badges
In-house tools: They rely on tools such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Semrush, and Salesforce to ensure transparent and efficient processes for their clients.
We saw a significant 29% rise in well-qualified lead generation and a notable improvement in sales team efficiency with a reduction in scheduling latency by 32%. Additionally, our conversion rate increased by 18% quarter-on-quarter. What’s important to note here is the overall positive ROI impact.
Cofounder, Board Member & Founding CEO, Tiny Organics
#6. SalesRoads
Headquarters: Boca Raton, FL, USA
Founded: 2007
Company size: 200+ employees
Industry focus: SaaS, manufacturing, logistics, construction, transportation
Best for:
Small and medium-sized U.S. companies seeking outsourced SDRs and call centers to discover B2B leads within the local market
Sales teams that require substantial outsourced assistance of 10 or more sales agents and/or lead development reps
Notable clients: Shell, Parker, Clean Energy
About: SalesRoads is a B2B appointment setting company based in San Francisco, California. With a history of serving 500+ clients, they have set over 100,000 appointments.
Strengths: SalesRoads strategically utilizes phone conversations and emails as core channels, with LinkedIn as an additional channel that also facilitates the research process. They outline 3 times longer SDR training and their domestic sales professionals as one of the core advantages.
Pricing: Starts at $9,250 a month
Awards and social recognition:
Recognized as a Clutch Global Top 1,000 Company in 2021 and a Top Appointment Setting Company in 2023.
For a notable client like Parker, SalesRoads successfully pinpointed a total of 541 SQLs during this campaign, which translates to an estimated annual value of around $25 million for the distributor.
Shell, faced with the challenge of reaching the right contacts at DOT locations across the U.S. to introduce their product Tixophalte, partnered with SalesRoads. The comprehensive appointment setting program resulted in scheduling 95 appointments during a 12-week pilot program, introducing Tixophalte to key decision-makers at state, city, and county levels.
Client’s voice:
Within 3 weeks, we had 20–25 calls scheduled with clients in areas we asked SalesRoads to target. Their team found a lot of success very early on, and our ROI has been substantial.
Account Manager, Registered Agent & Compliance Service Provider
#7. Strategic Sales & Marketing
Headquarters: Farmington, CT, USA
Founded: 1989
Size: 50+ employees
Industry focus: Business insurance, SaaS, cybersecurity, manufacturing
Best for:
Small and medium-sized U.S. companies seeking to discover B2B appointments exclusively within the local market
Notable clients: Best Hire Inc., CT Technology Council
About: Strategic Sales & Marketing, Inc. is a well-established (and the oldest) American B2B appointment setting company, boasting 334,800 leads generated. They specialize in B2B lead generation, nurturing, and sales pipeline development through telemarketing.
Strengths: Their traditional B2B approach involves consultative conversations and relationship-building to establish credibility with decision-makers. Their strategy includes crafting prospect lists, scripting calls, introducing your company via phone, and delivering warm leads.
Pricing: According to some reviews on Clutch, its price varies depending on the project and is around $1,000–$10,000 per month on average.
Case studies: One of their clients highlights accomplishments like securing a $2.5M client, $1M annual growth, and shortening the sales cycle by 9 months.
Client’s voice:
Strategic’s efforts accounted for 65% of lead conversion over the 4-year relationship. Their organization was easy to communicate with and eager to learn new things, all while experiencing little turnover and yielding a level of transparency that set them apart from competitors.
Senior Director of Health Care Marketing, Advocates for Human Potential
What are the next steps?
Here’s a step-by-step guide for those interested in hiring appointment setters:
Evaluate the public feedback and reputation of the companies that align with your specifics or goals.
Reach out to their teams by booking an intro call, where your key priority is to ensure they meet your business needs.
Request case studies and testimonials from companies in similar industries with the same challenges.
If possible, review email samples, call scripts, and campaign records.
Understand their work methods and any guarantees they might offer.
Familiarize yourself with their management and reporting processes.
Weigh the pros and cons of each to decide.
Negotiate all the legal nuances and review the contract copy; when all is set, seal the deal with your new vendor.
If you’re looking to streamline this process, we’re here to help. Here are some of our results for your consideration:
We’ve delivered an impressive 4,760,850 leads to diverse businesses.
Our track record features over 201,658 scheduled appointments spanning 40+ industries.
Notably, we’ve facilitated deals surpassing the $1M mark.
Want to get the same or even better results? Feel free to contact us to enhance your appointment setting endeavors.
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Author
Michael Maximoff
Co-founder and Managing Partner at Belkins
Michael is the Co-founder of Belkins, serial entrepreneur, and investor. With a decade of experience in B2B Sales and Marketing, he has a passion for building world-class teams and implementing efficient processes to drive the success of his ventures and clients.
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