Sales Development
B2B Appointment Setting Services
MIE reaches the people you want to meet, checks their interest against qualification criteria you agree with us, and books sales conversations for your team.
An appointment is not just a name on a calendar.
A calendar invite is easy to produce. What your team needs is a conversation with the right person at a company that fits, who has a real reason to be there. That's why MIE and each client agree the qualification criteria before outreach begins.
Four words that get used loosely.
Providers and sales teams don't all use these terms the same way. On this page, we'll use them as follows. Exact definitions, especially what counts as qualified, vary by company and campaign, so whatever words you use, agree them in writing with any provider before work starts.
- Lead
- A contact or company that might be worth pursuing. On its own, a lead tells you nothing about interest or fit.
- Prospect
- A company, and a person inside it, that matches your ideal customer profile and is worth reaching out to.
- Qualified prospect
- A prospect who has been contacted and meets the qualification criteria agreed for the campaign.
- Booked appointment
- A qualified prospect who has agreed to a specific meeting time with your team. Whether that meeting is then held is a separate question, and a contract should say which one is being counted.
What "qualified" means is something you agree with us.
There is no single industry standard for a qualified appointment. The criteria depend on what you sell and who buys it. Conceptually they cover four things:
Fit
The company matches your ideal customer profile, for example by type, size or the market it serves.
The right person
Someone in a role you agreed on, who decides or has real influence on the decision.
A genuine reason
An actual problem, need or interest behind the meeting, not a yes given just to end the call.
Your specifics
Anything else your team needs, such as timing, current setup or exclusions like existing customers.
MIE and you agree these criteria before outreach begins, then MIE qualifies against them. They aren't a fixed framework applied to every campaign. For a deeper look, including booked vs. held meetings and how to handle no-shows, read What is a qualified appointment in B2B sales?
How appointment setting works at MIE
Define
Your ideal customer, the roles to reach and the qualification criteria, agreed up front.
Reach out
Cold calling and cold email to the people who fit, built on your positioning.
Qualify
Confirm interest and check it against the agreed criteria, not a gut feeling.
Schedule
A specific time with the right person on your team.
Hand off
A scheduled, qualified conversation your team can take forward.
Follow-up and documentation.
Follow-up that doesn't drop
Interested prospects who aren't ready yet can receive multiple follow-up attempts by phone or cold email, rather than being written off after one attempt.
Calls and outcomes documented
Calls and their outcomes are documented, and you can see the conversations and qualified opportunities coming out of your engagement.
The clean boundary. MIE creates and qualifies the conversation. Discovery, proposals, negotiation and closing are yours. MIE can also join meetings or help with quote follow-up when that's part of your engagement.
Who it fits.
Usually a good fit
- Established B2B companies where each new customer is worth a real conversation
- An ideal customer you can describe, and a rough sense of how many exist
- Someone on your side who can run the meetings and follow through
- Willingness to agree, and write down, what a qualified meeting is
Probably not a fit yet
- Consumer sales
- No one available to take the meetings promptly
- An offer that isn't clear enough yet to explain in a short conversation
Pricing, and how appointment setting fits with the rest.
MIE works with more than one commercial model, including recurring retainer arrangements and pay-per-lead or pay-per-appointment structures. Prices aren't listed on this site. If you want to understand how appointment setting is usually priced before you talk to anyone, How much does B2B appointment setting cost? lays out the models and what moves the price, and Retainer vs. pay-per-appointment explains the incentives each one creates.
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Cold Calling
Outbound calling is one of the ways MIE starts the conversations that become appointments, alongside cold email.
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Outsourced Sales Development
Appointment setting as part of the complete, managed outbound function.
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Lead Generation
Research and prospecting that decides who's worth an appointment in the first place.
From MIE Insights
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Appointment Setting
What Is a Qualified Appointment in B2B Sales?
Fit, the right person, a genuine reason to talk, and criteria agreed in writing. Plus booked vs. held and no-shows.
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Appointment Setting
How Much Does B2B Appointment Setting Cost?
The five common pricing models, the factors that move price, and how to compare quotes on equal terms.
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Appointment Setting
Retainer vs. Pay-Per-Appointment: Which B2B Appointment Setting Model Fits?
Each pricing model creates different incentives. Who carries the risk, and when each one can make sense.