In March I accepted an invitation on LinkedIn. 

I accept some invitations to connect but I ignore most, especially when they start pitching me from the get-go. 

Today his profile says he does appointment setting for high-ticket offers. 

I NEVER accept invitations from people who promote appointment setting or lead generation for high-ticket offers. 

My guess is this guy's profile has been updated since I accepted his invitation to connect. 

Since connecting with him in March I haven't heard a peep from him. 

Last week he sent me the following message: 

Hey Ted ☺️ How are you doing ? 

We Provide VAs and Appointment Setters. 

Are you interested in getting more clients by having your personal VA who will find clients for you all day and fill your calendar with “QUALIFIED” booked appointments? 

We GUARANTEE minimum 20-30 booked appointments a month so that puts you in NO RISK. 

They help you expand and optimize your business profits using our platform, all organically. 

In short, they set QUALIFIED appointments for you. 

Let’s see how we can help each other grow our businesses. 

Would you like to hear more about it.? 

Of course, I ignored his message. 

You know this is 100% BS. 

When I see some promising QUALIFIED appointments GUARANTEED with NO RISK my BS detector goes off like crazy. 

I hope you haven't hired appointment setters like this. 

Some of my clients spent a fortune (up to $60K!) hiring firms like this and never received any qualified leads. 

The buzz around the internet these days is never to use the words HIGH TICKET in your marketing because it's the latest overused buzzword that triggers BS detectors. 

Last Friday, I received this message from my appointment setting buddy: I invite you to learn more about this unique, yet highly effective approach in our program video below, supported by our most recent testimonials. 

I'm not going to share their link because I don't want to give them any publicity. 

They're offering a course on creating your own high ticket offer and offering their appointment setting service. 

The video testimonials on the site are pathetic. 

Monday I received this message: 

Hey Ted, Happy Monday. 

Hope you are doing well. 

If you are ready to have a stream of new high playing clients every month we can schedule a free zoom call for this week or next week? 

Do let me know so I can send you calendar link to check it out. 

I replied and told him I have a 6-month waiting list for new clients. 

He replied: 

That's great 

So you probably don't need new clients. 

I replied, "No I have no problem finding new clients." 

And this is where he pissed me off: 

Okay I got it. 

But we will give you a trained and professional appointment setter who will set sales meeting on your calendar. 

You don't have to worry about looking for new clients yourself just spend time focusing on the part of your program you like the most and rest all will be handled by appointment setter. 

If you are open we can have a quick conversation over it on a zoom call. 

I replied, "What part of I have a 6-month waiting list and I don't need help finding new clients don't you understand?" 

So many questions came to mind. 

Aren't you supposed to listen to what people say when you are in a sales conversation? 

Is he trying to overcome objections by repeating his sales pitch over and over instead of responding to what I said? 

Is this the approach they use to set appointments for their clients? 

Does he think I'm a QUALIFIED lead for his services? 

This is exactly why it's harder than ever to engage with people on LinkedIn. 

Some days 80% of the messages I receive on LinkedIn are automated sales pitches. 

My friend Joanne Black shared a great article the other day. 

She said, "Without strong relationships, you can forget about getting referrals. You can’t automate referral leads". 

Here's a link to her article 

Joanne is one of those old-fashioned people like me who prefer to focus on building relationships instead of constantly pitching. 

My high-ticket, qualified lead buddy would benefit from reading Joanne's content. 

I highly recommend connecting with Joanne Black. 

When you invite her to connect on LinkedIn, tell her I sent you. 

Here's a link to her LinkedIn profile and grab her best-selling book, No More Cold Calling

About the author 

Ted Prodromou

Would you like me to help you?

I'm the #1 best-selling author of Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business and Ultimate Guide to Twitter for Business. People call me America's Leading LinkedIn Coach.

I'm the founder of Search Marketing Simplified, LLC, a full service online marketing agency. The SMS team designs and implements advanced LinkedIn and social media lead-generation strategies for small to medium-sized businesses. SMS will set up and manage your marketing funnels using organic, social and paid traffic.

Did you know I've been working with the internet since 1991, long before Al Gore invented it?

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