Configuring the Appointment Setter

A well-set-up Appointment Setter answers interested prospects quickly, keeps every conversation moving toward your goal, and hands you the conversations a person should take. The settings are in Campaigns → your campaign → Appointment Setter.

Give the Appointment Setter one goal and a working link

Pick one Goal and give it a working link. Book a meeting with a booking page is the right goal for most outbound. The agent asks for the meeting when a prospect shows interest, shares the link, and only counts the meeting when the prospect says they booked.

Don't ask it to do three jobs in Custom instructions, such as "answer questions, send information and book meetings". One goal, with everything else in service of it.

The Appointment Setter always nudges toward the goal

The Appointment Setter can do more than book. It answers questions from your material, shares useful assets and follows up when a prospect goes quiet. But every one of those replies should have the goal in mind and move the prospect a step toward it, even when it's answering a question or giving value.

A reply that answers the question and stops leaves the prospect with nothing to do. A reply that answers it and then offers the next step keeps the conversation going:

Answers and stops: Yes, it works with HubSpot.
Answers and nudges: Yes, it works with HubSpot, and the sync takes about a day to set up. Happy to show you what it looks like on a 15-minute call. Want the link?

Say how you want it to nudge in Custom instructions, such as "After answering a question, offer a 15-minute call to see [what they'd get]." For how to ask, see After a positive reply.

Match the Appointment Setter's tone to your outreach

Set Tone to sound like the sequence: Friendly for casual outreach, Direct for brief, Formal for polished. A prospect who answered a casual message is put off by a stiff reply. Set Agent name to the name your sequence is signed with, so the conversation feels like the same person.

Tell the Appointment Setter how to handle common objections

Write your answers to the objections you hear most into Custom instructions or the Knowledge base, so the agent handles them your way:

• A hard no: the agent closes the conversation with a short, polite acknowledgement and stops. Keep it that way; never instruct it to argue or re-pitch.
• "Not right now": acknowledge the timing and ask when to follow up. If they name a time, the agent waits until then, for up to 120 days.
• "I'm not the right person": thank them and ask who is. If they name someone, the agent hands the conversation to you so you can reach out.
• "Send me more information": ask what would be most useful, then share one relevant Asset instead of a generic deck.
• "How much does it cost?": the agent answers from your Knowledge base, so decide ahead what it should say (below).

Objections and hard no's has example replies for each.

Decide how the Appointment Setter handles pricing

"How much does it cost?" is one of the most common replies, and a prospect who asks it is usually interested. The agent quotes pricing only when it's written in the Knowledge base, so pick one of two answers before you turn it on:

• Your pricing is public, or you're happy to share it: write it in the Knowledge base exactly as you'd quote it, with what's included and how it's billed, such as "Starter is $99 a month for one seat; most teams start there." The agent answers in its own words, quotes the figures as written, and moves on to the next step, usually the call. A prospect who gets a straight answer stays in the conversation; one who's told "let's discuss on a call" three times leaves.
• Your pricing depends on the deal: leave it out of the Knowledge base, or add "pricing" to Always hand off when…. The agent tells the prospect a colleague will confirm and hands the conversation to you. Answer it the same day.

A middle ground works well for custom pricing: give the range and what moves it, such as "Most teams pay between $500 and $2,000 a month, depending on seats", and let the call settle the exact number.

Write the rest of the Knowledge base the same way: what you offer, what the call covers and who should join it, and short answers to the three objections you hear most. Anything the material doesn't cover goes to you, so a thin knowledge base means more hand-offs.

Hand conversations to a person on your own triggers

The agent already hands off when a prospect asks something your material doesn't answer, asks for a person, raises legal or contract terms, a security questionnaire or a complaint, names a better contact, or proposes a time or asks for a calendar invite. It also hands off after Max agent replies per conversation. Pricing isn't on that list: it's answered when your Knowledge base has it.

Add your own triggers to Always hand off when…, in plain words, separated by commas. The agent checks every reply against them as well as the built-in ones. Good triggers are the moments a person should take:

• an existing customer or partner;
• a company above a size you care about, such as "more than 500 employees";
• a competitor named in the reply;
• a yes to a give a person has to make, such as "the prospect says yes to the custom audit";
• a request for a proposal or a contract.

A handed-off conversation shows Needs you in the Inbox, and the reason goes to Notification email. Set that to an inbox someone watches. See Appointment Setter.

Links and attachments in Appointment Setter replies

Links belong in Appointment Setter replies, never in the sequence itself, and only when the prospect wants them:

• Your goal link: the agent shares the booking or destination link once the prospect is interested, and aims to share it at most 2 times in a conversation.
• Assets: the agent shares one when it's relevant to what the prospect asked, at most one per message and never the same one twice. Add only pages you're happy for any prospect to see.

The agent shares links, never files. If a prospect needs an attachment, take over in the Inbox and attach it there. See Appointment Setter knowledge and assets.

Keep the Appointment Setter's follow-ups useful

The default follow-up schedule suits most campaigns: each nudge takes a different angle and the last is a polite break-up. Shorten it for fast-moving offers, and keep Respect work hours on so replies don't arrive at 3 a.m.

Test the Appointment Setter freely

Select Test it to open Test the Appointment Setter. It runs the live agent against a pretend prospect with your current settings, saved or not. Nothing is sent to anyone.

• Pick LinkedIn or Email, and fill in the prospect's name, company and title.
• Type the prospect's replies. Each answer shows the agent's decision: a reply, a wait, a hand-off with its reason, or a close.
• Select Advance to jump ahead while the prospect stays silent and watch the follow-ups, up to the final break-up.

Play around with it. Try an interested prospect, a tough question, a price question (it should quote your knowledge base, or hand off if pricing isn't there), "not now", "we already have someone", a hard no and "remove me". Check that every reply moves toward the goal, hands off where you'd want a person, and sounds like you. Adjust the instructions and test again before you turn the switch on.

The test runs the same agent as a live conversation, so it spends credits the same way and needs a balance above zero.

After launch, flag any reply that misses in the Inbox (Flag this reply on the agent's message). The flags collect under Recent corrections on the Appointment Setter tab; fold them into the settings every week or two. See Appointment Setter.

For writing the knowledge base and assets, see Appointment Setter knowledge and assets.