The 7 best B2B appointment setting companies in U.K. for 2024
Author
Yuriy Boyko
Head of AM at Belkins. Yuriy has been working in the B2B sales sector for more than a decade. His approach is the integration of scientific methods combined with thinking out of the box, allowing to achieve the highest results in any industry.
Published:2024-02-23
Reading time:15 m
Some business processes are hard to outsource, and appointment setting is one of them. Doing so brings forth many uncertainties and concerns about your immediate ROI and sales success.
Making it more complex is comparing different service providers and trying to find answers to questions like:
Which company best meets your specific needs?
Should you actually hire a local or international firm?
What makes a great appointment service provider?
Will the company deliver a satisfactory ROI?
And more questions.
Well, we are here to make that process easier for you. In this post, we will review the 7 best appointment setting companies in the U.K. you should consider.
We will discuss each company’s services, their public opinion, how each company is different, how they can help your business, and more to help you choose the best for your needs.
Here is a quick overview of each company we will discuss in this post:
But first, let’s discuss the main criteria you need to keep in mind as you explore the post to find the best company for your needs.
Note: Belkins.io is technically not a U.K.-based appointment setting business. But we have extensive experience successfully serving U.K. clients. We have delivered winning projects and campaigns for over a dozen companies in Great Britain across various industries and recently received the U.K.’s Best Business Awards.
What criteria should the best B2B appointment setting companies meet?
Here are the main criteria you should consider when looking for an appointment setting service for your business.
Criteria 1: Local and industry expertise
You ideally want to partner with a company that has experience servicing businesses in your location and has excellent results to show for it.
So, begin your search by looking for a U.K.-based provider. However, keep in mind that local expertise doesn't always depend on location. That is to say that the best company for your needs might not physically be located in Great Britain.
Effective B2B appointment setting always comes as the result of a good understanding of the target market, offering, value proposition, and execution by the right team. So as much as local expertise matters, it’s less important than the agency’s understanding of your target market.
Criteria 2: Credibility backed with social proof
The best way to hire an outsourcing service provider is to look for what their past clients say about them. Thus, verify their credibility and learn whether or not you can trust them.
However, some companies exaggerate their success rates or even fake reviews and case studies on their sites. Verify testimonials on independent review websites like Clutch and G2 to avoid this.
Make sure they mention a valid brand you can check out, what the client required, how they approached the delivery, the specific results they reached, and the time frame with clear quotes from stakeholders.
Additionally, pay close attention to video testimonials as they are difficult to fake.
Criteria 3: Speedy delivery of appointments
The whole point of hiring an expert appointment setting company is to get meetings with potential buyers, and do so fast.
The main questions you need to ask are:
How much time do they need to launch the first campaigns?
When can you expect your first appointment?
Will you get the promised number of meetings/appointments in the 1-month threshold?
How many appointments can you expect for the first month if it’s a long-term contract?
Ideally, you want a company that kicks things off in 2 to 4 weeks tops and can add the promised number of appointments to your calendar in the first month or roll the remaining appointments over to the following month.
Criteria 4: High-quality leads
You want to work with a provider with an excellent lead-to-close ratio across clients.
Here is why it’s important.
Agencies mostly mention the number of leads they generate for their clients but never mention how many deals their clients win out of those. One hundred appointments mean nothing if you don’t close any of them — they’re only wasted time and money.
The solution is to ask them explicitly. If they set 20 appointments for you, how many can you expect to close in the worst-case scenario? For every 10 appointments, how many do their customers typically close?
Another way to evaluate this is to inquire about their outreach campaign strategies. We can’t speak for every appointment setting service out there, but ideally, you’ll be able to paint a good picture of the lead quality from answers to the following questions:
How do they find your ICP for the outreach campaign?
Where do they source the data they use for the campaign?
How do they enrich the data for your campaign?
Do they vet leads before sending them over to you?
What happens if a lead shows up and has no idea what you offer?
How do they create the email templates they use for the campaign?
1,000+ loyal customers in almost 7 years with a 95% retention rate
300,000+ appointments scheduled
$10 return for every $1 invested
24+ months average time servicing clients
Industry recognition: 2022 Globe Award Winner for Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and Operations, 2022 Inc. Best in Business Winner, 2023 Silver “Stevie Award” Winner for Sales and Customer Service, Top BPO Service Company, and more
Why Belkins is the best service provider for your needs
Belkins is the #1 lead generation agency driving results for businesses across the globe and has grown to become one of the household names in the lead gen and appointment setting industry.
Our team helps businesses in finance, retail, media, healthcare, HR, education, IT, and other sectors with appointment setting, lead generation, and email marketing services.
Here is why you may want to work with Belkins.
Fill your sales pipeline with highly qualified leads using our experts and state-of-the-art tools
At Belkins, we don’t just assign you to account managers and call it quits. We provide you with a dedicated team of talent and experts covering every aspect of the service, from research to outreach and scheduling.
For example:
Our account managers analyze your market and ideal customer profile (ICP) to identify and engage the accounts with the highest potential.
Our tech email experts build the outreach infrastructure and warm your domains to ensure you get the best campaign results.
Our writers craft compelling email campaigns personalized to each target.
Our SDRs qualify and nurture leads, and schedule meetings with those ready to have a conversation.
Also, Google and most email providers’ deliverability policies are consistently changing and getting tougher by the day.
That’s why, at Belkins, we use our proprietary tools and technology purpose-built for B2B lead gen at scale. Our tools are specifically designed to deliver your campaign to the inbox. Plus, we always assign our clients an email deliverability team.
Combined with the email deliverability team working for you, these bring about a credible infrastructure and strict compliance with anti-spam guidelines, and they ensure reliable results across thousands of prospects.
Here is what Diane Rankin, the general manager at Awesome Films, says:
“The most notable outcome was the high number and quality of the appointments set, surpassing our initial targets. Belkins’ campaign demonstrated a remarkable 38% open rate and an 8% reply rate, which are significant metrics in our industry.”
Comprehensive, completely done-for-you approach to bring you ready-to-buy leads
We provide a comprehensive service so you can focus on closing deals rather than chasing leads. Our mission is to schedule meetings with sales-qualified leads directly on your calendar without you stressing over booking appointments yourself.
Here’s a quick overview of how we do it:
Onboarding
Our specialists work closely with you to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment, understanding your business and product, target market, and specific requirements. Everything, including knowledge transfer, technology setups, and integrations, will be done here.
ICP identification and lead research
We thoroughly analyze your total addressable market and current positioning to identify your ideal customers. We then research potential leads that match your criteria and segment them to gather detailed information. This enables us to tailor custom messages that resonate with leads inclined to buy.
Email outreach
With the insights we collected, our team designs a targeted outreach strategy and email templates tailored to your goals. Our tech experts ensure optimal email deliverability through proper configuration and mailbox warming. We continuously monitor campaign metrics and make real-time adjustments to maximize outreach effectiveness.
Appointment scheduling
Our SDRs engage with email respondents to vet and qualify leads. They then schedule calls within your availability, sending reminders to prevent no-shows. If rescheduling is needed, we proactively follow up. We ensure quality appointments by not counting no-shows.
Get 20+ guaranteed meetings monthly with sales-qualified leads who will convert.
On average, our customers see over 20 solid appointments booked per month. And because we focus on quality over quantity, these meetings convert at an impressive 25% or higher.
That means 1 out of every 4 meetings lands you a new customer thanks to our targeted outreach and conversational selling approach.
“We choose to work with Belkins because someone we knew already did, and they had good results from the work they did. … Belkins helped us increase the value of our pipeline in a very short time. … In the first two months, we had more than 200 meetings with Belkins.”
Experience working for 1,000+ companies from all over the world with strong case studies
Our years of experience serving thousands of global B2B companies means established processes, industry knowledge, and seasoned experts with efficient delivery and better results.
We’ve worked successfully across diverse verticals and niches, so no matter the challenge, we have relevant experience. You’ll get years’ worth of earned instincts and market predictions from our experts that you can’t just read about or learn on the spot.
Here’s what one of our IT consulting clients had to say:
“... They predicted that promoting our agile transformation service would be challenging because the ICP companies are large, and the service is quite specific.”
Whether your goal is to scale or venture into new markets, our broad scope of work makes Belkins the ideal partner.
“We’re up for even the most unique or challenging projects. Over the years, we’ve gathered an extensive collection of success stories in nearly every industry and are ready to create something new if it means finding your business a better solution.”
— Vitaliy Zubkov, Senior SDR, Education & Training Lead at Belkins.io
Case studies that speak to our success rate and expertise
Here are 2 we picked for you:
Lessons Learned: The London company provides financial crime training/consulting globally but struggled with outbound campaign response and conversion. Our team took over their campaigns, creating a pipeline generating 5+ appointments per week and deals worth over $10,000 (watch full video testimonial).
YorkTest: A leading U.K. health/wellness company was seeking to penetrate the U.S. market. Over 5 months with a 4-person team, we helped them break outreach barriers to secure appointments and build a pipeline. We generated 3,000 broker leads and 1,500 HR leads in the first 3 months. As we shifted our focus primarily to HRs, we delivered 3,000 additional leads in the final 2 months.
Transparent and affordable pricing
We offer 3 transparent appointment setting plans suited for different budgets and sales capacities. Each plan clearly states what's included so you can choose based on your needs.
Our pricing is customized based on each client’s unique business and needs. Contact us, and we will provide a tailored quote that reflects your business and its unique needs.
Notable clients: Sony Electronics, beIN Media, Bloom Accounting, DropKey
Best for: Companies looking for a “one sales tool for all” for managing and improving customer relationships
Industry recognitions: HubSpot Sales Certified, Google ROI Certified, featured on TechBullion, Waze Certified, featured on Benzinga
Overview:
Funel.io is a lead generation and sales outreach company with over 14 years of experience helping businesses drive sales growth and revenue.
Unlike Belkins (which is more about appointment setting and lead generation services), their primary offer is their all-in-one blockchain-backed sales tool — guaranteeing safety for their client data.
The company serves businesses across different industry verticals. However, their experience in the industry indicates that they’ve mainly worked with businesses in financial services and information technology.
Clients get an account manager who develops customized outreach campaigns using proprietary analytics to engage prospects through personalized emails.
Funel.io also provides proprietary tools for campaign monitoring, appointment scheduling, and real-time communication. This ensures transparency while their experts handle outreach.
Pricing:
Funelio has 3 pricing tiers on its website that you can choose based on your business’s specific needs. Pricing ranges from £300 to £1,000.
Case studies:
Kubernetes: Funel.io engaged with over 4,000 potential clients from Kubernetes’ target market and successfully secured 12 high-quality appointments.
Metals Hub: Funel.io helped Metals Hub promote its services in the European market. Their tailored outreach strategies resulted in 10 high-quality appointments within the given time frame.
Services: Appointment setting, lead generation, LinkedIn outreach, and outsourced SDR teams
Notable clients: Aon, IQVIA, Trend Micro, Motorclean, EnerGenie, and more
Best for:
Sales teams looking for a low but steady number of leads per month
Companies looking for an appointment setting service that holds itself accountable for the appointments scheduled
Industry recognitions: N/A
Overview:
Curral London specializes in helping companies set up sales appointments to grow their revenue.
Businesses come to Curral with specific goals like appointment volume, revenue targets, qualification criteria, and timelines. The Curral team then creates a personalized outreach plan to meet these goals realistically.
One important aspect of Curral’s service is ensuring the quality of the appointments they generate. They agree on specific criteria with you; if the appointments don’t meet those standards, you don’t have to pay.
Curral also offers outsourced SDR services, starting with 1 full-time rep who can scale up as needs grow. SDRs earn commissions and bonuses for meeting targets, ensuring a motivated team dedicated to delivering qualified appointments and realistic goals.
Pricing: The website doesn’t include any company pricing details. You’ll have to reach out to them to get customized pricing.
Ratings: 4.8 stars average for 9 reviews on Clutch
Services: B2B appointment setting, B2B lead generation, sales outsourcing, managing sales calls, seminars, software and IT telemarketing services, database development
Best for: Businesses in the SaaS (specifically the IT industry) looking for B2B appointment setting and lead generation services
Industry recognitions: Clutch Awards for Top Lead Generation Company 2023, Top Appointment Setting Service 2023, Top Sales Outsourcing Company 2023, and more
Overview:
With over 50 years of combined experience, VSL is a U.K.-based digital marketing company that provides businesses with skilled sales professionals dedicated to driving sales and revenue. The company only focuses on sales outsourcing and call center services.
VSL essentially becomes an extension of clients’ sales teams, helping you build brand relationships with potential customers and boosting your sales.
VSL is one of the leaders in B2B appointment setting, telemarketing, and lead generation services. Specifically, VSL is the U.K.’s #1 lead generation company for IT software businesses.
The company operates in the U.K., Europe, Canada, and the USA, and they’ve secured substantial growth for hundreds of businesses by building high-quality sales pipelines.
Pricing:
Virtual Sales Limited offers customizable subscription packages and no long-term commitments, ranging from £2,000 to £5,465 per month. Here is what their pricing looks like.
Even though they do offer customizable packages, this pricing is higher than industry standards for virtual assistants. The fees are charged per hour and number of tasks rather than actual results generated for you.
Case studies:
VSL has successfully run appointment setting campaigns for many businesses.
Here are the results they’ve got for Genesis Group UK Limited: VSL provided them with a dedicated caller on a 2-day-per-week basis. They’ve got an average of 2 appointments per day throughout the campaign.
Services: Appointment setting, lead generation, telemarketing, sales development, account-based sales development
Notable clients: Asana, Intercom, Sage, AWS
Best for: Appointment setting services across the U.K. and Africa
Industry recognitions: N/A
Overview:
Punch! B2B is a U.K.-based B2B appointment setting company focused on fueling business growth for its clients.
The company has around 40 staff members, including sales development managers, reps, campaign managers, researchers, and more. According to their website, they strive to set your first appointment within 30 days, backed by a money-back guarantee.
Here is a quick overview of their appointment setting process:
Strategic consulting to define goals, ideal customer profile, target market database, messaging, and objection handling
Phone, email, video, and LinkedIn outreach to have 1:1 conversations that qualify and nurture prospects
Once qualified, they schedule appointments directly into your sales calendar and attend to ensure continuity.
Align on appointment outcomes, next steps, and deal progression to close sales
Pricing:
Punch! B2B leaves no pricing information on its website. You’ll need to reach out to them to get a quote.
Case studies:
Generated 56 sales opportunities for the global SaaS company Lumi in 4 months while ensuring an 88% open rate and 39% click-through rate for their campaign
Notable clients: Crest Digital, Ground Support Labs, PelicanCorp, Sweep, ThinkAutomation
Best for: Done-for-you appointment setting services
Industry recognitions: Clutch Awards for Top Appointment Setting Company 2024, Top Lead Generation Company 2024, Top Email Marketing Company 2024, Top Sales Outsourcing Company 2024
Overview:
The Lead Gen Dept. is a lead generation agency that specializes in helping B2B companies book meetings with their target accounts in the U.K., North America, and Europe.
Their core offering is running value-focused outbound campaigns using email, LinkedIn, and cold calling to identify and engage with in-market buyers who meet their client’s ideal customer profile (ICP).
One of the key aspects of the company is that they only offer lead generation and appointment setting services.
The company takes a full-service approach and does most of the heavy lifting manually. For example, they conduct research manually on prospects to ensure accuracy.
The team also manages client inboxes and calendars to book meetings directly for you. They handle follow-ups until prospects request meetings — so you can expect a fully done-for-you service. Plus, they provide real-time campaign reporting integrated with major CRMs.
Pricing:
Lead Gen Dept. offers three 3-month minimum pricing tiers ranging from 3,000£ to 6,950£. And what’s great about it is they specify the number of meetings the client can expect out of each deal.
Case studies:
Kartoffel Films: Lead Gen Dept. secured 19 meetings in 3 months for the London-based video production company.
Saffe: Throughout the sub-3-month campaign, Lead Gen Dept. secured 27 leads with cyber security leaders in banking and finance.
Best for: ROI-focused appointment setting services
Industry recognitions: Clutch Awards for Top Lead Generation Company 2023, Top Direct Marketing Company 2023, Top Sales Outsourcing Company 2023
Overview:
Inboxxia is a growth marketing agency that focuses on appointment setting. The agency was founded on the principles of aligning interests and incentives with clients. In other words, they only succeed when their clients do.
The company has about 3 years of experience and carefully selects their clients to ensure guaranteed results. Their team nurtures and follows up with leads, directly scheduling appointments to free you to focus on closing deals.
Here is what the team says about their lead handoff process:
“During your onboarding, we create a calendar for you that is synced to your own calendar to make sure we don’t double-book you. When a lead is ready to book a meeting with you, we then book them into this calendar and forward you any relevant information you’ll need for the call. All you have to do is take the call with a qualified lead.”
What’s interesting about their team structure is that the founders actively participate in each engagement. And with the founders on the frontline, it comes as no surprise that they have a history of retaining loyal clients for over 2 years.
Pricing:
The company does not have pricing details on its website. That means you’ll have to contact them to get a quote. But according to data from Clutch, you can expect their average deal size to be anywhere between $10,000 and $50,000.
Case studies/clients’ voice:
Here is what Ralph Cartwright from Hawke Media had to say about the company: “Inboxxia is an incredibly industrious partner … and sends a ton of leads frequently. We have closed a good amount of leads and we are confident to continue this streak into the future together.”
Oren Greenberg from Kurve: “They have consistently delivered high-quality leads in our niche … I’m very impressed with Inboxxia’s performance and look forward to continuing this easy-to-manage partnership.”
Work with Belkins to get meetings for your U.K.-based business
There you have it. The appointment setting firms we have highlighted in this post have set themselves apart from the pack when it comes to securing appointments with interested, vetted prospects for businesses in the U.K.
But before you make a final choice, we encourage you to further investigate and talk to professionals from the companies.
Review and evaluate the public feedback from other businesses they’ve served that are similar to yours. Inquire about their appointment setting outreach processes and the strategies they use. Also, research tools they use and check out client relationship management processes.
As for Belkins, you can trust us with any project, and we have the right talent on the team to take it on and bring you the best results. Contact us to discuss your needs — we’ll be happy to design a customized appointment setting solution for your business.
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Yuriy has been working in the B2B sales sector for more than a decade. His approach is the integration of scientific methods combined with thinking out of the box, allowing to achieve the highest results in any industry.
