Setting the next appointment

You’ve worked so hard to get the first appointment. An appointment with a key potential customer. A customer whose sales alone could make your year and it’s only March. It took you multiple calls over several months and a couple mailings to get your foot in the door.

And you leave without scheduling the next meeting? Are you crazy? That’s an amateur move.

Setting the next appointment at the conclusion of the first appointment is such an automatic, I was hesitant to add it to our list of suggestions. But I hear people say things like, “They’re interested, I want have trouble getting back in.” or “He said to call him Monday afternoon and we’ll schedule then. What am I going to do? FORCE him to schedule on the spot?”

Yes. Of course, you’re not FORCING him. You’re reminding him that you are both busy people. You say to her, “With the demands on my time yours, I’d prefer to have things nailed down to a calendar.” Or tell him, “It took us a lot of time and phone calls to get to this FIRST appointment! Can we pencil in our next meeting right now?”

You do this to ensure you have a “next step.” But you also do it to test the customer or prospect’s commitment. If he absolutely will NOT commit to a follow-up that’s anchored to a calendar, you should have no real emotion tied to winning this deal, plain and simple.