How to book the next meeting
Never end a call without booking the next one
Scan through any startup’s list of stalled or closed lost deals and their top reason is always something like, “the buyer hasn’t responded to my last email” or “the buyer stopped responding after multiple follow ups”. Having reviewed thousands of deals like this, I found the root cause for 99% of them to be that the seller ended the last meeting without booking the next meeting.
Most sales calls end in a one-sided agreement where the seller commits to do a bunch of follow up work — sending the deck, sending pricing, setting up a trial account, sending references etc — without the buyer committing to do anything in return. While sellers think they are helping to move the deal forward, the reality is that without getting their buyer to agree to the next step and agree to meet again, they are just setting themselves up to be ghosted.
Many founders (and salespeople) feel awkward asking for the next meeting, however it’s literally the most important question you can ask on any sales call as it is the strongest way to qualify your buyer’s intent — if they aren’t willing to spend more of their time with you, they aren’t likely to spend their money with you.
If you want to win more deals (or at least get to a yes/no decision faster), its essential to build the habit of booking the next call before leaving the current one. Here’s how to do it:
Lay out the next step in the buying process
Propose a time to discuss the next step
Lean into the pushback to identify their timeline
Propose a new time to meet based on their timeline
Call out evasiveness
1. Lay out the next step in the buying process
Asking for the next meeting is easier if you explain what the meeting is for. The way to do this is to lay out the next step in the buying process and ask your buyer if they want to take that step with you:
“Normally the next step would be to give your team a tour of the product to get them up to speed and answer their questions. Would you like to do that?”
“Normally the next step would be to kick off a POC. Would you like to move forward with that?”
“Normally the next step would be to review a proposal. Would you like to do that?”
“The next step would be to sign a contract and schedule a kick off. Would you like to do that?”
2. Propose a time to discuss the next step
Once you have agreement on the next step, simply ask for a meeting to discuss the next step:
“Shall we put some time on the calendar for that later this week / next week?”
“How does [date/time] work?”
(Pro tip: the same time next week almost always works because people’s calendars tend to look the same from week to week)
3. Lean into the pushback to identify their timeline
At least half of the time you will get pushback on having the next meeting. For example:
“I need to think about it. Let me get back to you.”
“I need to discuss it with my boss. Let me do that and get back it you.”
“Let us debrief internally and get back to you.”
Rather than folding and losing control of the buying process, simply ask when they plan to have that discussion. This tells you their timeline.
“When do you think you’ll have a chance to discuss it with your boss?”
“When do you think you’ll have a chance to discuss it internally?”
“When do you think you’ll have a chance to think about it?”
4. Propose a new time to meet based on their timeline
Then pick the day after their discussion and ask for the meeting again, framing it as a check in.
“How about we sync up on [day after internal discussion] to see where you’re at?”
5. Call out evasiveness
If they push back again, call it out and ask why:
“Normally when people don’t want to meet again it’s because there’s something else holding them back. What’s making you pause here?”
If they won’t tell you and/or won’t agree to another call, suggest meeting way off in the future:
“OK. How about we check in again in six months and see if timing is better then.
This will get you one of two responses. Either they will tell you they’ll be in touch sooner, in which case you can ask a follow up question about their internal process between now and then and find another opportunity to schedule a call, or they’ll agree to the six month timeline, in which case you know they aren’t serious and you can just close lost the deal.