Cap the booking window at seventy-two hours

1. Speed to the first appointment

Speed to the first appointment is the time between a lead booking a sales appointment and the appointment happening. The shorter that gap, the higher the show rate, and more people turning up means more people buying. Two things are recommended to bring appointments sooner. The cap in section 2 is the first. The second is pulling appointments forward, preferably to the same day, in section 4; section 3 covers a lead who will not book inside the cap.

2. The cap

Let leads book no more than three days out. The sooner they book, the better. Let them book much further ahead than three days and more of them will book, but more of them will also ghost you. That is a loss three times over:

• a person ghosted you;
• enough ghosted meetings wear down the sales team's morale;
• the ghost took a convenient slot from somebody who may otherwise have bought.

The example given. If today is Monday, you want Tuesday and Wednesday open, and the rule is always 72 hours ahead. The reason is that appointments booked closer in show up at a higher rate, so make it the policy.

The leeway. You can get away with five days if you have to; three is the preference. Whichever you run, watch your show rates and find the point that works for your business.

The same rule, from the other end. When you speak to a lead, aim to set the appointment inside 72 hours: the same day, the next day, or the day after. Or sell them there and then.

3. When a lead will not book inside the window

A lead who does not want to book within the next 72 hours is treated as facing an obstacle, not as a lost cause. It is rare for somebody to be truly unable to make time for something that matters to them.

The tip comes from a gym. On the call, ask the lead which days they plan to work out. That gives you several days a week. Then use the time they gave for working out to justify the appointment as the first step toward it.

The same move works outside a gym. If your service involves the customer doing something, ask up front when they planned to do it, and offer that time as when they come in or book.

4. Pull appointments forward

Bring appointments forward, ideally to the same day. Same-day appointments show at a higher rate than appointments on any later day, and a conversation happening right now shows at 100 percent. So a conversation now is the objective.

Where the time comes from. The extra start times on SOP 85 section 6.3 leave gaps in the team's calendars. When there are no fresh leads to contact and book, calling leads who booked themselves online, to pull their appointments forward, is the second priority. Reaching fresh leads first is SOP 90 — Reach a new lead fast.

The five outcomes. When you call to schedule people, there are five possible outcomes.

#	Outcome	What you do
1	No response	Take them off the calendar, or double-book the slot if the appointment is in person
2	Reached, not qualified	Take them off the calendar, and give them something free and useful, or a referral, if you can; or offer a suitable downsell, if you have one
3	Reached, qualified, and free right now	The best case: you are already talking, so the show is certain. If the same people set and close, go straight to the close; if not, hand them over live to a closer who is free
4	Reached, qualified, and moved earlier	Use the outline in section 5
5	Reached, qualified, and confirmed	Re-confirm the time, as in section 5

5. The call that pulls an appointment forward

An outline in beats, with the blanks left for you to fill.

• Open. Your name, your company, and that the line is recorded. You saw they booked a time for your offer on a given day, and you are calling to confirm a few details first. Is now a terrible time?
• Who they are. Confirm the first qualifying fact: you see they are a certain kind of person or business; is that right?
• What they want. Confirm the second: they are looking to reach a certain outcome; correct?
• What they are struggling with. What have they tried so far? What else? So this is a priority to fix, or a named bad thing happens; is that fair?
• The turn. Two pieces of news. The good one: you think you can help. The better one: a slot opened up later today, at 4 pm, for us to get you set up, unless now is a better time?

From there you either go into the sale once they are qualified, move their appointment up, or, at worst, you qualify them and re-confirm the time they already have.

The re-confirm, when nothing moves. No problem at all; you always like to offer more times, to make it easy and to cost them as little time as possible. So they are all set for two days from now at 4 pm. Is there any reason they will not be able to make it?

6. Hand over to the closer

Once the call ends, if you are taking the appointment yourself, text them a confirmation from your own phone; if somebody else is, connect all three of you in one message thread with the closer who will take it: the live handover from outcome 3.

Build up the person they are about to meet. When you hand over, take a moment to raise the closer in the lead's eyes. In outline:

• they are in luck, because they will be speaking with one of the company's top people on their problem;
• that person has been at this a long time and has helped people or businesses like theirs get what they are after;
• the company is lucky to have them, and they will be able to help;
• a pause while you check the closer's calendar; then, if you changed the time, you are sliding them in to get this handled quickly, and if you did not, they are confirmed and good to go;
• the moment the call ends you will introduce them by text; does this number work? Enjoy the time with the closer.

Do all of this and every lead has been worked for the most shows possible. It probably means the current sales team is too small for the most selling it could do, which is an opportunity rather than a problem.

7. What this page does not decide for you

• How the 72 hours is counted. The example opens the next two days; it is also given as same day, next day, day after; 72 hours from a Monday afternoon call runs into Thursday afternoon. This page does not settle which reading is right.
• Where your own point lies between three days and five. Find it by watching show rates.
• How many tries before a booked lead who does not answer is taken off the calendar. This page gives no figure for attempts before removal.
• What your two qualifying facts are. The outline leaves them blank.

8. The checklist

Question	The answer
How far out leads may book	Three days at most; 72 hours; five days if you have to
What to aim for on the call	Same day, next day or day after, or sell them there and then
Why	Appointments booked closer show at a higher rate
What a longer window costs	More bookings, but more ghosting: a lost show, lower team morale, a slot taken from a buyer
A lead who will not book inside it	Ask when they planned to act, and offer that time
What to do with gaps in the calendar	After fresh leads, call self-booked leads to pull their appointments forward
The best outcome	Qualified and free right now: close, or hand over live
The outcomes of a pull-forward call	Five, from no response to confirmed
After the call	A text confirmation, or a three-way message with the closer
The handover	Build up the closer before they meet

9. What this page does not cover

Reaching a new lead fast and answering fast once they are booked are SOP 90. The reminders that follow a booking and booking the next meeting from this one are SOP 89 — Run the seven-day follow-up cadence. The start times that create the calendar gaps are SOP 85 section 6.3, and the setter scripts are SOP 53.

Call-recording rules and the sales call itself are not covered on this page.