Sometimes — despite your best intentions and hard work — a prospect doesn’t show up for a meeting or misses a Zoom or phone call.
In those situations, I like to send this short email template:
Hi <Their Name>
It looks like we missed each other today for our call at <Time of call>.I have some time available early next week to continue our conversation. You can choose the time that works best for you right here: <link to your booking tool, like Calendly>
Thanks,
<Your name>
95% of the time, a prospect missing a meeting is super innocent:
- Their kid got sick
- Their car broke down
- Or they just forgot about the meeting
By following up after the fact, you make it easy for them to save face — you aren’t blaming anyone — and you’re offering a clear next action to schedule a new meeting.
Want to minimize your missed meeting with prospects?
I use the service Calendly to manage my calendar and appointment requests.
Prospects can pick the time that works best for them, enter a few details, and have their appointment on my calendar.
Here’s a quick walkthrough of what the workflow looks like for someone booking an appointment with me: https://cl.ly/2J253Z0m3F3b.
I strongly recommend Calendly as a tool to schedule your meetings. You’ve spent enough time juggling potential meeting dates in your head. Instead, use a dedicated tool to let your leads and prospects pick and schedule a time to meet with you.
Plus, Calendly supports:
- Multiple person meetings! (e.g., Janet can pick a time for a meeting with Dr. Scott and invite Brad and Rocky to the meeting)
- Meeting reminder emails! (Make sure prospects don’t miss meetings by automatically emailing them. Calendly takes care of this for you (with a nice template and workflow editor!) and it’s sweet.
I use Calendly in my business as a service professional selling Growth Marketing services and they’re great. They’ve gotten my money each year since 2016 or so.
Check them out, they get my vote of confidence: https://calendly.com.
Your ‘No More Missed Meetings’ Action Items
Next time a prospect misses an appointment with you, just do this:
- Remember that it wasn’t personal. It was probably just a scheduling mix up.
- Follow up with them by sending a follow-up email (you can swipe my template from above)
- Include a link to Calendly (or your booking tool of choice) or 3 suggested time options for them to pick from
After that? Keep the conversation moving forward.
Would you like more email templates for your awkward client situations?
We’ve all been there before, dealing with the email we’re stressing out about writing:
- Telling a client ‘No’
- Asking for a testimonial
- Changing a delivery date
- Renegotiating an expectation
- Following-up on a proposal, quote, or invoice
- Dealing with another prospect or lead meeting no-show
I’m working on a new, small product for you: an Email Template Library. It’ll have a collection of ~10-15 email templates for you to copy, customize, and send.
Oftentimes, the hardest part of writing those ‘awkward’ emails is getting started. Once you have some initial words, it’s easy to customize the message for your current situation and hit send.
That’s why I’m putting together Use My Words Vol 1.. Spend less time agonizing over those ‘awkward’ emails with this collection of ‘Kai Approved’ email templates you can copy, customize, and send.
If you’d like to get on the list for updates (and advance notification) about Use My Words Vol 1., fill out this form. I’ll let you know when Use My Words releases.
Excelsior!
Kai
