Schedule with Scarcity

So how do you schedule yourself?  I don't mean "which contact management program do you use" or "do you make 45 minute appointments or 1 hour appointment".  I mean... what do you say to someone when you have agreed to meet and you are making the appointment?

I know that many of us are tempted to just do whatever it takes to make the appointment happen as soon as possible no matter what.  The call goes like this:

Bob Agent - let's get together at your home for about 30 minutes.  You can give me the tour and we'll talk about your options.
Betty Lead - Ok.  Sounds good.
Bob Agent - Great!  When can you meet?

Great!  Bob got the appointment right?  That's right.  But he had the appointment when the Betty said, "Ok. Sounds good.".  After that Bob screwed up.  There are at least two things wrong with saying, "Great. When can you meet.":

1. Once you ask when the lead can meet, you are not scheduling the appointment... the lead is.  What if Betty had said, "Well... I'll be home for the next 30 minutes..."?  Would you rush to the appointment unprepared?  Or, worse yet, what if Betty had said, "Well... let me ask my husband when he can meet and I'll get back to you."  Since Bob has now abdicated the job of scheduling the appointment to Betty, she is in control and it will be much harder to turn that situation around.
2. "When can you meet..." basically says to the lead, "I am not busy because my time is not in demand.  Since my time is not in demand, it must not be very valuable.  So it follows that meeting with me is not very valuable and it should not be a very high priority for you.  Oh... and I'm desperate."  Betty is much more likely to cancel the appointment or possibly not ever even fully commit to an appointment.

The solution to this scenario is to do what I call, "Scheduling with Scarcity".  If you do this, it completely changes the way the appointment gets made and it dramatically increases the odds of the appointment actually taking place.  Here is the new scenario:

Bob Agent - let's get together at your home for about 30 minutes.  You can give me a tour and we'll talk about your options.

Betty Lead - Ok.  Sounds good.

Bob Agent - Great!  I have some time this evening between 5:30 and 6:30 or tomorrow at 3:15.  Which one would work best for you?

Betty Lead - Oh... I don't think that will work.  My husband can't be home from work until around 7pm.

Bob Agent - I see.  I really want to meet with you as soon as possible.  Can you hang on for just a sec?  Let me see what I can do.

Betty Lead - Sure...

Bob Agent - [mute phone for 10 seconds]  Ok... I was able to move my other appointment so I can be there tonight at 7pm.  So, we'll see you then.

Betty Lead - Uh... ok.  See you then.

Now, Bob is in control the whole time. Additionally, not only his time is in demand and valuable, he values the opportunity to meet with the client.  In fact, he values it so much that he went out of his way to move another appointment to make this one happen.  Betty is now far less likely to cancel or re-schedule the appointment and there is no danger of Bob not having time to prepare.

When you "Schedule with Scarcity" you maintain control, you communicate the value of your time and your expertise, and you present to the lead in a far more professional manner.