The value of an hour is an illusion. Depending on your perspective, the importance of the same hour can change. For example, if your best friend asked you to meet them for lunch in 15 minutes during a busy workday, you’d likely laugh at the idea, regardless of how enjoyable that time might be. However, if they made the same request three weeks ago, you’d probably be able to accept the invitation. It’s the same hour, but its value was exponentially less a few weeks ago than it is today. I call this the illusion of time: the value of a period of time becomes exponentially less valuable the further in the future it is. (I understand that there is likely a much more important use of this term in a physics paper somewhere😊.)
When salespeople are trying to schedule appointments, they must understand and use the illusion of time to increase their probability of success. Instead of trying to schedule appointments for tomorrow or later this week, ask for time in three or four weeks from now. Since the value your customers place on those days only a few weeks in the future is significantly less than the next day or two, they’ll be much more likely to accept your invitation.
Which brings me to the title of our post: The best time of the year for salespeople to schedule appointments is now, during the first three weeks of December.
Right now, the illusion of time is drastically more emotional because of the holidays. Asking for an appointment before December 18th seems like an urgent request that will be met with a rude response; while “after the holidays” seems like a million days away and will likely receive a positive response. In reality, it’s only a few weeks, but because of this illusion, you’ll be able to book your calendar for January by simply being cool and asking “Can we get some time on the calendar after the new year?”
Try it. Don’t worry about the next couple of weeks. Book your January and watch the rest of the year flourish because of this jumpstart!
