Back to Basics – Week 5: What my client taught me about booking meetings

Even after 25 years in sales, I’m still learning new terminology — sometimes from my own clients!

This happened recently when I was giving a founder and his team feedback on something I consider absolutely critical: Always get the next call on the calendar before getting off a call with a prospect.

(How many times have you had a high-energy, positive call that ends with, “I’ll email to set up our next conversation!” and then it drags and drags because of busy schedules, vacations, holidays… losing momentum and sometimes never returning?)

The founder grinned and said, “Oh, you mean BAMFAM!”

“What?”

“Book A Meeting From A Meeting.”

In all my years, I’d never heard of BAMFAM. Still not sure who to credit for the acronym, but I wholeheartedly agree with the concept!

Here’s why BAMFAM is critical:

The moment you hang up and say “I’ll email you,” you’ve just introduced friction into your sales process. Now scheduling becomes a back-and-forth dance of availability, time zones, and competing priorities.

Meanwhile, your prospect’s enthusiasm is cooling off. That pain point they were so excited to solve? It’s getting buried under their next three meetings.

Instead, try this approach:

At the end of a promising discovery call, say something like:

“This sounds like exactly the kind of challenge we love solving. I’d like to schedule a deeper conversation where we can dive into specifics and I can share some initial thoughts on how we might approach this. How does your calendar look for next week?”

Then — and this is crucial — have your calendar open and ready.

Don’t say “I’ll send you some times.” Say: “How’s Tuesday at 2pm?”

They’ll pull up their calendar (because they weren’t expecting it), and if that time doesn’t work, they’ll suggest another. You find a time that works, send the meeting invite right then, and boom — BAMFAM accomplished.

The magic of BAMFAM:

✓ Maintains momentum — Strike while the iron is hot
✓ Shows confidence — You believe this conversation should continue
✓ Eliminates email tennis — No back-and-forth scheduling
✓ Demonstrates process — You know what it takes to move this forward

Your homework: Have your calendar ready during your next promising sales call. Practice BAMFAMing at least once this week and notice how much easier it is to keep deals moving.

Remember: Prospects who are genuinely interested will appreciate your professionalism in moving things forward. Those who won’t commit to a next meeting probably weren’t serious buyers anyway.

Either way, you win.

P.S. The client who taught me BAMFAM? That’s Wade Brietzke, the founder of WeCreate, an award-winning full-service marketing agency. They just launched a pretty awesome newsletter for founders and brand builders who want more clarity and less noise. Check it out here!