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It happens to the best of us - sometimes several times a day. Your interaction with a prospect has progressed to the point that it's time to ask for an appointment. And this is where the prospect starts playing hard to get.

There are two wrong responses to this resistance. One, if you're feeling beat, you might simply say OK and hang up. Two, you might push even harder, hoping to change the prospect's mind.

These are mistakes because you probably won't win, and one way or the other you may wind up alienating the customer. It's also a mistake because you're confusing the appointment with commitment. The appointment is extremely important - don't get me wrong. But commitment is what we need to exist and constantly gain when communicating with any prospect. Commitment is what your sales career is all about. The appointment may be the best form of commitment in this particular situation, but there are other forms, too. Your job is to get some sort of commitment from the prospect, because it's commitment that turns a prospect into a buyer.

When you encounter resistance to an appointment, remain calm and collected and remember that there's always another commitment you can ask the prospect to make. This makes it more likely that you'll succeed in setting an appointment on the next call. Here are a couple of common objections made by prospects when asked to make an appointment, along with approaches you can take to get some kind of commitment from them.

Prospect: I'm not sure how my week is going to shape up. Would you call me next week?

Internet Rep: No problem. How do you feel about early next week? Are evenings better for you? Great! I've scheduled myself to call you on . If I don't hear from you before then, I will be calling you then.

Before you go, let me make sure you have all my contact information. Do you have a pen and paper, or can I email it to you? If you decide you'd like to come in before you hear from me, I hope you'll let me know so I can make it a point to be here and have everything ready for you.

Prospect: I don't want to set a time right now. I'll just stop by when I'm in your neighborhood.

Internet Rep: Of course, that's fine. But let me explain that we always try to set up appointments so we can be sure to have a car ready for you when you arrive. And so, just to ensure that your time is spent as efficiently as possible, can I ask you to call me before you come in? I would really appreciate that!

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Naturally, there are many objections that prospects can make. Fortunately, you've heard a lot of them before. A great way to improve your ability to get a commitment even when you fail to set an appointment is to list all the objections you can remember and then, for each, devise your own response. In every case, be sure to acknowledge what the prospect is saying to you, and be sure to ask them for something that is in their own best interest. Don't make them think you're asking for a favor; make sure they understand that you're trying to serve them as well as you can.

Part of developing your responses is to rehearse. Putting them on paper is great, but you have to be able to say them convincingly and naturally. Rehearsal is also a great way to catch an ineffective response before you try it out on live prospect, especially if you have someone who is willing to role-play with you.