How to Book an External Meeting [Sample Request Email]

There are plenty of reasons people request meetings via email.

For those in client-facing positions especially, booking an external meeting often depends on it.

From setting up customer interviews to following up with prospects, writing an effective meeting request email helps sales and support professionals establish and maintain relationships that power the business.

In this article, we offer practical tips—and examples—to help write your next meeting request email.

Craft a clear (and compelling) subject line

Contrary to popular belief, the best email subjects aren’t necessarily witty or clever.

When requesting a meeting, prioritizing brevity and clarity will capture the recipient’s attention and quickly communicate what your email is about.

If the recipient is someone who isn’t expecting the request (like a prospect), you’ll also need an email subject compelling enough to convince them to open it.

For everyone else, like customers who may participate in regular meetings with a customer success or account manager, including words like “meeting” or “schedule” should be enough to get their attention. 

Set the stage with an introduction

It’s not always necessary to introduce yourself, but if you’re a sales rep or a newly appointed account manager, it’s a step you can’t afford to skip.

Rather than abruptly jumping straight to the ask, take the time to state your name, role, and high-level purpose for reaching out. This could be as simple as something like:

“Hi, I’m [name], your new account manager here at [company]. It’s my job to make sure you get the most out of our platform.”

On the other hand, if you’re a customer success manager inheriting an existing customer from a colleague, you might open with something like: 

“Hi, I’m [name], and I’ll be taking over for [former customer success manager]. We spent some time together discussing your team’s use of our platform…”

In either case, keep your introduction short and sweet.

Explain the meeting’s purpose

Explaining the motive behind your meeting request is arguably the most important part of the email.

An account manager may not need to sell an existing customer on the merits of a monthly check-in, but sales reps will need to convince prospects that the meeting is worth their time.

One of the most effective ways to do this is by offering recipients something they can’t experience via email. For someone in sales, this might include something like:‍

“I would like to walk you through how companies like yours use our platform to capture more qualified leads.”

Offer flexibility around scheduling

Removing friction from the process of scheduling meetings can improve your odds of getting something confirmed and on the calendar.

You can either provide recipients with a few date and time options, or you can use a scheduling tool like Calendly to pre-fill your availability and let people choose based on theirs.

No matter which option you choose, provide as wide a range of options as possible to reduce the potential for back and forth.

Conclude with a call to action

Whether you schedule meetings manually by asking for someone’s availability or opt to use a scheduling tool, you’ll want to make sure your email includes a call to action (CTA).

The CTA in your meeting request email doesn’t need to be clever, but like the subject line, it does need to be clear. Here are a few examples:

• Please reply to confirm your attendance
• Please visit my scheduling page to choose a date and time that works best
• Please reply with your preferred date and time to confirm

Send or schedule a reminder

Sending a friendly reminder email is often necessary to prevent meetings from falling off the recipient’s radar.

For sales professionals especially, using a reminder email can help re-engage prospects by reinforcing what they’ll gain from attending.

In a case like this, you might say something like:

“Hi, [name]. I wanted to remind you of our upcoming meeting next Wednesday at noon. I’m really excited to show you exactly how [competitor] and [competitor] have overcome [industry challenge] by leveraging our tool.”‍

When done well, this technique will not only keep your meeting top of mind, it will also help to build some excitement around attending.

Putting it together

Securing meetings via email may seem simple on the surface, but small mistakes can cause recipients to ignore or deprioritize your request.
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Here’s an email meeting request sample for your next outreach:

Subject line: Onboarding meeting with [company]

“Hi [recipient name],

I’m [name], your new account manager here at [company]. It’s my job to make sure you get the most out of our platform.

To get started, it would be great if we could schedule our first onboarding session sometime next week.

Please check out my availability below and write back to confirm your attendance.”