Here is what works for me to get a meeting. I call it “Guerrilla Marketing” technique, in essence, Just Do It.

Email a person (better yet, call a person) but instead of asking for the time/date and doing the endless email exchange on availability, just politely note in your email that you will be suggesting a calendar invite with a proposed date/time.

Then, send a Calendar invite. It’s easier for a person to mentally accept / deny a meeting based on already proposed slot than to think about their availability. Also it’s easier for them to “Propose New Time” in Outlook or their calendaring system.

If the person doesn’t show up, politely email something to the fact that “I’m sorry I missed you on this call and I’ll suggest another time, please stay tuned. Or if there is someone else I should ping to schedule it, let me know.”

For important sales prospect meetings, leads, etc. it was taking me ~3 times of being “stood up” on the call and repeating the process above again and again until they show up.