If your business provides training courses or other types of services to customers, then I am willing to bet that “no shows” are on your top 10 list of frustrations.
What is a “No-Show?”
No-shows are customers that booked your service, but they didn’t show up or gave prior notice that they will not be able to make it to their scheduled appointment.
The question that you may ask is, why do customers fail to show up for their scheduled appointment?
Well – there is no one set answer for that; however, there are several factors at play:
- Clients forgot about their appointment
- Something came up at the last minute
- The client forgot to cancel
- The client had a change of heart
- Budgeting issue, along with other problems
How much are “No Shows” really costing you?
Let’s say that you are losing about $200 weekly as a result of no show appointments. The amount will add up to ($200 * 52 ) to $10,400 a year. Now, imagine if you allow this to go on for the five years, that’s over 50k out the door!
It’s like having a small pipe leak and say that it’s not a significant issue right now and will get to it at a later time. Then you start to realize the increase in your water bill over time.
If you reduce your no-show rate just by 50%, you would have stopped
$5200 from going through the door and in your pocket instead.
A great way to mitigate the issue is by implementing a no-policy that contains a set of guidelines designed to keep everyone on the same page when booking appointments. By implementing this strategy, along with the proper communication, you will experience a drastic reduction of no shows and more filled slots.
Now that we are more knowledgeable about no shows, the cost associated with it and also, what happens if it does not address over time. Let’s learn how we can implement a policy to reduce the number of no show appointment. Here are a few tips to start with: