No More No-Show

Facilities have been prepared and staffs are ready, now all you need is the client. Appointment based businesses must account for one factor that their business relies upon, but it is not within their control: the client. However, there are better ways to manage this uncertainty without facing consequences of lost productivity, financial loss and inactive staff. Therapists, medical centres, personal trainers and salons can turn into many new and original ways to minimise the possibility of a client to forget an appointment.



What is a no-show?



A "No-Show" is someone who makes an appointment, then fails to attend without giving a prior notice. They may even call ahead to cancel, but leave not enough time for that appointment to be refilled, resulting in an empty time slot. Some clients are genuinely unable to attend due to emergency or unforeseen circumstances; however others do not appreciate the cost their actions can have on a business and the importance of letting someone know in advance. The time that was allotted to them goes by unproductively, yielding no profit and leaving staff inactive, which can be very damaging for a business, especially if it occurs on a regular basis.



Traditional ways of minimisation



Many businesses have sought to combat this problem but with little success, as traditional measures tend to be either time consuming or damaging to the relationship between the client and business. The cost benefits of phoning clients prior to their appointment to prevent a no-show may be offset by the assignment of the task to a member of staff. The time and resources that go into making phone calls may effectively defeat the purpose of the exercise.



Threatening cancellation fees for failing to show up to an appointment can be off-putting for potential clients, in the same way as ‘lock-in’ contracts are undesirable. Cancellation fees may also punish clients with genuine reasons for failure to cancel in advance, and must therefore be given careful consideration before implementation. And finally, the propensity for clients to lose appointment cards means they are not worth the cardboard they are written on. Luckily, there is a hassle-free alternative waiting to be snapped up by businesses for which the process of appointment making is a necessity.



New ways of minimisation



One short, fast reminder text message can go a long way in today’s digital communication environment, with the SMS reminders being a popular and widely accepted way to get in touch.



Research in the medical arena has indicated that sending clients a reminder message about their appointment can dramatically reduce the incidence of no-shows, so there is already proof available to support the relatively new practice.



The practice of SMS reminders took off so quickly that services are now emerging which take care of the reminders on your behalf in a professional and reliable manner. These services are a small investment considering the time and resources saved on having a member of staff send painstaking messages out to every client. So instead of waiting for a client that doesn’t show, why not be proactive and send them a message now instead?