The Low Down:
Nobody likes a no-show. You set time aside in your day… the least they can do is show up… right? And of course, everyone honors their word to be there… and to be there on time. Riiiight.
The fact is, a recent survey found that 15-20% of the population identify themselves as consistently late. Those are people who are self reporting about themselves. Let’s face it, we know the number is even higher. And that’s just people who are late… we didn’t even get into the no-shows!
But get this. A family medicine practice at the University of Wisconsin was able to reduce their no shows from 38 to 18 percent by implementing a whole slew of new procedures. We did the same thing.
Our Secret Sauce:
If your consults don’t show up, you can’t sell them. For many offices, the no show rate is higher than should be expected and impacts sales negatively and staff morale.
Having worked in the service industry prior to opening Bodify, we knew we needed a system in place to minimize the no show rate.
Here is a list of things we implemented day one.
- Purchased Booker, a booking system that emails and texts individuals to remind them of an upcoming appointment
- Called each individual a day before their appointment to remind them
- Text, Booker does this, each client 3 hours prior to the appointment
- When we initially set the appointment we would ask the prospect “outside of water, is there anything in particular to drink I can have prepared for you when you arrive?”
- Prior to hanging up we let the prospect know “we set this time aside for you and you will have our undivided attention, if something comes up and you can’t make it, will you please let us know?”
Each of the above actions is important. The two we believe will have the biggest impact on an office’s no show rate are number 4 and 5.
When you ask an individual if you can do something special for them, they tend to feel more connected to you and are less inclined to no show. If something comes up and they can’t make it, they call to let you know and then the staff has an opportunity to reschedule the appointment!
If an individual agrees to something verbally- i.e. to call if something changes and they can’t make it, the likelihood of them honoring this agreement is high.
What does it look like?
Nasim called in to our office last week. This is what she said. “I’m so embarrassed, I set an appointment asked you to have hot tea and cream for me and I didn’t make it. I so hope you will forgive me and still do business with me. Will you let me get back on the calendar for a consult?”
Action:
Most likely your booking system has a function that will allow for email reminders and text reminders. Use them both!
Whoever is in charge of CoolSculpting needs to ask each individual who books a consult if a special drink can be prepared for the consult when they arrive. Every prospect should also be told this appointment slot is dedicated to them and if something happens and they can’t make it, will they please call.
Some offices require a credit card to hold a consult if the no show rate is really high.
Bodify does not use this as we find this starts things off on the wrong foot. However, if implementing the other strategies doesn’t impact your no show rate as positively as you had hoped, you can certainly take down credit cards to hold appointments.
If the person no shows they can be charged a small fee of your choice.
