The 3 Types of Reminder Calls to Slash No-shows
No-shows are a sad reality of doing business. It is true that some companies experience them more than others, and there’s a reason for this. The lack of a thorough appointment reminding system goes a long way to vastly increasing the number of no-shows.
WHY NO-SHOWS HAPPEN
Contrary to what some may think, no-shows happen simply as a result of forgetfulness. The chances are, the client has a million other things competing for their attention. And sometimes some people are simply not very good at planning appointments.
It’s not a personal snub and it’s not something to get worked up about. Through a comprehensive reminder system, you can go a long way to solving the problem. A reminder system is crucial for any company that wants to increase efficiency and do the best by its clients. There are three types of reminder calls you can use, and we recommend using all three. Here they are in detail:
1. THE PERSONAL REMINDER CALL
In this scenario, a staff member calls the person a day or so in advance to remind them that they have an appointment. This is not done to berate the person. It’s posed as a question. They ask for a confirmation of the appointment or whether they would like to change.
The personal reminder call comes with a number of unique advantages:
a). It makes the client feel special.
b). It provides a confirmation straight from the client’s mouth.
c). A human touch makes the system more flexible.
Of course, this isn’t always a viable option because you have to dedicate someone to the job. They could be doing something else so it may take away some productivity in other areas. In addition, on days where the office is busy, this can be an impossible task and personal reminder calls may have to fall by the wayside. As well, in today’s busy world most customers would rather just get a quick automated reminder.
- EMAIL REMINDERSFor the most part, people like the option of receiving an email reminder. It’s easy to setup and it doesn’t disturb the client. They can view it at their leisure. However, there are multiple disadvantages to this.a). For one thing, you have to ask the person for their email address. A lot of the time, they won’t want to give away this personal piece of information.
b). There’s no guarantee they’ll check their email inbox in time.
c). The reminder may find its way into the client’s spam box.
We do recommend using email reminders, and we do offer them, but you should never rely solely on them.
3. AUTOMATED REMINDER SYSTEMS
These automated appointment reminders are designed to pull up your schedule of appointments and leave either a text, call, or email message at the appointment time. The benefit is that it is not a manual system so it can be used no matter now busy you are. Also, you don’t need a dedicated employee to manage it. Along with being much cheaper to run than paying staff to make the reminders, studies have shown that these reminders go a long way in reducing no-shows. Clients still have the option to change or amend their appointments through an appointment reminder system too.
CONCLUSION
It has been long known to businesses that missed client appointments lead to reduced sales and productivity. This can become very frustrating, but the good news is that a small investment in an appointment reminder system can radically decrease the number of no-shows and boost sales.
