No-Shows in the New Year

[Kenneth W. Burton]

	Zen,

	I seldom charge for a missed appointment and I work them in at the
next available time without killing myself with extra work.
	But, in my mind, the most important thing I do to avoid "no-shows"
is this: At 8:15 am, I phone my appointments for the day. In a cheerful
voice, I say, "I'm just checking." Then I re-confirm the appointments.
Sometimes, I do not get an answer to the telephone.If an appointment
requires extra driving,I will not go unless I can confirm it by phone.
(There are some cases where I know the customer well enough to trust that
they were just in the back yard.)
	Anyway, that's my best solution.

	Ken Burton "Doctor Piano" Calgary Alberta

On Mon, 5 Jan 1998, Zen Reinhardt wrote:

> 
> Yep -- first appointment of the New Year and the customer was a no-show. 
> Now I'm curious -- what do people do about the no-shows?  (Or should I ask,
> what Resolutions have some of you made concerning the handling of
> no-shows?)
> 
> When you face a potentially no-show situation, how long do you wait, hoping
> that the customer will return?
> 
> Do you charge for the missed appointment?  Your full tuning fee or some
> fraction thereof?
> 
> Do you make an effort to reschedule or do you wait for the customer to take
> the initiative?
> 
> If the customer does call wanting to reschedule, do you try to squeeze them
> in or do you politely tell them to "take their turn at the end of the line"
> and schedule them accordingly?
> 
> Today marks the first no-show I've had since striking out on my own after
> leaving a full-time job with a dealer, in which the customer didn't call
> right away to explain or to apologize.  I've had only 3 other no-shows, all
> of which were the results of medical emergencies.
> 
> Just curious --
> ZR!  RPT
> Ann Arbor  MI
> diskladame@provide.net
>