Be On Time and Win More Business!

by Lorraine Pirihi | December 28, 2009 | Business Strategies

Have you ever arrived for an appointment at the correct time only to be told the person you are seeing is running late? I’m sure that has happened to you on many occasions. In the story I’m about to relay to you, this incident happened to one of my clients recently.

Gary and his wife arrived to see this health professional at the appointed time. The receptionist had even confirmed the time the day before. On arrival at the health clinic they were told the practitioner was running 30 minutes late. The reason being that the first appointment for the day had arrived late due to heavy traffic so consequently every other appointment was set back.

Unfortunately no-one at the clinic had the initiative to contact any of the clients to say there would be a 30 minute delay. Gary was fuming. Being 5 minutes late was not too long to wait, but 30 minutes? How would you feel? They felt so strongly that they told the receptionist exactly how they felt and why hadn’t they phoned them. Gary told her they would not stay and that they would be taking their business elsewhere.

There are a few messages in this story:

1. Whoever was in charge of that practice should have a rule that anyone being more than 10 minutes late for an appointment will have to reschedule.

2. If a client is scheduled for say a 45 minute appointment and they arrive 30 minutes late, then they are only seen for the scheduled time so in this instance 15 minutes.

3. The receptionist should be trained by the business owner or manager to contact people if appointments are running more that 10 minutes late. There’s simple and easy ways to make contact just by sending an SMS.

4. Take the initiative yourself and ring or SMS the person you are going to see to check if they will be on time.

The Final Word

What can you do differently to ensure you’re on time for all your appointments? Being late sends out many messages…you’re disorganised, sloppy and unprofessional. When you can count on someone who is consistently on time the opposite message is conveyed. Just by being punctual makes you stand out from the crowd…a rare quality these days.

Contributed by Lorraine Pirihi . Lorraine Pirihi, The Productivity Queen, is Australia's leading Productivity Specialist and creator of "The Productivity and Profit System ™" the complete one-on-one training program for solopreneurs and small businesses that shows business owners exactly how to work less and earn more! To receive your F.R.E.E. CD & Report "3 Steps to Dramatically Reducing Your Workload and Stress While Maximising Your Profit$! ($77 value) go to http://www.productivityqueen.com

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Andee Sellman, One Sherpa

Great thoughts Lorraine.
It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own world that we forget to respect other people's time. In your example I bet no one was focused on the people about to come along because they were trying so hard to catch up. Just goes to show that sometimes it's a good idea to get out of the forest and climb a tree to see where you're going and what you may be about to bang into!!