5 Ways To Avoid No-Shows and Last Minute Cancellations For Your Service Business
No-shows and cancellations can be a big problem if you’re self-employed or in the service industry, especially as the pandemic is still having an impact. It’s bad for business and can leave you out of pocket.❌ It also means that paying clients can’t get booked in and could be going elsewhere – no shows can actually hit your business twice. 👎
Here’s how you can help avoid cancellations and no-shows for your service business:
Take Deposits and Prepayments
If you’re not taking a deposit when you make a booking, then you need to start. ✅ Deposits and prepayments encourage your clients not to cancel or skip their appointment as they’ll lose money. It’s as simple as that. All you need to do is set it up in Readyhubb and you can stop losing money on clients that don’t respect your time. 💰
These payments also mean that if your client misses their appointment, you’re not left completely out of pocket. As long as you make your clients aware that this is the case when they sign up, you’re well within your rights as a business owner to request this deposit or payment to secure a booking..
Let Clients Manage Their Own Appointments
Sometimes things happen and your client needs to change their appointment. 📅 It happens, and we’ve all needed to switch things up at short notice. If your rebooking process is manual or needs lots of direct input from you it’s easy for a client to forget to follow up.
By letting them manage their own appointment through Readyhubb, they can change their booking and move things around in line with your bookings policy and ahead of time. No more texts back and forward or having to get back to a client when you have your diary to hand.
Send Out Automated Reminders
Automated reminders work as a prompt for your clients to turn up to their appointment (or cancel it if they can’t make it). With Readyhubb you can send reminders by text 📱 and email 📧, so your message is multiplied and there’s no excuse that the client hasn’t seen their booking. info.
The fact that clients can manage their own bookings and cancellations takes the hassle out of your hands too. Everything’s automated so you don’t need to stress about remembering to send out manual reminders.
Make Sure Your Bookings Policy Is Clear
A clear bookings policy that outlines your cancellation policy, deposit situation and what happens when a client doesn’t show is essential. 🔍 This makes it clear for your clients on their end of the bargain as well as yours and can help to keep cancellations and no-shows to a minimum. This stops misunderstandings and confusion around bookings, meaning you’re not left out of pocket.
Make it readily available at the time of booking – even better if they have to sign it digitally – so that they’ve seen it ahead of their appointment. 📝
Be Firm With Flaky Clients
If a client has missed more than one appointment, regularly turns up late or cancels at short notice, being nice and giving them the benefit of the doubt is unlikely to change their behavior. Sometimes, life gets in the way and a cancellation is unavoidable but for repeat offenders you need to be firm. 💁
This might mean that they need to pay for every appointment upfront, or that you have a three-strikes-and-you’re-out policy to help keep them on track. It isn’t fair on you as a business owner and shows a lack of respect in the client/business dynamic.
Readyhubb Makes Client Management Easier
Readyhubb makes deposits, reminders and client management easy. Try it free and see just how it can help your business keep cancellations and no-shows at bay.
Got any questions? Ask us anytime at hello@readyhubb.com, we’ll be in touch in less than 24 hours.