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by MoeGo on Feb 5, 2023 11:54:52 AM
No Shows. One of the most frustrating parts of running a pet business but everyone has come across them before. Find out how MoeGo customers are reducing no-shows and making sure they don’t lose out on time, revenue, and their schedules!
6 ways to deal with No Shows
No Shows. One of the most frustrating parts of running a pet business. Everyone has faced them at some point and they are never fun. As most groomers know, schedules book up weeks and more often than not, months in advance. So when someone doesn’t show up for their appointment, you lose money, time, and another opportunity to fit in one of your clients on your waitlist.
We get it, life happens, and even your most loyal clients can sometimes no-show or late cancel. But sometimes, you just need to protect yourself, your business, and your groomers from these all too frequent situations in which all pet groomers find themselves. The good news is that there are some things you can do to reduce no-shows and not have them negatively affect your business anymore while still maintaining your excellent customer service to (your ideal) customers.
1. No-Show Policy Agreement
Communicating with your customers about your no-show policy is key. When they schedule an appointment, requiring them to agree to your no-show policy will inform them about your business's rules and policies. Every business is different, some have a flat charge, or a percentage of the service booked, or are not able to book an appointment, etc.
The main thing is communicating what your business's policies are in regard to no-shows. If the customer is aware of the repercussions, they may be less likely to no-show, and having them required to sign a no-show policy is a step in the right direction!\
2. Credit Card on File
Having a credit card on file is one way to hold the customer accountable for the service they booked. This gives you the opportunity to charge their credit card for the full service they missed or a flat no-show rate, whatever you decide in your no-show policy. Since you already have their card on file, this will save you time by not having to chase the customer for their credit card information AFTER they miss their appointment. You can simply charge whatever the policy amount is as soon as the appointment is missed.
3. Deposit/Prepayment for Service
To go one step further to hold the customer accountable, you can require them to pay a deposit for their service or sometimes prepay for the entire service. Since they have already put money down, they are more accountable for showing up for their appointment. This also guarantees that you get revenue, regardless if they no show.
4. Automatic Reminders/Confirmations
A lot of the time, our customers simply forget about appointments. Maybe they thought it was another time or another day. Again, life happens. However, this is easily avoidable if you have a reminder and confirmation strategy in place. At MoeGo, a lot of our customers use automatic reminders to send to their customers days in advance of their booked appointments. If they haven’t confirmed any of their appointment reminders, you can always call them directly or cancel their appointment and add someone from the waitlist. You also may get customers who have to reschedule, which is fine because with scheduled reminders you will have ample time to fill that slot and not lose out on revenue.
5. Create Penalty Strikes
We asked pet groomers how they avoid no-shows and last-minute cancellations and they mentioned everything above but they also mentioned creating penalties for customers who do this. Some examples were if you no-showed or last minute canceled you were not able to book another appointment for 4 weeks. There was also an example that if an existing trusting customer no shows, they get a warning but if it continues they are no longer able to schedule an appointment.
6. Find a Pet Grooming Software
With all 5 of these suggestions to reduce no-shows you want to make sure that you have a system that allows you to do it all. You don’t want to create all these policies and rules only to have 10% of your customers sign them, or only have a few credit cards on file or deposits down. Making sure your system is set up to help you reduce your no-show policies without making it a goose chase or battle each time is just as important.
As we mentioned, life happens and sometimes no shows are inevitable. Even though we created a list of things to reduce no-shows, the most important part is to be understanding and know that there is flexibility from situation to situation. Whatever you think is best for you and your business is what you should do!
If you want to learn about how MoeGo customers reduce their no-shows by 80% with MoeGo, book a time to speak with one of our product experts today!
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