How to and NOT to confirm an Appointment!
How to and NOT to confirm an Appointment!
Those of us who sell services know the importance of confirming appointments in advance.
I have been confirming appointments in one way or another since I was 18 years old. In those days I had people schedule to come in to my martial arts studio for introductory lessons.
As a side note- I now know, as do many of my clients, that in most businesses you don’t call it an “appointment” anymore. You use friendlier words like “Visit” or friendly phrases like “Pre-Arranged Visit” or “Special time.”
Before we get to a story about what NOT to do, let’s give you some take-aways on what to do…
Calling the morning of the scheduled time is ideal for evening or afternoon visits. Calling the day before with the client’s permission to give a quick ring when you are on your way for a morning visit is ideal.
Now more than ever you should confirm via phone and email. Personally, and I know a lot of consumers share this sentiment, I’d rather click and respond to an email and say, “I’ll be there” or, “Sure, come on over” than check my voice mail, write down the number and then put it on my to do list to call them back.
Be sure to catch the message…
Multiple forms of confirmation ARE necessary! So phone, email and post card, or at the very least a combination of two of the above mentioned methods.
Believe me- your prospects and clients will thank you for taking control of the situation! You are not being too pushy!
Now- How NOT to Confirm an Appointment!
I know that you have been stood up before. We all have- it is part of the game! But don’t let those few rude mongers ruin it for the rest of your prospects and especially you.
When you set an appointment (Visit) and you confirm using a few methods (Phone, email, post card, etc), show up!
Our house has a three car garage, plenty of room for our two cars. We park in the garage. Here in New Hampshire you are really encouraged to use your garage, otherwise you and the ice scrapper are gonna become very familiar.
When garage doors are in use daily they need regular service and maintenance. Jamie and I received a very nice letter from the folks who installed the doors when the house was built informing us that it was time for our service call.
Sounds good to me because the big garage door is starting to get squeaky. The fact that I accidentally backed into it didn’t help matters. Anyway, we call them and say “let’s do it.” A nice lady on the other end informs that they are booked for the next three weeks. Happy problem for them! So I asked them, “What do you want to do?” she informed me that she would call back in a week or so to schedule something. Not wanting to give advice to deaf ears, I said “sure!” That was strike one!
She called back and we scheduled the service call for a week later. I told her that I work from home so all I have they have to do is ring or knock and they can get to work. Seems simple right? Wrong!
I get a call the day before confirming (Good work) my visit and I tell them that all is set. To my surprise, they don’t show up the next day! Three days later while getting messages off of my home voice mail I discover a message from her stating that they planed on being at my home at 11AM, but they do need me to call back and re-confirm with them or they will not show up!
Since then, it has just been a game phone tag! All they had to do was show up, service the garage doors and accept a check and maybe even a cup my excellent coffee. But nooo! They assumed I would just be another rude monger who would stand them up because I didn’t call back and inform them that I indeed was home eagerly awaiting the arrival of their world famous technicians!
She should have colleted an email address or even used the address she had on file to mail me a post card if she was that skeptical about me keeping my word then all would be fine. However I would not have gotten the inspiration for this article either!
Michael Dolpies is a freelance copywriter and sales consultant. He can be reached at www.askmiked.com . You can get some free resources and subscribe to his free newsletter at www.revealtheshortcut.com
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