Therefore, it is normal for every business to meet clients who are late or not, but that does not mean that you do not have to have a good strategy to overcome these situations and reduce their frequency.

These are tips according to 3 types of situations:

• clients who report late at the last minute,
• clients who chronically late and
• clients that do not appear.

CLIENTS WHO REPORT LATE AT THE LAST MINUTE

The situation is not uncommon: Clients call you 5 minutes before the scheduled appointment, they report that they are late because their cars were broken because they got stuck in traffic because they are still at work or any of the bunch of reasons why people are late (or worse, fake excuses for the delay). It is necessary to understand the basic psychology behind such calls.

A large number of clients, of course, call to apologize for the delay, because they are sincerely sorry for what happened and cost your time.

Many of them also, consciously or subconsciously, call in order to:

    - Check to see if they can get the whole term even late
    - Check that they are "worthless" to come to you, given how much time they have left
    - Avoid any penalties

When you receive this call at the last minute, there are a few things to pay attention to.

1. Stay kind and professional.
2. Thank them for calling you.
3. Do not show anger, frustration or emotional differences.
4. On the other hand, be firm and consistent with the rules.
5. Your goal is to find out specific information to know how to set up. For example, it is very important that you know when it will reach you. Not when they started, because they may need 5 or 35 minutes and you do not know that, but an estimate when they will arrive.
6. Do not promise anything, unless you are 100% certain that you will be able to complete it. For example, do not promise them to extend their term if you are not sure that you are free extra time after their term.

Bonus trick: When you finish the conversation, confirm that they come by thanking you once more and mentioning that you are waiting for them - this will make them subconsciously feel a greater obligation to come. An example of such a sentence is "Thank you for calling! Drive carefully and see you in 20 minutes, I'll wait for you."

For a concrete reaction, there are also several scenarios that depend on the situation:

    - The calendar is too busy, so you can only work with the rest of the term
    - You can schedule them the next term, the same day
    - You can suggest the next day

CLIENTS WHO ARE CHRONICALLY LATE

This is a very inconvenient situation. It may happen that someone is a very regular and important client, but it is constantly late. Why is this very inconvenient? Because the whole schedule moves to you, you want to get everything in time, and that can affect the quality of the service. In addition, due to their delay, you can delay the terms of the next clients (this should be avoided at all costs).

In such cases, it is very important that you have clear boundaries. Some standard is to leave about 5 minutes of space between the terms for small delays. If you have a loyal client who is late for one or two or fifteen minutes - it's not that horrible, it can happen to everyone. But if it's a late-client, the thing is problematic.

For this reason, it is often suggested a "late payment" or a full term charge, without prolongation: if only half an hour has left, they only have half an hour left. You will not extend the term, and you will not be charged a reduced price.

Your goal is to build a customer base that regularly comes and is paid. Do not be afraid of such "punitive" measures, as it will actually train your clients to be late. If someone who has severely disturbed your schedule with permanent delays stops coming, in the long run, it can be good. If a client who is constantly late in disrupting your schedule so that regular clients who come in time are often very likely to lose these clients.

THE CLIENT DOES NOT APPEAR AT ALL

In these situations, you should call the client, make sure they are OK, or leave a message. This is a good way to schedule a new term, and also to build loyalty. Do not panic, because one client does not appear, does not mean that your business will ruin you. Keep clear boundaries and do not be afraid to charge the scheduled term no matter what the client did not show.

All these methods are a good way to build professionalism, but nevertheless, for a certain part of clients, they can create repulsion and dissatisfaction. It's not a reason to give up your rules, but it's better to act preventively and reduce the number of people who are late / missing the term. A great way is to send them an SMS reminder a couple of hours before the scheduled appointment, however, the largest percentage of clients simply forget the scheduled term.

In addition to significantly reducing the percentage of clients who are late, you will show that you are working hard and doing everything that is up to you, so clients will have no reason for dissatisfaction, that is, they will accept payment/shortened terms more easily due to the late coming.

Tell us about your experiences in a comment section below this article.