Why do people blow off appointments? In our offline business we literally waste hours every week preparing for appointments that never show. The percentage of appointments that do show is high, but there is still a significant amount of appointments that never show.

I realize unexpected things come up in life. Hey, we’ve all had to reschedule an appointment but when does your life become so important that you can’t even call for a scheduled appointment and say you won’t make it? Emergencies are acceptable reasons not to call. There are times when calling for a scheduled appointment is either difficult or impossible, I’m not really talking about these blown off appointments.

My work day started a little after 1am yesterday and I agreed to stay late in the office after normal closing time for a potential new customer. This put my work day at an abnormally long 17 hours yesterday. Not looking for or expecting somebody to cry for my long day, but I’m still annoyed today that this prospective customer never showed and never called. You think I’ll stay late for this same prospective customer again? Unless the excuse for why the appointment was a no show is really good, probably not.

We could have spent that wasted time on somebody else. Existing or possibly new customers who do care about our time as much as we care about theirs.

I’d like to think most readers of this blog are conscientious people so this paragraph probably doesn’t apply to you. The next appointment you might ever think of blowing off, here’s a tip: call and let them know. Almost everybody has cell phones or VoIP these days. Just call your appointment and say: I can’t make it. Don’t even have to explain why. This frees the people on the other side of the appointment to use their time in other ways and for other people. It’s the right thing to do.

The world would be a better place if more people thought how their decisions impacted others.

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