"No-show" is when someone arranges a meeting, a call, a video conference and doesn't show up.
Examples of no-show in business:
You have scheduled a meeting for Monday at 2 pm. Monday at 1:30 pm (half an hour before) you get a call telling you that something has come up and the meeting has to be rescheduled. This cancellation enters a no-show in your pipeline.
You schedule a videoconference for Wednesday at 11 a.m. and wait for the person to come into the virtual room and nobody shows up. This is another no-show.
A call is scheduled for this afternoon. The person is supposed to call you. And doesn't. Another no-show.
No-shows are very common in business, and the damage they leave behind is considerable.
First, in the relationship. The person who doesn't show up is disrespecting the time of the other person who has set aside a chunk of his or her time to give attention to this meeting.
Second, time. Preparing for a meeting, and the physical travel when it comes to face-to-face meetings, can take a considerable chunk of your energy and available time to produce on the day.
Who hasn't arrived for a meeting and been told that director X had something unforeseen but that assistant Y will attend? Such disrespect. Not to mention irritating.
Well, that's all part of it.
To reduce the no-show proceed as follows:
- Three days before the meeting: E-mail confirming date and time and asking for OK.
- The day before the meeting: Phone call and/or Whatsapp with the following, "So-and-so, tomorrow at 10am we will have our meeting/call/videoconference, all right?"
It may seem a bit much, but I assure you that this double confirmation procedure is better than bumping into a vacuum.
No one will be upset with you simply because you clearly show that you have respect for your time and the time of others.
Now, friend, if you know people who frequently schedule and reschedule at short notice, then know that the market is not forgiving of this and other procedures.
It won't be an unscheduled meeting that will make any difference in the marketplace, but it will make a difference in the minds of these people. The disrespect for other people's time is a burden that accumulates and is later charged with interest and correction and fines.
Believe it.
And if you need to cancel, which is natural, let us know at least 24 hours in advance, ideally 48 hours. Then there is no problem.
In any case, no-show is part of business, and we can reduce its incidence by adopting the double confirmation procedure.
Here the statistics are 12% of cancelled meetings and 7% of no-shows (it was 15% before double confirmation).
