Thursday 15 December 2016

MM Tip #10 - Business Etiquette 101 - Since When are You Late for an Appointment?!

Have you ever been stood up for an appointment and left sitting and waiting?

I am sure that we all have.

Just what is the etiquette here? How long should you wait for someone to show up before you leave? Should you give them a phone call? What should you do?

This happened to me this week. Understand that I always enter my appointments in my manual daytimer and my online calendar, so as not to make any mistakes.

I had an appointment scheduled with someone first thing in the morning. I live an hour away from where we had scheduled to meet. So naturally arose early to make sure I would be on time. I arrived right on schedule and sat down to order my mint tea.

Half an hour later, I began to wonder what was happening with my appointment? He still had not shown up, so I phoned him. He was at work and seemed totally oblivious that we even had an appointment at all. I was shocked to say the least! Then he had the audacity to say that I should drive another half hour over to meet him.

First, he stood me up and second he has the nerve to suggest that I drive over to meet him. Well you can only guess what happened next.

Yup! He got written off.

For one thing, I already had another appointment scheduled in the same location immediately after our first meeting, and then was scheduled for the rest of the day until 9pm that evening.

Know what he had the audacity to say? "You should meet people at your inconvenience and my convenience." I already had done that! Duh!

I guess you can tell I am a little hot under the collar over this, but if someone is in business and they want to make a great first impression, here is what should happen according to the "Book of Christine".

1. Schedule the appointment and mark it in your calendar.

2. Confirm the day before.

3. Show up 5 minutes early.

4. If you are not going to show up, at least have the courtesy make a call to let the person you are to meet, know.

5. Wait 15 minutes and if the person you were to meet does not show up or call you to let you know they have been delayed, get up and walk away. Then leave any follow-up, up to them. If they do not call you, they were not going to be a good customer anyway.

If we are adults and serious about our business, then we should take responsibility for our own appointments and not wait for someone to remind us. Isn't it refreshing when they call to confirm with us first!

Am I right, or Am I right?

What are your thoughts on this subject? I would love to hear.

Christine Till
The Marketing Mentress


No comments:

Post a Comment