We’ve all been in this situation as a coach or a service-based business . . . we have someone that says they’re interested in working with us, they book a call, then the day comes, and nothing. When that happens . . . what is your initial reaction? It probably is the same reaction I used to have when I first started my coaching business, which is “Bye Felicia,” then basically cut off communication with them for wasting your time.
But what if there was a better way? A way to turn those no-shows into clients for your business? I know it sounds crazy, but in today’s blog, I want to talk to you about the mindset behind people not showing up to sales calls, and why what I described above is the absolute WORST thing you can do for your brand and your business.
The first thing you need to understand is that things happen, and rather than immediately going to the negative, try seeking to understand. I always like following up with a voice note or an email saying, “Hey ____, I know that we had a meeting scheduled today, I just wanted to make sure everything was okay and that you got the reminder/link okay?” 8/10 times the person is super apologetic and there is a logical reason why they couldn’t make it. Something came up last minute, the link didn’t work, etc.
In those situations, those calls get rescheduled and the potential client usually ends up working with me. Now imagine if I had just written that person off and thought they ghosted me or they were no longer worth my time. I can tell you what, my client roster would be a whole lot less! Just like you’d expect someone to understand if you had an issue in your life, you need to be understanding of other people as well.
Now, let’s say that you re-schedule, and they don’t show up again? You’d probably think, “Okay, now I can definitely write them off!” Again, however, it’s a chance to seek to understand. I’ll say something like, “Hey ____ I know that we re-scheduled our call again for today, but I noticed that you didn’t show up. I just wanted to check-in and make sure everything is okay and see what happened there?”
STILL, people will say that they forgot or thought they got a hold of me to re-schedule when they never did. Now, most people would simply be done, but I use this as a chance to teach them the value of time and also work them through my “after funnel” as I like to call it. I simply say, “I totally understand things happen, and I’m sympathetic, however, I typically charge $250/hr for my time, and this has now been two hours of my time that I could have spent helping other people, onboarding other clients, etc. So if you want to book another call, I’m going to have to charge you my rate of that $250/hr and I’m sure you can understand this.”
Two things happen: first, they understand and now understand the value of someone’s time for the future, and two, when I get to that situation, typically two out of every 5 people will BOOK that call at that amount. So by writing people off at the very beginning, I would have been out multiple coaching clients and not have made an extra $500 for my business in the process. Not to mention the fact that more than 90% of people who book a one-off call with me end up working with me in my program.
Can you see how much money you’re leaving on the table by NOT meeting people where they’re at?
All this to say, be understanding of people and life circumstances. Not just because things happen, but also because if you were in that position, I’m sure you’d want someone else to show you the same courtesy.