Why Appointments Cancel, Part 1
Ever wonder why prospects or customers cancel appointments? Cancellations further complicate your outbound sales and marketing prospecting efforts. It is hard work to secure an appointment, so a cancellation is a disappointment to say the least.
A Lesson from an Appointment Kept
My visit to the dentist makes an excellent case study of what motivates a person to keep an appointment. Recently, I had noticed a small dot on my gum. I thought nothing of it and mentioned it to my dentist during a routine check up about a week later. Being the cautious, thorough experienced dentist that she is, she took an x-ray. I was stunned to find out that beneath this innocent-looking dot on my gum was a problem on the brink of causing me unprecedented pain.
My dentist immediately got me on my periodontist’s schedule for the afternoon. She emphasized the importance and urgency of keeping that scheduled appointment, clearly pointing out the dire potential consequences if I did not keep the appointment. Who could argue?
My dentist presented a compelling and urgent reason for me to keep my periodontal appointment – to avoid excruciating pain and prevent needless expense. Who in their right mind would cancel this appointment? Needless to say, I rearranged my entire schedule that day to accommodate this critical appointment.
The Real Reasons Why Appointments Cancel
This situation got me asking: why do appointments cancel? Think about your sales appointments or any other appointment for that matter. We cancel appointments because:
- the reason we made the appointment while outbound prospecting is no longer compelling or as urgent as it was when we made the appointment
- a more urgent compelling reason causes us to keep another appointment and cancel the one scheduled earlier
- the reason we made the appointment was never compelling or urgent
- the reason we made the appointment was never a priority
The reasons are as simple as that.
Stayed tuned next week for Part 2 to find out how to prevent prospects and customers from canceling appointments you’ve made in your outbound sales and marketing prospecting efforts.
Yes this all seems valid but why do potential customers cancel even after I have prepared quotes for them? Sometimes they don’t even bother to call back or even return my calls. It’s hard not to take it personal or wonder, “Am I doing something wrong”? And if so is it what you have mentioned above…”Not emphasizing the importance of the value of my services”!
Kris Don’t take it personally. Each situation is unique and only the potential customer really knows why he/she is canceling. Here are a few added thoughts. It could be you are presenting the quote too early in the sales cycle before the potential customer is sold on the value of your service. It could be your potential customer’s priorities were not revealed, established or have changed and your services are no longer or never were a priority. It could be their need or pain point was not uncovered and satisfied before they received your quote. It could be a sense of urgency for your service was not established or has changed. There may be a good reason why they are not responding; travel, personal situation, ect. Be sure you are uncovering and relieving the potential customer’s pain point, understanding the priority and creating or determining the urgency for your service before presenting a quote. Hope this helps.