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Guest post by: Lorraine Pirihi Become an Author

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Have you ever arrived for an appointment at the correct time only to be told the person you seeing is running late?

I'm sure that has happened to you on many occasions. In the story I'm about to relay to you, this incident happened to one of my clients recently.

My client and his wife arrived to see this health professional at the appointed time. The receptionist had even confirmed the time the day before. On arrival at the health clinic there were told the practitioner was running 30 minutes late. The reason being that the first appointment for the day had arrived late due to heavy traffic so consequently every other appointment was set back.

Unfortunately no-one at the clinic had the initiative to contact any of the clients to say there would be a 30 minute delay. My client was fuming. Being 5 minutes late was not too long to wait, but 30 minutes? How would you feel? They felt so strongly that they told the receptionist exactly how they felt and why hadn't they phoned them. John told her they would not stay and that they would be taking their business elsewhere.

There's a few messages in this story:

1. Whoever was in charge of that practice should have a rule that anyone being more than 10 minutes late for an appointment will have to reschedule.

2. If a client is scheduled for say a 45 minute appointment and they arrive 30 minutes late, then they are only seen for the scheduled time.

3. The receptionist should be trained by the business owner or manager to contact people if appointments are running more that 10 minutes late.

4. Take the initiative yourself and ring the person you are going to see to check if they will be on time.

This same scenario happened to me a few weeks ago. I arrived at the naturopath's clinic on time and the receptionist (who obviously has never had any training for her role) announced that the practitioner was running 20 minutes late and seemed to think that was ok. I then informed her that she should have rung me as my time is also valuable.

Although this practictioner seems to know what she's doing (and came highly referred by a respected source in that industry), I would not hesitate going somewhere else if I come across a better alternative as this is not the first time I have been unhappy with the level of service provided at this clinic.

And that's the crux of this newsletter... you could be losing hundreds and even thousands of dollars a year in lost revenue in your business because of how your business is run. Disatisfied clients won't always tell you, they'll just take their business elsewhere. Situations like this one can easily be avoided.

Unfortunately in many businesses, the business owner is the technician. They do what they're good at i.e. accounting, fixing computers, helping people get well or whatever. They have no concept of how to run a business of what they do.

In business today you need far more than your technical skills to not only survive but thrive in business. You need to be good at strategic planning, marketing, managing people, managing money, systems and procedures and customer service. You cannot do all these successfully on your own.... and that's why business owners get coached.

A good coach will provide you with:

* Accountability and urgency
* Objectivity/truth-telling
* Clarity and focus
* Valuable contacts
* A shortened timeframe of learning (saving you time, money and stress)
* Sounding board for ideas
* A fresh set of eyes
* Motivation

They also have experience and knowledge and clients they have worked with who are living testimony to the benefits of their coaching.

Also you will require a range of coaches to assist you as there is no one person who has all the answers. However, whatever you do make sure you get coached by people who are experienced in the areas you need. For instance, don't expect your accountant to provide you coaching on how to get yourself organised and manage your business effectively when their expertise is on financial management.

The Final Word

What can you do differently to ensure you're on time for all your appointments? Being late sends out many messages... you're disorganised, sloppy and unprofessional. When you can count on someone who is consistently on time the opposite message is conveyed. Just by being punctual makes you stand out from the crowd.

Have a great week!

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