Keeping Appointments

  In the last three weeks we have had three potential clients who have decided not to turn up having booked a firm appointment.  Unfortunately two of those clients wanted to look at the same property.  This property is owned by a British woman who has had a serious personal tragedy in her life.  She cleaned her house from top to bottom twice in a fortnight, waited in all day for the clients to turn up and hey - guess what?  No show.  Today 4th May 2006 we sent one of our staff to meet up with clients at a venue which is one hour's drive from our offices - having waited there for an hour or more we were called, by the agent who was bringing the clients, to tell us that they had not turned up.

Over the years, this has happened many times but lately it seems to be happening more frequently.  Who, I wonder, do these people think they are?  What would it take to make a telephone call, giving whatever reason, to say that they were not able to keep their appointment?  Who cares whether they keep their appointments or not?  We do because it wastes our time and money but more importantly how would you feel if you had cleaned your house from top to bottom in order to present your property in the best possible light only to find that you waited in, possibly having cancelled other plans, for no reason whatsoever?  We have clients of many different nationalities and it is only the Brits that do this.  Someone from Holland, Germany, Denmark, France or virtually any country in the world has more manners than to do this. 
 

If you were running a business and this happened on a regular basis, what would you do?  Send us your vote on the best solution to this problem.  Alternatively email us with your views and suggestions.