So, this has come up, from time to time again, so I feel like writing about it really quick. We get a lot of people who want to set an appointment for way in the future... often a month or two (or more!) from when they are contacting us. For the most part, unless I somehow know 100% that I will be available that day (which is unlikely), I rarely book these sort of far-out appointments. Usually, I tell people, contact me closer to the date when they want to make the appointment, and then we will book it. No one's ever happy with this, of course, but then, I'm rarely happy when I've booked appointments that far out either.
Let me explain.
First, I rarely know what I'm doing that far in the future. What has prompted this blog post is that someone booked an appointment for tonight, 4/6, back on March 12 (3/12). I suppose that you can guess, I'm not writing about this because it was a great time... rather, they didn't show. Now, what prompted me to book this appointment, today, was that I already knew that we would be at the AAE today, and they wanted an appointment here, at the rescue, after the AAE. Well, I know that I don't go around and do anything after the expos, as they are tiring, so I knew I would be home after the expo. So, I booked the appointment.
That ^ is unusual though. There's a chin show coming up in like two weeks that I cannot make my mind up as far as whether or not I should be going to. The same weekend is an expo, that if I want to go, I better hurry it up and register for. I haven't yet decided yet which (if either?) I'm going to, but one would put me locally, maybe an hour away, and the other would put me on the east coast, I think North Carolina. I'm sure you can see why it would be hard to plan for that weekend at the moment. Even a few weeks ago, for MCBA Nationals, I hemmed and hawed about whether I was going or not, up until like a few days before the show. What finally made up the decision for me was that I had people wanting to come by and adopt on that weekend (versus... I would not be bringing animals to sell at the show), so I stayed home.
Obviously not every weekend is such a big deal as far as stay home, or go, or whatever. But especially planning a few weeks out can be difficult, as sometimes plans aren't fully figured out. There's another weekend coming up in May... Saturday is the Ohio Chapter Show / Field Day. As some of you may know, I'm Secretary / Treasurer of the Ohio Chapter MCBA, so besides the fact that I really should be there for that, I would like to show. So, that's Saturday. Sunday is the AAE show where they have the kangaroos. If the one past expo with the bear cubs was any indication, we also really should be at the one with the kangaroos (as the bears weekend was an awesome weekend for sales). I've talked with I don't know how many people about how to manage to be at both, drag the dogs around, drag the stuff around, pack the van early, etc etc etc. Have a vendor table vs. don't have a vendor table (at the show), etc etc etc. I will have to figure that out, prior to the weekend, but one thing that will play into account... the chins are getting adopted really well right now. Should that show come around and I have very few chins to bring to the AAE... will we go? Maybe, maybe not. But... I won't know that until a lot closer to the show, and that's the 5/19 show... so over a month away. Will adoptions continue how they are? Will they taper off? I don't know, no one does. Time will tell.
And of course, the other thing that always makes me iffy about scheduling appointments so far out... is no-show. Some people somehow manage to not show up to appointments made the next day, much less a month or so out. Some do show up to long-scheduled appointments, don't get me wrong, but many don't, and then, like today, I sat around waiting for this person to show... and they never did. With that much time, it's easy to forget there's an appointment, and unfortunately, there's not enough hours in the day for me to contact everyone and remind them of their appointments, so if someone doesn't write it down or recall (on their own) that they have an appointment, nothing I can really do.... but I can avoid scheduling appointments way out in the future.
This is also why, if you've checked out our scheduling software at all -- here -- you may have noticed that there's rarely the ability to book an appointment more than a few days / week in the future. Same thing. I set available times for days, sometimes only a few days in advance... so the appointment stays fresh in everyone's mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment