Any Veterinarian knows how frustrating last-minute cancellations and no-shows can be. Wasted time from last-minute cancellations and no-shows leads to lulls in the day and a lot of money on the table. Picture this common scenario of any veterinarian’s office. Your staff spends quality hours getting to know your client’s cats and dogs and preparing for their next appointment weeks or months in advance. On the day of the appointment, your staff prepares for your patient to come in. Then, with just a few hours notice, your client gets cold feet and decides not to come. As a result, your staff feels disheartened and will have to waste a lot of time.

Imagine an even more frustrating scenario. You schedule an appointment months in advance, and your client doesn’t even call in to let you know they won’t make the appointment. Your client leaves your staff blind-sided and wondering what caused them to turn away. Anyone who works in a veterinarian’s office knows that situations like these happen on a regular basis.

The good news is that there is a new way to overcome every one of your last-minute cancellations and no-shows. The solution doesn’t have to involve putting increased pressure on your clients. Sure, you can make a policy that says your clients must commit or pay a huge fee. But doing this can potentially upset your clients and cause them to turn away from you in the future.

When a client cancels last minute or doesn’t show up, a whole potential appointment is lost for you and your staff. That time that could be spent working with other clients. If a veterinarian’s office averages one last-minute cancellation or no-show a day, and there are 261 workdays in a year, those last-minute cancellations and no-shows could be costing them $25000-$50,000 a year, and another $25,000-$50,000 in opportunity cost! The countless hours of wasted time for all your staff lost business, and missed opportunity to satisfy other patients is overwhelming frustrating.

A new tool called Next In Line is specifically designed to help veterinarians and doctors solve the frustrating and costly problem of last-minute cancellations and no shows. How it works is that it provides a virtual waitlist for your clients. When an opening in your schedule occurs, the next client on the virtual waitlist receives an instant notification to fill the open appointment. Your client saves weeks or months of waiting time by getting appointments sooner then they normally would have, and your staff no longer wastes time during lulls in the day. This virtual waitlist and notification system leads to an enhanced customer experience, increased staff efficiency, and plenty of recovered revenue.

Dr. Dennis Kurgansky, a Dermatologist based in Bel Air, Maryland says that his patients and staff love the tool and use it regularly. “For years, I’ve struggled with last-minute cancellations and no-shows. With Next In Line, I am able to notify my patients when an opening comes up and they can instantly fill it. My patients and staff love it, as it’s so easy and saves them all the time!” Perhaps Next In Line is the solution your office needs to finally overcome last-minute cancellations and no show?

Request a free Next In Line demo to help your staff overcome last-minute cancellations and noshows.

Written by Matt Rosenblum freelance writer and marketing consultant based in NYC.