Don’t Get Waitlisted- Do this Instead

The Waitlist

How many people are on that waitlist and how many of them actually make it to the schedule?

I was curious myself and started doing some research. It’s pretty hard to find data on client waitlists. College admission waitlists result in a fill 20% of the time. If a college waitlist fill has a 20% success rate, I can’t imagine a busy salon or spa’s waitlist fairs much better for clients. Yes, it might be bold to assume that my stylists waitlist is as popular as Harvard, but have you seen my highlights?

Most providers will add you to the list and give you an idea of how many people are in front of you. And that strategy works great for them! Providers should be thinking about their schedules and how best to maximize their revenue. Sure, they love their profession and helping you, but we must never forget that this is a business for them, and at the end of the day they need to keep the lights on. I’ll also preface this article by saying, sometimes (and I mean a very small, miniscule sometimes—you are almost always NOT going to be that exception) there is a circumstance that warrants the waitlist.

But most times, it doesn’t. SO…

I’m just going to say it.

F*ck the waitlist.

You deserve better.

If you’re a provider and still reading this, hang on, I’m not saying that new clients should ditch you or penalize you for being awesome. Quite the contrary.

 

The solution is always community!

You see, at Spadesso, we believe in a community approach. We know that consumers, on average consider scheduling an appointment 8-12 times a year. Yet, when we asked consumers how many times they received a salon or spa service in that same time frame, they reported a measly 4 appointment average.

We think this statistic hurts all of us in the long run, and we want to help change that. Talented providers are out there and are waiting to help the consumers that need them. We all win when there are more appointments scheduled for our industry.

At Spadesso, we believe vibrant and thriving communities are those that support each other. If someone needs an appointment the best time for them to complete that appointment is now (or at the time that fits the schedule). When we work together to help them find that option, we all win—both the consumer and the industry as a whole. The day will come along where that same busy provider has a different opening and someone will need the open appointment, just like the one before it!

It’s an abundant approach, and not one of lack or competition.

So if the waitlist is out, What should you do instead?

Would you settle for a waitlist if you wanted to date someone? No! You’d find a time that worked for the two of you in the future, or you’d move on.

And really, we should be doing the same with our appointments.

If you have found a provider that is very popular, find a time in the future that works, if it’s three months out, take the appointment three months out. In the meantime, we suggest you find another licensed provider that can get you scheduled as soon as possible for your needs (we know of a platform that helps with that). Maybe it’s someone in the same salon/spa as your desired provider; maybe it’s a referral partner, or maybe you use a platform like Spadesso. All three are perfectly acceptable options.

You know what’s not acceptable, waiting on a list with the hope of ‘maybe.’

Doesn’t this hurt the provider that I’m trying to schedule with?

Thanks to technology the answer to that question is, no. If providers are suffering from no-shows or cancellations, they have many tools at their disposal to implement cancelation and no-show policies to protect their time, in addition to these tools there are now places like Spadesso that can help them market those no-shows or vacancies.

With that said, we believe in supporting providers in their goal to fill their books as full as possible. After all, a thriving revenue scheme is one that maximizes that potential. Clients are always going to have acute needs or something popping up that requires a visit that might not be planned—that’s life!

But it’s a two-way street, not a one-way. We aren’t serving our consumer community well if by the time those needs of consumers pop up, we aren’t offering real concrete solutions that help them manage their schedules, just like we in the salon and spa manage ours.

So the short answer is this: An appointment scheduled into the future is MORE valuable than the chance that you might find an opening this week. Why? If a consumer sits on a waitlist too long, they’re more likely to get frustrated and abandon a provider completely.

We think it’s always best to secure the appointment in the future and find another solution that can help you with the needs you have now.

 But what if the provider tells me not to see someone else?

Sure there are some services, especially esthetic services that require downtime between appointments, so make sure you’re timing your appointments correctly, and be sure to ask questions. If you see a regular provider and you’re trying to achieve a very particular look, well then it makes sense to wait for the provider’s next availability—but these are exceptions. The solution is still, GET ON THEIR SCHEDULE, NOT A WAITLIST.

If your provider is giving these instructions for selfish reasons (fear that you will choose a different provider), I’d ask myself if they’re really the right service provider for you. When I worked in the spa, it wasn’t uncommon to have clients that would rotate between our team based on availability that worked with their schedule. Did anyone get mad? No! We were a team and we encouraged each other.

Waitlisted- no more!

Life is short and there are no guarantees, so don’t settle for an appointment that *might* happen. Choose the one that is concretely yours, the one that’s on the schedule with your name and no one else’s.

We can help everyone, salon/spa providers (fill) and clients find last-minute appointment opportunities!!