Episode 91: What Not Do When Scheduling Appointments

Episode 91

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Hey everybody, Robert Cairns here. Today in this week’s podcast, I want to share with you something you should never do in business. And frankly, it’s something that shows a lack of respect, and a lack of concern. So let me take you down a scenario that happened in my life in this past week, and show with you where it went wrong, and how you could use some automation to help it avoid going wrong, just as a teaching moment. So I’m going to call the person involved to protect identity because, you know, frankly, he doesn’t get any never Well, what’s called D. And these been chasing me for a couple of weeks to book some time to have a meeting to talk about collaborating, which I agreed to do. He gave me a calendly link. And I booked some time for last Thursday. 10 minutes after that time D he texts me and says I’m still in another meeting. This is problem number one, he should have done that before our appointed time. And I understand meetings run long it happens. Can we rebook for an hour from now? Sure, no problem. Then he changed that meeting to an hour and a half from now. Still no problem. Things happen. We get it. The world’s tough right now. Then 20 minutes into that time, he rebooked for later in the day. Houston, we have a problem. Me being silly said no problem. And normally by now I’m checked out and done. Because I don’t like constantly bookings. It’s not the way I run my business. Yes, emergencies come up. health reasons come up. But his excuse was, frankly, my meetings running running late. And I’m busy. When the third time came up, D didn’t show up for 30 minutes, and I checked out went to bed. He’s in the West Coast. I’m on the east coast. So I’m going to bed I’m done. I finally got a meeting trying to reschedule for the next day, which was last Friday. And I said to the end that text, I can’t do this Friday. I’m too busy. And frankly, I had a busy day my calendar was booked. Thin. He says, talk to me next week. So I talked to him a couple times. And he finally said to me, let’s book some time, here’s fine like, and I said D No, commit that you’re going to be there. And he got upset at me. And frankly, I just bought them on social media and said I’m done. The next thing that happened was I got an email saying I was unprofessional. And I’m thinking really, and we’ll go back and we’ll take a look at that situation. And frankly, I don’t even care. I said the D up so that he automatically goes his emails go to my deleted box. I’m done. So what happened? And what went wrong? Nothing with me, I was actually more than accommodating. My only fault on my part was I was probably a little too tolerant Woody. What he did wrong. He rescheduled multiple times. I get one reschedule. But because you’re tied up for another meeting, she tells me these meetings were more important. And frankly, I was an important. And he never wants to apologize for the constant rescheduling. He basically figured that it was his right. Well, I’m sorry, a little empathy would have gone a long way. And a lot of scheduling. Now, how do we prevent this? Many of us in the online world use calendar spacing, I actually use a calendar system that puts buffers on each side of my meetings. So that helps I buffer my time. I don’t book back to back meetings normally, because meetings tend to run late, I get it. And I’ll even booked manual timing. The other thing I do in my calendar is I book working time for clients, and I book working time for my business. By booking that time into my calendar, those spots cannot be booked into. And that helps manage my schedule. That’s something I don’t know if d was doing or not doing, but it’s something he should be doing. And frankly saying your story and being empathy and not trying to drive it. It’s not my fault, you rescheduled three times. It’s not my fault, I went home and finally said choose a time that we’re actually going to have this conversation that’s on D. And frankly, what I determined in all this is D is not the type of person I really want to work with or his tribe, or the way he works. That doesn’t work for me.

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Basically booking meetings and missing multiple meetings, that tells me as a business owner who’s successful, that working with D is going to be a life of this and that’s not Life, I’m prepared to go down, frankly. So I make no excuses for what I did. I just managed the situation and got out of it. And frankly, I think D has a long way to go, and learning how to manage expectations and using some online tools to help. So that’s my thoughts. When you’re summarize, when you’re using an online booking system, make sure you book the timing, and post time on your schedule. You can set most good calendar systems up to give you buffer time, also include a nap buffer time transportation as well. Not so big these days with COVID going on, because we’re all booking meetings online, so it’s a little easier but you still need time in between, in my case to take the dogs out. Yes, to take the dogs up to grab water to grab pop to grab coffee. We use the washroom and and just be respectful of each other and show them you care. Because frankly, if somebody doesn’t care about me enough, how are you going to care about my business or what I bring to the table? Food for thought. As always Rob Cairns CEO founder chief creative meeting ideas are stunning digital marketing. This podcast is dedicated by white father Bruce Cairns. Yesterday was the 10th anniversary. We lost him. We’re so sorry. The 13th is the 10th anniversary. We lost his brother Clifford. We love you both very much. We love you guys. I miss you every day. If you want to contact me on twitter at Rob Cairns from my website, stunning digital marketing calm or feel free to call me 416 624 7647 have an amazing day. Bye bye. Keep your feet on the ground. Keep reaching for the stars and make your business succeed. I love you. Bye for now.