Taking Deposits

Written by LiveLink
July 21st 2023

Taking Deposits

In this post-covid world, many clinics are finding that their DNA rate has soared.

Let’s go back to those halcyon days of 2019 when the words covid and furlough didn’t enter into our vocabulary.

Patients and clients called and booked appointments and if they weren’t needed, called and re-scheduled.  DNAs were a rarity.

Going forward in time to 2023 the landscape and patient and client behaviour has changed.

DNAs rather than being a rarity are a regular occurrence.  And the effect that has on cash-flow is catastrophic.

Hoping things will go back to normal isn’t probably the best solution.  Taking a deposit or better still, full payment is.

Many of the clinics that we support ask for pre-payment.  Most of our clients were full of trepidation as this was something new for them.  Their fear was that people would go elsewhere and push back against paying up-front.  But their fears did not materialise into reality as most people are very happy to pay up-front.

When the occasional patient does baulk at paying in advance, perhaps you should be asking if they would otherwise DNA and are hedging their bets.  This is something that hotels and restaurants battled with post-covid.  People would make multiple reservations online and then rather than cancelling the ones they didn’t need, just not turn up and restaurants were filled with empty tables, staff waiting to serve and wasted food.

It seems as if peoples mentality has changed in recent years and simple courtesy has been lost.  Join our other clients and ask for pre-payment so you’re not left with empty slots in your diary that you could otherwise have offered to other people.