Unfortunately, I’ve not found it viable to maintain a waitlist.

This doesn’t only apply to my business, either; very few owner-operator businesses involved with specialised work with variable timeframes keep waitlists. There is one of me, and many hundreds of new and returning customers, each with unique equipment and requirements, making completion times variable/uncertain and waitlists difficult to manage.

The problem with trying to manage a large number of potential future bookings is that customer availability changes, people change their minds, sell equipment, move on, etc. I would need a dedicated admin person to deal with and manage all of the back and forth of this, and given that I have way more work than I can manage already, without a waitlist, you’ll see why this just isn’t on the agenda.

The solution is our booking process and booking status table. Each enquirer needs only to check as guided by the information in the table. This minimises wasted time for everyone, filters those who no longer require our services and saves me from potentially hundreds of calls and emails.

But Mike, this doesn’t help me at all!

Actually, it does, because this process helps me, which helps you. It works well for most customers, but I understand that it won’t work for everyone, and I apologise for not having a better alternative. Feel free to send an enquiry even if we’re full because it gets the ball rolling and may help clarify whether a job is viable or something we cater for.