NextUp
When someone cancels, text the next person on your waitlist and let them take the time. A waitlist here fills that cancellation. It is not an email list for a product launch. In HighLevel that is the waitlist tag plus NextUp. Mark the cancel, and NextUp texts whoever has waited longest from your number. The first person to tap Accept is booked.
Why is calling around at 4pm a bad time?
A 4pm cancels at 3:30. You have someone in the chair. You step out and call three people from the list in your head. Two do not pick up. One says maybe and calls back at 4:20. The hour is gone.
You already knew who wanted that hour. They asked. The job at 4pm is the person in front of you, not a round of calls.
Who do you put on the waitlist?
Run the Add to waitlist action on people who ask for an earlier time, and keep a phone number on the contact. Do it when they ask, not when the cancel hits. The action applies the waitlist tag and saves when they joined, so whoever has waited longest hears first.
How to build a waitlist in HighLevel is the full setup. Does HighLevel have a waitlist? if you thought the calendar had a line built in. It does not.
If the list is empty when someone cancels, there is nobody to text. Add people on the quiet days.
When do you install NextUp?
Install NextUp on this location before you need it. Open the HighLevel marketplace from this location and install it there. Where do I install NextUp? walks through it.
What should you do when the cancel comes in?
Mark the cancellation on the calendar the way you already do. Stay with the person in the chair while the text goes out. NextUp texts the next person on the list from your number with a link. They tap Accept and they are booked.
The link lasts 15 minutes. If they tap No thanks, or the 15 minutes run out, the next person gets their own text. Only one person holds a live link at a time, so the same slot never goes to two people.
A no-show works the same way once you mark it. What happens when a HighLevel appointment is a no-show covers that mark. People with SMS Do Not Disturb on are skipped. How to automatically text your waitlist when someone cancels is the pass-and-skip path.
If nothing went out, open the contact who cancelled and read the NextUp note. Why was no text sent? lists what each note means.
Frequently asked questions
What if nobody takes the time?
Then the hour stays open. NextUp texts down the list one person at a time until someone taps Accept or nobody is left, so not every cancel fills. The difference is that you did not spend the cancel on the phone. You stayed with the person who showed up.
Do I call them after they tap Accept?
You do not have to. When they tap Accept, they are on the calendar and get a text that says they are booked. If you like a quick confirm from the shop, send it the way you already do. The booking is already there either way.
What if I already texted someone myself?
Put that booking on the calendar before you mark the cancel. NextUp texts the waitlist as soon as the cancel is marked, so if the hour is already taken by hand, book it first. Otherwise the next person on the list gets an offer for a time you just gave away.