Lead Times: Posting About How Long the Wait Really Is
Hiding your waiting list doesn't keep customers, it just delays the disappointment until it costs you more time. Said plainly and kept up to date, your lead time becomes one of the most persuasive posts you can publish.
Dave Smith
# Lead Times: Post How Long the Wait Really Is
There's a belief that runs through a lot of small businesses, especially the busy ones: never tell people how long the wait is. Keep it vague. Get them on the phone, get them keen, and only then mention that you can't start until February. Say "eight weeks" out loud on Facebook and, the thinking goes, half your enquiries will vanish before they've even asked.
It's an understandable instinct. It's also mostly wrong, and it's quietly costing you more than the honest version would.
The myth: a long wait scares customers off
Some people will see "booking from mid-January" and go elsewhere. That's true. But think about who those people are. They need a boiler fitted this week, or a cake for Saturday, or a fence back up before the dog escapes again. You couldn't have helped them anyway. All the vague approach does is make them find that out later, after a phone call, a site visit or three rounds of messages that ate into your evening.
The people who stay are the ones you actually want: customers who can plan, who value what you do enough to wait for it, and who won't be ringing you every Tuesday asking where you've got to.
Hiding your lead time doesn't keep anyone. It just moves the disappointment further down the line, where it costs you more time and leaves a worse taste.
A long wait is proof, not a problem
Here's the bit most businesses miss. A waiting list is one of the most persuasive things you can post, because it's evidence you can't fake.
Anyone can write "trusted local roofer" in their bio. Not everyone can say "we're now booked until the end of November". The first is a claim. The second tells people that other customers have looked at you, compared you with the alternatives and decided you were worth waiting for.
There's a reason people queue outside the busy chippy and walk straight past the empty one. A full diary does the same job online, provided you say it plainly rather than as a humblebrag.
What actually works
Post the real number, and update it
"We're currently booking work from the week of 17 November" is far more useful than "we're very busy at the moment!" The first lets someone decide. The second just makes them message you to ask what "very busy" means.
Then keep it current. A lead time post from April that's still pinned in October is worse than no post at all. Once a month is plenty for most trades and makers. If your diary moves quickly, a short update every fortnight does the job.
Explain why the wait exists
People are far more patient when they understand what they're waiting for. If you're a small team, say so. If each piece is made by hand, say so. If you won't start a new kitchen until the previous one is properly finished rather than juggling three at once, that's not an excuse. It's a selling point.
"We only take on two bathrooms at a time, so each one gets our full attention" turns the wait from an inconvenience into the reason to choose you.
Tell them what to do in the meantime
A lead time on its own can feel like a closed door. Give people a next step: get a quote now to hold your place, put down a deposit to secure a date, or join a short list for cancellations. Cancellations happen in every booked-up business, and a post that says "we occasionally get a gap at short notice, message us if you're flexible" fills them without you having to chase anyone.
Be honest when it changes
If the wait gets longer because of a supplier delay, a poorly team member or a job that turned out bigger than expected, say so before people have to ask. Customers forgive a moved date. What they don't forgive is finding out from silence.
The flip side matters too. If something frees up, post about it. "We've had a cancellation and can now start two jobs in the first week of December" is the sort of post that gets shared with a mate who's been putting off ringing round.
How to say it without sounding smug
There's a fine line between "we're booked up" and "we're too important for you". A few habits keep you on the right side of it:
- Lead with thanks. "Thanks to everyone who's booked in this autumn, we're now taking bookings from January" reads very differently from "fully booked, sorry".
- Skip the exclamation marks. A lead time is information, not a celebration.
- Don't turn people away flatly. If a job is urgent and you can't help, pointing them to someone you trust earns more goodwill than any advert.
- Keep the tone the same as your other posts. If you're normally chatty, be chatty about this too.
Make it part of your routine
The easiest way to stay on top of this is to treat lead times as a regular post rather than an occasional announcement. Pick a day each month, check the diary and post the current number with one line about what's coming up. It takes five minutes and saves a surprising number of "how soon could you do it?" messages.
It also gives you something steady to post on the weeks when you're too busy working to think about social media at all, which, if you've got a waiting list, is most weeks. If that's where you are, a tool like Aunty Social can keep the rest of your feed ticking over whilst your lead time post does the heavy lifting.
The takeaway
Your wait isn't something to apologise for or bury. Said clearly, kept current and explained honestly, it filters out the jobs you couldn't take anyway, reassures the people you can, and quietly tells everyone else that you're worth queuing for.
The customers worth having can cope with a number. What puts them off is not knowing.