Show rate
Show rate is the share of booked sales meetings that actually take place with the prospect on the call; the rest is the no-show rate. In appointment setting, it measures the gap between what an agency puts on your calendar and the conversations your sales team actually gets.
How does it work?
Show rate is meetings held divided by meetings booked over the same period. A meeting counts as held when the prospect joins the scheduled call, not when they accept the invite. Decide upfront how rescheduled meetings count, so the number means the same thing from one month to the next.
Several things move it: how long the prospect waits between booking and the call, whether they get a reminder, whether they asked for the meeting or were talked into it, and whether the person invited is the one who actually decides. The booking side of that is covered in reply handling and meeting booking.
How is it different from a qualified meeting?
Show rate only tells you that someone turned up. It says nothing about whether the business could ever buy managed IT, or whether the person on the call can sign. A call can show and still waste your afternoon. A qualified meeting is stricter: the business matches the ICP, the person is a decision-maker or an agreed contact, and the call takes place. What counts as a qualified meeting covers all three.
Show rate is also different from a close rate. A held meeting is the start of a sales conversation, not a signed client.
What does it mean for an MSP?
Who carries the no-shows depends on the contract. On a pay-per-booked-appointment contract, every no-show is billed, so a low show rate is your cost. On pay per show or pay per meeting held, a no-show isn’t billed, so the agency has its own reason to keep the rate up: a brief before the call, a reminder, and a follow-up to rebook.
An illustrative example. An agency books ten meetings for an MSP in a month and seven take place: a show rate of 70%. On a per-booking contract the MSP pays for ten meetings. On a per-held contract it pays for seven, or fewer if some of those seven turn out to be outside the ICP.
What should the contract say?
- What “held” means. The prospect joins the scheduled call with you or whoever runs your sales calls.
- No-shows. Whether they are billed, and what happens next: a follow-up, a new time, and billing only once the rebooked meeting takes place.
- Reschedules. How a moved meeting is counted and billed.
- Reporting. Meetings booked, held, no-shows and rebooked, each month, so you can check the show rate yourself.
Levante Leads doesn’t bill a no-show at all: the meeting is followed up, a new time is proposed, and it is billed only if the rebooked call takes place.
What is a no-show?
A no-show is a booked meeting where the prospect doesn’t join the call. The calendar slot was filled, but no conversation happened.
Who pays for a no-show?
It depends on the billing point. On a pay-per-booked-appointment contract the client pays for it. On pay per show or pay per meeting held, the client doesn’t, and the agency follows up to rebook.
Is show rate the same as meetings held?
No. Meetings held is a count. Show rate is a ratio: meetings held divided by meetings booked over the same period.
Related terms
- Pay per meeting held: a no-show is never billed, and neither is a call with the wrong business.
- Pay per appointment: the umbrella model and its four billing points.
- Appointment setting glossary for MSPs: every term in one place.