If you go to a signing, and nobody is home, how long do you wait? Some people will wait all night while others will leave immediately. Try to take into consideration that there might have been a delay coming back from work or the market. Allowing ten or twenty minutes might make sense. Or you could try to see if your next client of the evening wants to sign early and then circle back afterwards to the original place as you don’t know how long they will keep you.

The best thing to do first is call the signer and see what is up. If they do not call back within ten or fifteen minutes, you can go. But, keep the phone by your side. They usually call the minute you drive off. It is Murphy’s law and it seems to be accurate.

But, on a brighter note, if you are religious about confirming appointments, you would have gone over the times and if they were on a tight schedule they would be likely to reveal that to you during the phone conversation. Yet another reason to be more adamant about confirming signings rather than just showing up.

So, how long you wait depends on what else you have going on. But to be fair, I would wait at least ten minutes and call the signer.