stopping cancellations

[MommyTrujillo]

I have recently had a ton of cancellations. How do I get my clients to understand that massage is a vital part of their well being, and not just a luxury.

My roommate is a hair dresser and hardly ever gets a cancellation. I understand that hair care is important too, but what is the key to having my clients understand that a massage is just and important as a haircut?

HELP please....thanks I appreciate any input.

Julie

 

[mandm68]

when one of my clients calls to cancel, I always ask them at that moment when they would like to reschedule. most do, a few may hem & haw and say they will call back. You cant force them to realize how important their massage is (unfortunately!) and a small few may not value your time as much as they should. Im not sure what kind of policy you have in place for cancallations or no shows. Mine states that for SAME day cancallations and no shows, that theyre responsible for half the service amount, as otheer clients may be tiurned away in order to honor their appointment.

 

[this_heart-it_beats]

I think there are few key important factors to cut down on cancellations. The first thing is to have a clear cancellation policy. Be sure to let your clients know the policy when they book their appointment. It is also helpful to call the clients about 48 hours prior to their appointment to remind them of the appointment, gently remind of the policy again "Just a reminder that if you need to change the appointment time, please allow for a minimum of 24 hours notice t avoid being charged a late cancellation fee."

It is also important to enforce your policy when necessary. I think most of us who have a cancellation policy in place will give the clients a "freebie". That means, they can just plain old forget once. It's important to inform them of that at the time they cancel "I understand that we all get forgetful or have something more pressing come up from time to time and since you haven't done this before, I will not charge you this time." Make sure you make a record of this so you don't have to remember which clients cancelled for good reason, like illness or death in the family and who has "just forgotten". You will also be able to tell if they just forgot last month or whether they haven't done it in 2 years and make decisions accordingly. Do not be afraid to enforce your policy! Yes, it may lose you some clients, but they will be the type of clients you don't really want in the first place and it will make room in your schedule for clients who will respect your time.

There are plenty of therapists out there who are willing to go with the flow and don't mind last minute cancellations. I always hope that the type of clients who have late cancellations all the time will find those types of therapists.

When a client does have to cancel, no matter how far in advance it is, I always give them the opportunity to reschedule right at that time. If they say they will get back to me and then don't, I will do a follow up phone call or e-mail. Many times people get busy and forget to get to rescheduling

The previous poster was correct, you cannot MAKE anybody realize how important massage is. We can only try to educate them, help them the best we can to keep their appointments and continue to reschedule and to come regularly and eventually, they will realize how important it is to their life.

 

[kristinhah]

Ok.. I'm the first to admit I'm a little slow, but there's something I can't figure out. For cancellations/ no-shows, how do you collect on any cancellation fees? t017 Fortunately I've only just opened up shop so I haven't had to deal with it yet.

 

[Rachelive]

There are some people who accept credit cards and may sometimes take credit cards to secure appointments. I don't accept credit cards, nor would I do that. If you do have a credit card on file for a client who continually no-shows, you could possibly use that, so long as you have a signed form where they indicate that they are responsible for any late cancellations.

I have been successful in the past in getting clients to write a check for their missed appointment. These are usually fairly regular clients, who have violated the policy and are well aware that they need to pay. Of course, there are some who I don't receive payment from and never hear from them again. This is fine. My point is to get them to pay up and shape up and if they can't, then I'm fine with them leaving my practice. I will usually give people a first time 'freebie', but if a client no-shows or cancels 20 minutes prior to their first appointment and doesn't seem at all apologetic, then right then and there I remind them of my cancellation policy and tell them that they owe me for the appointment. That's usually the last I hear of them. I did not want them in my practice anyway, as they obviously have no respect for my time.

So, sometimes you can collect and sometimes you can't. Those who value your time will pay and be apologetic. My purpose is not to make money on these clients who cancel late, but rather to make my point very clear that I am a professional and that I have a policy that I expect everyone to adhere to as best they can. It sets the tone for my practice and you will find that people will respect the policy more.

Most of my clients now when they cancel, I know that they absolutely HAVE to. Occasionally, someone will cancel with less than 24 hours notice and will OFFER to pay without me having to ask. And, that's even when they are cancelling because the person has a cold or something like that. Of course, I do not accept their payment then.

I think it's very important to be sure that as the therapist, that you are fair to them too. You must be punctual with your appointments. You must not cancel or no-show on them. If you do happen to make an error of some sort, it's important that they feel that you value their time as well. I have had some times when I have made a scheduling error and in addition to apologizing profusely, I will also give the client their next session at no charge and will sometimes add on additional time or something extra like some hot stones or something like that to make them feel very special.

 

[David]

When I have cancellations, its usually from someone who comes in regularly. I let them know my policy, and they pay for 1/2 the service next time they come in for a session. I let alot slide....stuck in traffic, sick kids, flat tire....what I dont give on is "I forgot (when they have a standing appointment same time every week), or the best one "i didnt feel like coming in". I am by no means rude about it, but I demand that my clients respect my time as much as I respect theirs :}

 

[Alexandria]

I had three cancelations this week. One was for Saturday, the client called on Wednesday to try to reschedule. He would be able to come in on Friday, but I was full so we put him on a waiting list.

Today when we made tomarrow's reminder calls, two (of 5) cancelled right off the bat for various reasons. So, we called Saturdays client and he took the appointment on Friday afternoon. I was able to fill the Saturday appointment yesterday as well.

The longer you are in business the more this type of thing will happen to you. I have come to expect at least one or two cancelations like this a week, so I over compensate by over booking. I dont over book by huge amounts, just one or two appointments per week. Of course, this only works when you have a fairly full schedule. It would be impossible to do if you are new and only have a handful of appointments.

I cross my fingers that these cancelations will be either the first of last one of the day.

 

[bianca]

cancellations

thanks everyone..that helps a lot. I will try to implement something to make my clients realize that my time is important too.

Julie

 

[kayla_b_323]

stopping cancellations

How do I get my clients to understand that massage is a vital part of their well being, and not just a luxury.

Hi Julie,

One thing I find to be helpful is to model this behavior myself. It's important that I consider massage an important part of my well-being if I expect my clients to. And I think it's important that I pay cash for my treatments, not just trade (I do both actually).

If it happens to come up in conversation, I like my clients to know that I too spend time on the table.

Lisa

 

[Heather]

I totally agree that it is important for us therapists to get bodywork also. I make sure I pay for at least one treatment a month and trade with my wife. People learn by our example not by just our words.

Jason

 

[Heyyou]

I hadn't thought about that stemming the cancellation tide. I've been going through a weird period where my cancellations are because people are doing several different things for their health and want to focus on just one or two. Sometimes it's me they cut, sometimes it's other practitioners.

 

[mac A]

stopping cancellations

I have recently had a ton of cancellations. How do I get my clients to understand that massage is a vital part of their well being, and not just a luxury.

My roommate is a hair dresser and hardly ever gets a cancellation. I understand that hair care is important too, but what is the key to having my clients understand that a massage is just and important as a haircut?

HELP please....thanks I appreciate any input.

Julie

When I got serious about building a business of regular clients, I typed up a brochure that told about my services, about massage benefits and how massage affects the body, about myself and why I was interested in massage. I appreciated everyone, but I would focus on the people who valued massage. I'd have conversations with them about their experience, about my experience, we'd talk about all the wonderful things massage did for us and I'd ask these people for referrals.

Right now my practice has a nice fill of regulars and I am starting to focus on "weeding out" people who don't quite belong in my practice. People who have a history of cancelling at the last minute, trying to reschedule at the last minute, or have no showed on me are being weeded out. I changed my "cancellation" policy to 'no show/late cancelling clients will not get appointments with me.' I do not call people for reminders. If someone no shows they do not get a call from me, and they do not get another appointment with me. If someone historically cancels with less then 24 hours, they do not get a call back from me to find a convenient time for them to reschedule.

If someone calls well in advance to cancel or to reschedule, then I don't sweat it.

I also do not try to make a regular client of everyone I see.

 

[Jazeera]

Just had another idea - ask your regulars what they value about regular massage appointments, why do they get massage regularly, how does it help them, were they skeptical in the beginning about how it could help?

With their permission, type up their responses (if they're willing to share their names or even a first name, all the better) and create a form/handout for new clients. Or email clients questions (like the above) and ask them if they'd be willing to help you out by responding to them. Always make sure to get their permission to use what they've written and if you tweak what they've written (for better flow or grammar) always get their ok on it before using it.

It's always so much better when someone other than us is saying how great we are!

Lisa