What are you doing with your gift certificate income?

[blackroses4uever]

With the holidays creeping up on us, a lot of people are doing last minute shopping and buying gift certificates and I'm wondering how everyone is paying themselves.

For example, I opened a new savings account with my bank and am calling it "gift certificates" and just depositing the money from a GC or package sale in there and paying myself back when they redeem it. It's so tempting not to just take the chunk of money in there and pay rent for a couple of months or pay off a credit card! I know it's the smart thing to do though because I'll be kicking myself when everyone redeems their GCs all around the same time.

 

[Captain Obvious]

hey rebecca!

i set my income aside too. i put it away and use it as they are redeemed. i wouldn't/couldn't do it any other way. it actually drives me bananas when people use this money for other things and then "complain" when someone redeems their gift. i've actually heard therapists say "ugh, i've got to do a free massage today." i can't stand that! i can't imagine how that shows through during the session.

 

[Maria O]

I'm guilty of using it when they are paid for - around now is my really quiet time, other than gift certificates, during the rest of the year the purcahsing and the redeeming roughly evens it out.
I used to complain when I have a lot of gift certificates being redeemed on the same day (or week), but most of the time they're just a steady trickle I'm OK with. I do put a 6month expiry on them, so the Christmas ones all run out at the end of June, so the last 2 weeks of June is lots of panicing phone calls, I just give them extensions and spread it out a bit into July, so it's not too painful - I won't schedule more than 2 gift certifictaes per day, otherwise I feel like I've been working all day for no money.

 

[Ella]

I won't schedule more than 2 gift certifictaes per day, otherwise I feel like I've been working all day for no money.

Nice idea.

 

[Kristian]

I am going to DISNEYLAND!!

 

[Hettie.]

I've always deposited & spent gift certificate money as it was received. When people call to redeem their gift certificate, I don't consider it a free appointment, I consider it a prepaid appointment. That attitude keeps me feeling grateful instead of resentful of those appointments, and I give those clients my best work. (Which makes many of them regular clients from that point forward). As for the money issue, I have regular paying clients on my schedule every week, so I always have income. I would never have a week that was solely people redeeming their gift certificates. That's why I don't bother putting the money into savings & taking it out as redeemed. (Although this is exactly what they recommend in the business books -- kudos to those of you who have the discipline to do this!)

As far as the resentment issue, I think the MT's who most resent gift certificate appointments are those who see gift certificates as free money and count on most of them not being redeemed. It's a bad attitude to have, and it hurts not only the recipient (who might get a bad massage) but it also hurts the therapist because it thwarts the growth of their business. (If the client feels disrespected or underseved, that generates bad word-of-mouth, which is the opposite of what we need to succeed.)

 

[oden13]

ugh. this is my busiest time of year, and while i am terribly tempted to run out and buy a new laptop (the ibook is slowing dying) i must use the funds wisely... save it for june/july/august. of course, saying and doing are two different things.

i second that kudos to those of you who pay yourselves when the g.c. comes in!

 

[SoSeiru]

I've always deposited & spent gift certificate money as it was received. When people call to redeem their gift certificate, I don't consider it a free appointment, I consider it a prepaid appointment. That attitude keeps me feeling grateful instead of resentful of those appointments, and I give those clients my best work. (Which makes many of them regular clients from that point forward). As for the money issue, I have regular paying clients on my schedule every week, so I always have income. I would never have a week that was solely people redeeming their gift certificates. That's why I don't bother putting the money into savings & taking it out as redeemed. (Although this is exactly what they recommend in the business books -- kudos to those of you who have the discipline to do this!)

As far as the resentment issue, I think the MT's who most resent gift certificate appointments are those who see gift certificates as free money and count on most of them not being redeemed. It's a bad attitude to have, and it hurts not only the recipient (who might get a bad massage) but it also hurts the therapist because it thwarts the growth of their business. (If the client feels disrespected or underseved, that generates bad word-of-mouth, which is the opposite of what we need to succeed.)

I agree Blisss. I hope gift certificates will come back quickly, but that is not the way it happens. The go out quickly, and trickle back in. Gift certificates are wierd. It never fails, a few come in and a few go back out. So, for me, it always seems to balance. I also do not have the "free massage" mentality when gift certs are redeemed.

 

[Mujer Alta]

...putting the money into savings & taking it out as redeemed. (Although this is exactly what they recommend in the business books -- kudos to those of you who have the discipline to do this!)

I had every intention of doing this, but the gift certificate purchased by credit card go into my main account, so it would require a separate transaction on my part. And I'm lazy like that.

I don't have a negative attitude toward gift certificate redemption (unless they're a no-show like this morning...and she was sick so I felt compelled to make an exception for her regarding missed appt payment) -- I think of them not only as prepaid, but prepaid referrals!

 

[jason s]

We are being given as a gift!

LeContefairy