Do you have a policy in place for dealing with no-shows and last-minute cancellations?Â
The first year I was in business for myself, I operated without such a policy. By the end of the second year, when several more therapists had joined forces with me, I was appalled to see how many wasted appointments (and thus lost income) were caused by people who either waited until the last minute to call and cancel, or heaven forbid, didn’t call at all. I decided to take a hard line when I saw that a year’s worth of blown appointments added up to over 8,000.
I put a notice on our website, another in our newsletter, a prominently displayed sign in the lobby, and added a paragraph to our intake form explaining our cancellation policy, which new clients must initial, and therapists inform all new clients of our policy. We allow everyone one freebie per year–one missed appointment without penalty. Even the best client will sometimes have a brain freeze or oversleep, or have a genuine emergency. After that, if they miss they’re going to pay.
We maintain a list of people who are not welcome to make an appointment at our office unless they gaurantee it with a credit card. Our cancellation policy states that if you are asked to gaurantee with a card, you can assume you’re one of those people we consider a repeat offender.
I haven’t lost any noticeable business, and the incidence of no-shows went way down after I put that word out about the policy. The one or two people who defected were the above-mentioned repeat offenders, and we don’t want them anyway. I worded the policy in such a way to make people realize that while one person may not think blowing off their appointment is a big deal, if three or four people in a week do that to a therapist, there goes someone’s groceries, their car payment or their rent. Maybe it just made people think of it in a different way, but it made a positive difference.Â
Busy physician and dental offices commonly overbook appointments, secure in the knowledge that a certain amount of people are going to cancel. Massage therapists really can’ t do that, so you need some way to protect your income. Having a cancellation policy, and enforcing it, will serve you well.Â
Peace & Prosperity,
Laura AllenÂ
December 4th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Thanks Laura-this is a dicey area of policy for any independent contractor-but certainly those of us who want to nurture! I am working with a group of massage therapy students as their Business Practices for Massage Professionals instructor, and would really appreciate seeing your policy-if you are willing to share it- I am trying to collect some great policies examples – thanks in advance!
… policies they would like to share-send them along-naturally I I will give you authorship credit!
If anyone else has some interesting, or humorous
bodyworkbusiness@gmail.com
April 19th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
My policy as a busy independent massage therapist was the following:
“Please give 24 hours notice for any cancellation or appointment change. If you are unable to give 24 hours notice or “no-show” a scheduled appointment, I reserve the right to charge you for the missed session if I am unable to fill the time with another client.”
That being said, I gave my regular clients a once a year exemption figuring that I would probably have an unexpected problem at some point or another and have to cancel on them with short notice.
Later in my day spa we had to expand this policy to include a credit card or gift certificate deposit or guarantee for any appointments scheduled. As we had expanded from a mostly regular clientele to one that included a number of newbies and “special occasion” or gift certificate clients, the number of late cancellations and no-shows grew. Thus the policy change. It was pretty well received by most people and has become a pretty standard policy in the industry, at least in larger spas and practices as well as resort areas.
Now that I am busy as a spa consultant and in other career endeavors… and can use every bit of extra time I can get…I don’t worry too much about my massage clients canceling. However, with my consulting clients I do still ask for 12 hours notice for cancellations or I charge a half-fee.