How to Stop No-Shows, Cancellations and Lateness – Forever!

Yesterday, K McG (not her real name), one of my Millionaire Inner Circle Members (if you’re not yet a member, you can try it FREE and get a whole bunch of FREE gifts here: FREE ACCESS to HENRY’S INNER CIRCLE) asked:

“I was wondering what your opinion is of cancellation charges for missed appointments?

On one hand charge them (even if they cancel/not turn up reasonably regularly) and they will probably not come back and you risk the lifetime profit from that client.

On the other hand don’t charge them and they are allowed to not respect your time (which is a bit of a personal raw nerve of mine) and they have no incentive to respect your time and business next time they are ‘asked to work late’.

I bet you would suggest ‘find clients who respect your time in future’… however I find in the recession customers are starting to take more of the ….as they now feel they have the upper hand over businesses as we should be desperate for their custom. What is your take on it?”

Great question!

A real challenge.

And just like Karen, this can drive me nuts – it can feel like a constant battle between wanting (sometimes needing) the business and yet not ending up like a ‘door mat’ being trampled on by time-wasters and people with less integrity than a ‘losing’ politican.

Yet, it NEVER, EVER happens to me (and I’ll tell you why in a bit)…

But, today, I’m going to give you some REAL techniques you can use to dramatically reduce ‘no-shows’ AND increase client ‘compliance’.

First off we’ll cover a few actions you can take.

THEN, I’ll cover the way to stop it happening forever (or pretty much).

Here we go (this is a kind of menu of things to try – I’ll flag up my favourites):

Whatever policy you choose here are a few things you MUST DO:

And FIRE YOUR CLIENTS

If clients consistently abuse your policy then your response is simple. You SHOULD FIRE THEM. Say something like:

“Mrs Bloggs, I value your custom, you’ve spent a lot of money with me – which is nice. But I cannot afford for you to keep not showing up for appointments. So, I’m afraid if that happens once more then I recommend you find another salon or spa to serve you…”

Following that – you’ll usually find they are never late again.

Here’s the ULTIMATE NO SHOW STOPPER

And this is what I do (and I eluded to it earlier).

Most salon and spa owners are so ‘desperate’ to attract and please clients that they kind of ‘roll-over’ and take anything their clients throw at them.

This is a very ‘weak’ position.

Instead you need to craft a position of POWER. Where clients HUNT you OUT. Are DESPERATE for you to serve them. Want YOU and NOBODY else. And in turn are so pleased to get an appointment wouldn’t miss it for the world.

How do you create this position?

Through marketing.

Consider this.

And the answer is of course…

The first 4 actions I listed at the top of this artice (take deposits etc) to combat no-shows and lateness are really ‘reactions to the problem’.

A MUCH better way to solve the problem is to NEVER have it in the first place.

And that comes through the ‘POWER POSITIONING’ I speak of above. And that comes through MARKETING.

Marketing that positions your salon/spa head and shoulders above the competition as THE place people talk about and the ONLY place you clients and prospects want to go…

My Salon and Spa Millionaire Inner Circle Members learn the techniques to achieve so.

If you’re not yet a member… Why not?

Dedicated to your success,

Henry.

PS: PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS POST BY CLICKING ON THE ‘COMMENTS’ LINK.

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