WIN/WIN SOLUTIONS FOR DEALING WITH NO-SHOWS WIN/WIN SOLUTIONS FOR DEALING WITH NO-SHOWS by Ceilon Aspensen This article was published in the October 2005 issue of Nailpro Magazine. Twenty two years of professional salon experience has taught me that (with rare exceptions) the clients for whom I make the most accommodations generally turn out to be the biggest problems. They also cost me the most missed income by not showing up for their appointments, which wastes valuable time in my appointment schedule that could have gone to reliable customers who actually show up on time. Such situations are the perfect opportunity to hone my customer service skills while simultaneously whetting the deadbeat-client axe. Striking a balance between the two is vitally important, since I don’t want to alienate my reliable customers with harsh salon policies. On the other hand, I need to communicate very clearly and professionally to the customers who would abuse my patience and my pocketbook by regularly no-showing, or being late all the time. One particular client, Maggie, has cost me about $200 in missed revenue at this point, which makes me either a very forgiving person or a really stupid one. In the last year she has never been on time, and usually comes at the wrong time if she shows up at all, despite the fact that when we schedule her appointments I invariably give her a reminder card with the day, date and time of her next appointment written on it. As I run down the list of all the reasons that I should give Maggie the boot, you may be wondering, “Why don’t you?” It’s not that I am a pushover. As a matter of fact, over the years I’ve shown several people the door for various reasons, without nearly as much introspection as Maggie has inspired. I generally possess and exercise keen survival skills with much less provocation than this. The last three clients in a row who were escorted out the door of the salon (forever) received this little farewell address: I’m sorry, but I can tell that I’m not going to be able to make you happy. Call it a communication problem—I accept full responsibility. But I am NOT going to do your hair. The last person for whom I recited the farewell address didn’t believe me—she thought I was joking, so it turned into a farewell mantra. I just repeated it over and over and over again in my scary-calm voice until she finally got up out of my chair and walked out of the salon (while one of my employees clapped). But I will only use the farewell address as a last resort. Prior to utilizing such extreme measures, I recommend having a little talk with the client about the problem. It is important to remember that clients frequently come into the salon for more than just nail services. One of my goals in this business is to provide stress-relief for my customers. Maggie strikes me as someone who really needs a lot of grace right now. I don’t want to add to her difficulty if I can avoid it but, unfortunately, providing stress-relief is difficult to impossible when the customer is her own worst enemy. The good news is that most clients are courteous and prompt, and always show up on the right day at the right time. The majority of them are able to do this without any further assistance beyond repeating the date and time back to them when recording their next visit in the appointment book. My general procedure when scheduling an appointment with a client is to write it down in my appointment book for the time they request, and then repeat it back to them like this: OK, Maggie—I’ve got you down for Monday, June the 7th at 5:30pm for a manicure. That way, if I’ve written it down incorrectly, we will catch the error and correct it. My next line of defense is the “Your next appointment is…” card. I have a self-inking stamp that says: Your next appointment is: Date: ________________ Day: ________________ Time:________________ After stamping the back of a business card, I fill in the blanks, and usually write whatever service it is that they have scheduled on the bottom of the card. For a handful of customers, at their request, I will write a little note on the appointment book that says “call to remind”. That tells me that I should call them the night before to jog their memory. And for another handful, sending an email reminder is helpful. For Maggie, email on the day of the appointment is the best bet, otherwise she’ll forget. I wish I had a dollar (because I could recoup some of my costs that way) for every time she emailed me back and said, “Oh! I plum forgot. Can we reschedule?” That scenario has been going on for quite some time now. But a few weeks ago, a new scenario surrounding Maggie and the salon presented itself. Maggie forgot her appointment one day; rescheduled for the next day; came at the wrong time the next day (an hour late, thinking that was the correct time); and came an hour late again the next day (thinking that was the correct time). I was pretty sure she was losing her marbles. Earlier I mentioned that I feel Maggie is in need of a lot of grace right now. The reason for that is she has a high-maintenance boyfriend, has changed careers just recently, and is having a tough time adjusting to her new job. I figured out about 15 years ago that my job as a salon professional is not all about manicures and nail polish. In fact, it’s only about 25% manicures and nail polish. The other 75% is amateur psychotherapy, emotional support, relaxation, and “time for me” (the client, that is). If ever there was a client who needed all of the above it is Maggie! So, I think to give her the heave-ho right now would be cruel. Even I have my limits, though, and eventually there will come a time when hanging in there with Maggie will be just plain stupid (and psychologists would say codependent), but we’re not there yet. So far she’s been apologetic and pitiful, but she hasn’t crossed the line into rude and unmanageable yet—when that time comes I’ll be warming up the farewell mantra. At the last of the four botched appointments mentioned earlier, Maggie left the salon mad at me, as if I was the one who had made the error. She was angry because she had a big event coming up at the end of the week for which she wanted to get her nails done. So I moved Heaven and Earth (practically) to make room on my book so I could get her in. I was very inconvenienced, my other clients were inconvenienced, and she was mad at me. Before she actually walked out the door, she apologized and said she didn’t know what was wrong with her, and that she’d pay me for my time. She then proceeded to beat herself up, so to speak, about her chronic truancy and lateness. I told her not to worry about it; that I was more worried about her (and I was—losing her marbles, I tell you), and that we’d talk later. When I got home that night, I drafted an email and sent it out to her: Just take a deep breath, and try again. I’m sure we can get your nails done sometime soon, and maybe even before your event. Just call me and we will reschedule. You have had lots of changes recently, and too many things on your plate. That is generally the reason behind scheduling woes. This too shall pass. So, just take a breath, relax, and we’ll get you rescheduled. I am thinking that the standing appointment thing might not be a good idea anymore, though, because you do have a lot of stuff going on. Maybe it would work better for you to just call me when you need me, and we’ll get you on the book. Take care. Talk to you soon. And chin up. 🙂 Suggesting that the standing appointment arrangement be abandoned was my way of diplomatically attempting to get her off of my appointment book during prime time (evening is the most coveted time of the salon schedule for working women). I was also hoping she would take the subtle hint that she was really close to “three strikes and you’re out” (or in her case, a hundred strikes….). However, she did not pick up the hint. She replied with a really nice apology, but she frankly didn’t “get it” about the fact that she has been seriously inconveniencing me. She also recommended that I email her the appointments. Her response signaled to me that we were on the cusp of the codependent scenario, because her email suggested that it is my responsibility to make sure that she gets to her appointments with me. Besides Maggie, I have two other clients who have a really difficult time showing up at the right time on the right day (but not nearly as bad as Maggie). Out of about 350 people, fewer than 1% chronic deadbeats seems like a pretty workable ratio. But, dealing with Maggie and her no-show issue prompted me to come up with a third line of defense for helping people to remember their appointments. I thought of the postcard I get from my veterinarian every year to remind me it’s time for my dog to get her annual round of shots. Then there’s the postcard I get from my dentist reminding me it’s time to get my teeth cleaned. That seems like a really good idea, and one that would be easy and inexpensive to implement. The trick is writing it in a way that clearly communicates the importance of showing up, or canceling 24 hours in advance (so that time can be given to someone else), without irritating the reliable customers who always show up, and are always on time. I drafted a copy of my new appointment reminder card, had a few of my coworkers proofread it, and this is the result: Dear______________________, Just thought I’d send you a friendly reminder of the appointment that you scheduled for ____[day of the week]____, _______[date]_______________at ____[time]___. I’m looking forward to seeing you then! ☺ __________________________________________________ Cancellation Policy: If for some reason you cannot make your appointment, please pay me the courtesy of a phone call at least 24 hours in advance to reschedule, so I can make that time available for another client. Also, please be punctual—if you are more than 15 minutes late I will have to reschedule you for another time, so that I can be on time for the customers that I have scheduled after you. So far, the response to my new postcard reminder has been very positive. The customers who always show up and are always on time have simply mentioned that they were impressed that I was “together” enough to send out such a professional reminder. This is good news to me, because I really don’t want to alienate the “good” clients, while I chase around my “bad” clients, trying to get them into my chair on time. You might wonder why I bother to send a reminder card to the reliable clients at all. The reason is that a lot of my clients know each other. In fact, that’s how they became my clients—referrals! It’s the best advertising. What I’ve done by sending even my good clients a reminder card is to establish my cancellation and punctuality policy with all of my clients. Through the postcard reminder, my salon policies have become part of the referral culture among my clients. I wish I could say that it was a stroke of brilliance on my part, but I just figured it out as I got the positive feedback from my clients who had received the card. That experience has proven to me that sometimes it pays to take a chance and try something new in the salon. Doing so can open up opportunities that might not have been discovered otherwise. Now, back to Maggie—you might be wondering how things have turned out with her. She got her first reminder card in the mail last week, and as it turned out she appreciated the reminder and took the hint (finally). At her suggestion, I now have her credit card information on file, and if she misses her appointment for any reason (besides calling ahead to cancel) I charge her card for the service she would have received. This guarantees that she always has that time on my appointment book reserved for her, and that I get paid whether she shows up or not—less stress for both of us. This was a great solution, and one that I had not thought of. Communicating clearly and professionally with my client helped us to come up with a solution collaboratively. Sometimes patience and ingenuity pay off, as was the case with Maggie. Sometimes a client is so difficult that I have no choice but to recite the farewell address and move on. A little communication and a lot of professionalism can go a long way toward maximizing the former situation and minimizing the latter. Working together, Maggie and I learned that solving the “no-show” problem can turn out to be a win/win situation for both client and salon professional.