Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/78617
MAKE YOUR APPOINTMENTS STICK If you've been in practice for even just a few months, you've probably already experienced a client who called the same day of her appointment to cancel or reschedule. If you are a therapist trying to grow your practice, you'll agree that one of the most frustrating things is thinking an appointment is secure, only to have the client cancel. Or, just as your appointment book is starting to fill up, the phone starts ringing with clients requesting to move sessions to another time, or reduce the scheduled length of a session from 90 minutes to one hour. When you don't have control over your work schedule, you have an unfortunate situation I refer to as "your clients running your business." Last- minute cancellations have a snowball effect if left to fester. This is an aspect of your practice that you need to take control of, rather than letting clients run the show. If clients are moving appointments or cancelling on you at the last minute, you have not yet perfected your cancellation elimination program. A client who cancels on you interferes with your plans for that day or week, and even one lost appointment a week can dramatically affect your income. Just as important, when a client doesn't show for a prescheduled appointment, it can play havoc with the clinical results for which you are aiming. If clients don't see the results they expect, they may not remember it is because you advised a frequency of twice a week, but they only saw you once a week due to their rescheduling. This, in turn, may affect their satisfaction with your work, and ultimately whether or not they continue to see you or refer others to you. Once your cancellation elimination program is in place, you will begin to see fewer same- day cancellations, no-shows, and reschedules, and more revenue, schedule consistency, and sanity for you and your practice. WHAT YOU CALL YOUR POLICY The first step in creating an effective cancellation elimination program is to always refer to your policy as a "Rescheduling Policy" rather than a "Cancellation Policy." This plants the seed in your client's mind that it is assumed she is not cancelling altogether and will just rebook for another time or day. 5 STEPS TO ELIMINATE CANCELLATIONS 1. Determine Need for Appointment Knowing why a client is coming to see you seems simple, right? But many therapists never really think about why their client is coming in. To help make an appointment stick, you both need to be clear on why the client is coming in for a session with you. Discuss this in person, over the phone, or by email. (This is the "S" in your SOAP progress notes.) Zero in on the problem he is having, the condition or concern he is looking to remedy, or the situation he is hoping you can address. Once you've nailed down the exact reason for the visit, you will have a much easier time advising him on the frequency The first step in creating an effective cancellation elimination program is to always refer to your policy as a "Rescheduling Policy" rather than a "Cancellation Policy." 84 massage & bodywork september/october 2012