3 Tips For Massage Therapists Enforcing Their Cancellation Policy (pain-free)
because your policies only help you if they’re used…
Welcome back to another Monday with the Mavens. We created the Massage Mavens blog to connect with and educate self-employed massage therapists working to grow as business owners.
It can be lonely working for yourself – and we’re here to remind you that while you’re in business for yourself, you don’t have to be in business by yourself.
While we cater our content to independent MTs, all massage therapists are welcome here; whether you run your own independent massage therapy studio, you contract in a clinic, work in spa, or you are still in school.
3 Tips for Pain-Free Policy Enforcement
Lady Justice stands for Fair and Equal treatment under law. Your studio should operate much the same way. But how do we make it as easy as possible?
Cancellation fees. No one loves them.
Clients don’t love when they’re charged; and we don’t love charging them.
At the end of the day, though, cancellation fees are a necessary part of our industry (and many others.) So how do we make them as pain-free as possible, and avoid injuring the relationships you’ve worked so hard to forge with your clients?
Here are three no-to-low confrontation tips to help you enforce late-cancellation fees in your massage therapy studio:
1. Have it clearly outlined in your intake process
Set the tone from the beginning that you take your time and income seriously and intend to charge a fee if people cancel within 24 hours, or no-call-no-show (or whatever other boundary you intend to set for your studio.)
2. Have reminders clearly outlined in your confirmation & reminder emails
If someone joined your community 5 years ago and has never needed to cancel last-minute before, then they may not remember what your policies are. Put a quick reminder in all of your automated emails so keep things fresh in their mind.
3. Pre-emptively thank clients for honoring your cancellation policy.
Thank them for respecting your time and income before you bring up the fee or charge their card.
“Hi Susan, I’m sorry to hear you won’t make it to our session today. I hope everything is okay. Thank you for letting me know. And, of course, thank you for being respectful of my time and income by honoring the late cancellation fee; it really means so much to have such accountable people like yourself supporting my studio. You’ll see that charge hit the card on file in the next day or two, depending on your bank.”
(I’ve found this approach works exceptionally well at diffusing any potential pushback before it happens: No one wants to be *that guy* that then argues with you about enforcing your policies after you already thanked them for being such a great person…)
What other approaches have you found that help you enforce your policies in a fair and conflict-free way?
Thanks for stopping by!
As always, we’d love to hear how our content has helped you improve either your studio, your mindset, or your revenue as a self-employed massage therapist.
Rachel Martin, LMT, is an independent massage therapist living in Denver Colorado. Having built her solo massage studio to capacity, she now spends her free time helping other massage therapists do the same. Check out Six Figure Studios, Queen Street Marketplace, and The Techy MT to learn more.
