Firing Your First Client As An Independent Massage Therapist
Because some people have just gotta go…
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.
There’s nothing quite like the first time you have to fire a recalcitrant client.
(And as for me? I looked a lot like the guy in this photo…)
It was May, and I had just poured my morning coffee.
I got a text from an unfamiliar number that simply said “Not going to make it.”
After some back and forth, we established this person’s name (let’s call him John, because that was his name), and that he had an appointment with my then-employee later that afternoon.
- He had received his reminder email and was aware of his session.
- There was no emergency, illness, or injury.
- He simply didn’t feel like coming in for his massage appointment that afternoon.
I thanked him for letting us know that he was choosing to cancel his appointment with only 6 hours notice, and that we would be enforcing our same-day cancellation fee - per the agreement he had signed. I then suggested we find a suitable date for a makeup massage. Or I tried to, at least…
But I didn’t get too far - because the man started throwing a full-blown temper tantrum.
- He said he didn’t remember any such agreement
- He requested a copy of it, which I provided
- He swore a fair amount
- He accused me of being greedy, among other colorful things.
And when I told him I understood where his frustration was coming from, but the fee did not benefit ME, it protected my employee’s income, he called my employee directly to ask her to change my mind for him. (!?!?!?)
Line crossed, buddy!
When Mom tells you to eat your vegetables (or pay your cancellation fees), you don’t get to go to Dad for a second opinion.
Every bone in my body wanted to send him a text that read something like “Thank you for crossing the line, asshole. You are now welcome to f*ck the f*ck off.”
Instead, I reached out to John with an email – as it felt slightly more professional than a text…and also because I wasn’t going to call: I wanted it in writing for future reference.
I said something along the lines of how: “After further consideration, I had elected not to charge the late-cancellation fee for his same-day cancellation. While I was disappointed to hear he did not respect our policies, I appreciated his transparency and honest, albeit incredibly disrespectful, communication. Given my newfound clarity on his expectations, it was abundantly clear that we were not the right studio for him. I had elected to cancel all of his upcoming appointments and block his account on our online booking portal, to save him the trouble. I hoped he had better luck finding another studio in the area who fit his expectations - though, as all the self-employed massage therapists I knew in my area had the same policies I had, I couldn’t think of a single person to direct him to.”
I don’t tell this story simply to relive the past.
I tell this story to highlight the lesson I learned.
As much as I wanted to believe that John knew about our cancellation fee, and should be willing and ready to respect it, the truth was that his first appointment had been ages ago. This meant he signed his late-cancel clause ages ago, and it probably hadn’t been brought to mind since then.
Obviously I didn’t want to repeat that day’s events with any future cancellations. I realized that I should have been covering my bases more thoroughly. So I copy-pasted the late-cancellation clause from our intake form onto:
- Our confirmation emails
- Our reminder emails
- Our reminder texts
- The FAQ page of my website
In the end, I am grateful to John for what a pain he proved to be.
Yes, he was kind of a dick, but that’s not important. What’s important is that I had gotten my first difficult conversation out of the day, and I had the opportunity to learn from it.
What was it like the first time you needed to part ways with a client?
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 The Bodyworkers Business Collective, Queen Street Marketplace, and The Techy MT to learn more.
