TOP TIPS: Managing client lateness
By Helena Biggs | 24 August 2017 | News
For whatever reason – be it traffic, poor planning or forgetfulness, you may have been subjected to clients late for their appointment, or even worse, a no-show.
Laura Easby, of Laura’s Beauty, reveals her policy on lateness:
“The cancellation policy I have in place is that if you give less than 24 hours’ notice when cancelling the appointment, you will be charged 50% of the treatment price.
“I had to put this in to place as I started to realise people don’t actually think that being a nail technician is a full-time job. Sadly, I realised that some didn’t care that, because of their carelessness, I had lost an hour’s pay, with too short notice to fill the space. I have bills to pay too so needed to start covering myself; as a small business, this affects me massively!
“I hoped by enforcing this policy it will make people think twice before cancelling last minute or not showing to appointments. When I decided to put this into place I added a clause on to my booking system. Now clients have to agree to the cancellation policy before they book.
“When it comes to clients running late, I try and wait 10 minutes maximum and after that, their appointment is gone. I book appointments back-to-back so don’t have time to be waiting around as it means I’m running late for the rest of the day.
“I think it’s so important that salons and small businesses have a policy in in place to help protect themselves.”
Discover more tips and advice on managing late clients in the August 2017 issue of Scratch magazine, pages 90-91.
