Everyone has a different concept of time. I think for those of us in the by-appointment business, we perhaps are more acutely aware of being on time and keeping appointments than other people. I know this is at least true for me. I try to always be on time and I would never take lightly not showing up for a scheduled appointment. However not everyone is in the same camp.
Having a cancellation policy is very important (see links below). Within this policy, there are also stipulations on any confirmed appointments that someone does not show up for: a no-show. Since I have already gone over the types of excuses and reasons that I do and don’t accept with client last-minute changes and no-shows, I’ll leave it up to you to read the above articles and won’t repeat myself about those specific issues here.
To me, a no-show is a no-no. Since I confirm all appointments the day before, there really is no excuse to not show up to an appointment. And sometimes there is a good reason a client doesn’t come to her appointment. But short of a car accident or some other emergency that rendered her unable to pick up the phone and let me know she can’t make it, I take no showed appointments with a very rigid stance: I always charge for a no-show. Period.
I suppose if I didn’t confirm my appointments I would feel I had less ground to stand on when charging for a no-show. Yet another good reason to confirm. If I have reminded the client with a courtesy day-before phone call and she still did not show up, this is not a client I want for my business.
Getting a credit card number when booking a first-time client will be a sure fire way you can charge her if she decides not to honor your time. It has only happened once or twice in my career, but once in a while I will not get a CC number when booking a new client and the day of her appointment that she has decided not to come to, I have no way of charging her. But I do make a note in my appointment book (and on my iPhone contacts: JudyNOSHOWSmith) so if she does call again, she will have to (up front) pay for the missed appointment before I would be willing to schedule another appointment with her.
Yes, it’s true, I’m not messing around here. Time is money and my time is worth a lot: $115/hour as a matter of fact. And if a client doesn’t have the manners to at least call at the last minute to let me know she isn’t coming (even with a flimsy excuse), she isn’t someone I want in my business, and she should be charged for the time she has carved out in my schedule. I certainly would pay a service provider if I had to cancel at the last minute or somehow completely forgot about the appointment. And I expect the same from my clients.
Some clients are not up for being charged for a service they did not receive, even if they no-showed their appointment. In some cases you simply cannot charge them, but I won’t ever book that client in to see me—ever. I will say, with my good clients, they always offer to pay in these cases. And I actually will let these conscientious clients have a one-time pass on a last minute cancel. I want to keep these types of people as clients. But—with a no-showed, confirmed appointment—I still will charge, even a good client, without a reasonable excuse.
For the short list of what to do with a no-showed appointment:
- always get a credit card number when booking first-time clients
- let each client know your policy so you can then charge for missed appointments (no-shows) without the client being surprised or uninformed
- always mark in your appointment book and on their chart that they no showed on such and such a date
Here is an example of a very concise cancellation policy that truly should curtail any no-shows or even last minute cancellations. If your client knows this information ahead of time (make sure she does), then your client knows she will be charged if she doesn’t follow your guidelines and policies (click on the image to enlarge):
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| This is a great cancellation policy |
As I’ve said in previous posts, you need to verbally explain your cancellation policy to each new client over the phone so you know they are aware they will be charged if something goes amiss. I think charging someone without fully informing them of your policies is not good business. If all of your appointments are made online, have an agreement page with your policies on them and before an appointment can be made, the client has to check a box to agree with these policies.
I always mark down the no-show on the client’s chart. I put the date, just as I would had she been there, and then mark that the appointment was confirmed and then no-showed. If she is a first-time client, therefore there is no client chart, I may make a chart so I can have the no-show noted in case she decides to make another go at a facial with me. My experience is that when a first-time client doesn’t come to the initial appointment and is charged, I never hear from her again.
Charging for no-shows isn’t fun. I would much rather give a facial then get paid for sitting around waiting for a client who never shows up. But I was at my office ready and waiting for her to come through the door, and because she didn’t, another paying client didn’t have a chance to come in. So it all works out in the end.
I will say, almost 100% of the time, a person who has no-showed an appointment never calls me again—even if I haven’t charged for the no-show. As I said, I don’t want no-show type clients in my business, so I just chalk these very rare occasions up to the cost of doing business.
For more details, see:
