Geeg,
I have a couple of my partners relatives who come to me for their nails and most of the time at the end of the service (french gel rebalances) they will say something like oh is it alright if i can fix you up next week i have no money? next week never comes then a few weeks later they call me to book in for their next infills! and might give me say $10-$20 and tell me they will give me the rest next week! i seem to never get payed and not sure on what to say! i know they 'know' they owe me money but they never mention it and i really dont know what to say!..thanks, Nic

p.s.
My french rebalance service is $35 and i only usually charge them say $30 so the $10-20 they are giving me is not covering it! yeeess..i know NO MATES RATES! so maybe you could tell me what to do in that situation aswell? thanks nic

This situation is covered in one of the posts above. The thing is, you are already missing that 30.00 a month if she keeps cancelling!! Just politely ask her to respect you and your time by keeping her appointments as much as possible. SHOW her on a piece of paper, how many changes she has made (keep a log). Often clients have no idea how much they mess people about, but when you show them they are amazed. Read the post above that covers this topic.

This is a solution I have offered in a post above in the thread already BUT I never call it a discount (which is a word as a professional I would never use). I call it an incentive. It may be a discount at the end of the day, but I never use that word as it smacks of a bazaar mentality and gives out the signal that you are worth less today than you will be tomorrow. To me this signal is not professional.

Good question, but I think clients mess ALL therapists about whether or not they are home based. On some level, they may perceive it as easier/less important if they do this to a home-based therapist which if they do, it is up to us to let them know that home-based or not, your business is a professional one and must be respected as such. The most telling statement in your post is this one ... "Why do we put up with this?"
Why indeed?? It is time to take control and not to put up with it any longer.

When speaking to a client use words like 'respect' and 'I'm sure you would feel ...'
or 'I'm sure you will understand....' etc. Don't talk AT them, talk TO them and include them by saying these things .. THAT is what makes it personal to them and THAT is what makes them alter their ways.

This is just so outrageous but here is an easy way.

Buy an invoice book at the store and make them out a bill at the end of the service. If they do not pay, hand them the bill and then both you and they have a record of the transaction. You can even say, "I thought doing this would save both of us from forgetting!" If they have not paid after that, SEND them a statement just as any other business would do. This saves the 'face to face' ASKING for your money which is not a nice position for anyone to put you in.

As for the 'discounted' rate you are giving them, see one of the first posts above where I have covered this already. I think it was fifitrix post.

All great advice Gigi. Again thank you.

yup, its a 'reward'. i call it 'regular rewards'.

where do we legally stand on taking deposits?

im not taking deps on all treatments over 30 mins, beause im fed up of turning clients away then other people not showing up!

Legally of course one can ask for a deposit but I think it would be detrimental to your business.

To my way of thinking, taking a deposit is awkward and time consuming for everyone. I would never go into a beauty salon and give a deposit for any treatment ... who has the time for that?

Every business is going to have some problems with clients ... it's all part of the game I'm afraid. Fortunately not many just don't turn up in the whole scheme of things ... it is the habitual ones that need to be given a 'talking to' , as my father used to say!! lol


Very nice phrase ... Regular Rewards ... I like that allot. You should have said that in your first post instead of DISCOUNT .... OH how that word gets me riled up when people use it!!

Thankuoi Gigi! i will be doing this what fab advice thanks again.
lol wish i was a fly on the wall when they recieve their invoice in the mail!

A question about charging friends.

Many many times I've been embarrased by the way a friend would treat me with regards to NOT paying for a treatment. And I know lots of other geeks have this happen too.

Knowing my prices for treatments I will get asked "How much will that be?".
I want to say "You know how much I charge its x amount" .... but embarrased at being put on the spot (and they obviously mean "how much do I have to pay you then - as I'm your mate and I shouldn't have to pay....") I end up saying "Oh, don't worry!" and of course they don't!

I HATE being put on the spot but after not just doing this once or twice to me but for a long long time, how does one go about changing this. I read your reply about invoicing them and sending a statement, but again, this makes me cringe up and I can imagin the reply I would get back from her!

I have only one person left who does this to me btw. It used to seem like everyone took the p**s, but tbh, I would rather NOT do a treatment on them than be put in such an awkward position.

Thanks gigi for being our a.aunt xx

I used to have a lot of problems with people not turning up or cancelling at the last minute. I also think that a lot of those at one point were from another salon sending people in to fill my appointment book so that I was turning away genuine clients. It got to a point where I was having 2 or 3 no shows one after the other on some days. Very frustrating. Now I take a £5 deposit on ALL appointments. If a client doesn't show or gives me less than 24 hours notice to cancel (depending on the situation of course & I am more flexible with regulars) then they lose their deposit. I was worried that it would put clients off and I have had a few people who don't like it but the majority understand and are happy to pay it. It did take a while to kick in properly but I now have deposits for every appointment and it is very rare that people don't show. It has actually been a big success for my business. I did consider a policy of charging people for no shows at their next appointment but I found that most clients who missed appointments just didn't come back so I'd never get the money back that I lost. This way, if they don't turn up, I just keep the deposit to cover my time. So far I haven't had any complaints about this but I've only ever done it a couple of times. I still have the odd client who phones a few times to change appointments but they do it with plenty of notice now so it doesn't put me out.

I'd say the success of taking deposits depends a lot on your salon situation & your clients. It will only work if your clients are willing to leave a deposit but I figured that as I was losing too much money by not taking them, it was worth a try. I make sure that I display a sign next to my nail station, it is mentioned in my price list & clients are given a piece of paper when they book thanking them for booking and explaining the deposit & cancellation policy. It works fine for me and my clients are happy. I don't know of any other salons in my area who take deposits though.

Kirsten - This used to happen to me and I felt awkward too but I got round it by explaining I am so busy that I am giving them a slot that someone else could have had and so therefore I have to charge. If they are friends, they are quick to understand. You wouldn't expect your friends to sacrifice any of their wages for you so ...

You need another phrase rather than saying, "Oh, don't worry!" !!!

That phrase is (pointing to your price list) "xxx pounds please!!"

You only have to do it once hunny and she will get the idea OR she won't come back. If it is only the one person then this is not a bad situation. As I said above, they must now respect your training and experience and pay the going rate. I know it is now at the awkward stage because you have let it go on for so long. But it only needs to be awkward one more time as you let her know that the price is the same for all clients.