Package refund for client who moved away?- UPDATE in thread

[Night Otter]

Package refund for client who moved away?- UPDATE in thread

Great compromise - well done!

And I totally agree about gc's. I hate ones that are 'out there'. I never really got into packages but I think I would feel the same way.

One person (I don't remember if it was on MassagePlanetL) had an interesting idea. When a client/patient re-booked while still at the appointment, they got a discount on the next session. An incentive to re-book.

 

[Xia Qureshi]

Package refund for client who moved away?- UPDATE in thread

One person (I don't remember if it was on MassagePlanetL) had an interesting idea. When a client/patient re-booked while still at the appointment, they got a discount on the next session. An incentive to re-book.

You know, I've seen this suggestion come up numerous times over the years and I have to say I don't do it. I can't wrap my head around why I would want to give away a good portion of my income for no reason. All of my clients rebook before leaving without any financial incentive for doing so - I just ask them to. They value the work I do and know they want to come in regularly and by rebooking now they get the time that fits their schedule which most likely won't be there if they call next week or after.

 

[themann_ca]

Package refund for client who moved away?- UPDATE in thread

And in this day and age, who wants to take the chance on being slammed publicly on FB or Twitter or whatever?

Life is full of risks. No sense having rules/policies if you are afraid to enforce them. The beauty of social media is that negative buzz tends to fizzle fast unless it really is important or is a negative experience shared by many. One person grumbling because they blew it won't get much sympathy and may even be chastised by their friends for being an idiot about it.

 

[shadow78]

Package refund for client who moved away?- UPDATE in thread

And we are ind iscussions about future package/gift certificate sales. Seems our worst "flakes" come out of the woodwork around these two "deals".

When selling a package of sessions, I require that all sessions are booked at the time of sale. The client can reschedule if need be, but having them on the book helps to ensure the sessions get used timely. I send out a confirmation letter at the time of sale listing the dates/times and covering the policies, such as non-refundable, no-show, rescheduling, etc.

I like this idea, Pete. We have a few clients who are "chain package users"; they come weekly, or bi-weekly, and they *always* "re-up", sometimes even paying for the next package on the day they use up the last of the most recent one. THESE clients we certainly don't mind giving that package discount to. I will add your suggestion to my list of ideas to consider. Since we are currently in the process of streamlining our office procedures, so that *I* don't have to be here to figure everything out, it is a great time to add in something like that. Heretofore, I'd been *encouraging* clients to pre-book all their package sessions, using the *availability* of pre-booking more than one at a time as an incentive to purchase the package. Making it a *requirement* would be an even better solution. There's ... one client I can think of right off the bat who travels a LOT and would be literally unable to do that (he'd literally end up re-scheduling the majority of his sessions anyway, giving both of us more hassle than it'd be worth); however, this is one of those dream clients who is NOT flaky in the slightest, and we wouldn't worry about him dropping off the face of the earth. Besides, his wife IS one of the regular bi-weeklies; they're not going ANYwhere anytime soon!

I told DH yesterday that I am leaning toward not OFFERING package deals and gift certificates "to the general public" anymore; but if a known client asks (or someone referred by one), then we could do it. Less paperwork for us, to be sure.

 

[Marina V]

Package refund for client who moved away?- UPDATE in thread

And in this day and age, who wants to take the chance on being slammed publicly on FB or Twitter or whatever?

Life is full of risks. No sense having rules/policies if you are afraid to enforce them. The beauty of social media is that negative buzz tends to fizzle fast unless it really is important or is a negative experience shared by many. One person grumbling because they blew it won't get much sympathy and may even be chastised by their friends for being an idiot about it.

Yeah, I worried a bit about negative feedback in the community when we "fired" that one manipulative client who kept no-showing. But DH had a very good point, in that EVERYONE has someone grumble about them sometime or other. And if folks in the community knew her well at all, they'd probably already know how SHE was anyway, and figure that she earned it or something like that. (It's early; my brain cells aren't booted all the way up just yet.)