Scheduling Appointments
Always conduct yourself in a pleasant and professional manner.
Based on the services you offer, your capacity and level of commitment, your hours will be quite long and varied. Make every attempt to create a schedule that will fit your individual needs.
1st Determine your appointment days. What days will you perform service? What time will you accept your first appointment? What time do you want to end your day? What time will you take your last appointment? What service will you restrict after certain hours? Ex: I start all goddess locs no later than 9am. I prefer not to work later than 8pm.
2nd How do you accept appointments? Web only? Text messages? Phone calls? You need to have a consistent process by which clients are able to contact you, schedule an appointment and get appointment details. Sample appointment systems are: Gloss, Style Seat, Mindbody
3rd How do you confirm appointments? What’s your reservation policy? Do you take a deposit?
4th Whats the cancellation policy? When should a client notify you? Are there any fees related to cancellation? How do you handle emergency cancellations from regular clients what do you do when YOU have to cancel?
5th How do you handle last minute appointment requests that happen outside of your scheduled work hours?
6th How do you handle clients who arrive late? What do you do when you are running late or running behind with a client?
We all know life happens and the nature of the work we do is variable. Our business works when we honor hour time commitments and when our clients honor theirs. Things can change in a moment, but when you have a system in place it gives you a guideline on how to respond and manage client expectations.
Now it’s your turn. I want you to take some time to answer the questions in the Appointment System sheet in your Business Systems Builder and draft your appointment system policy.