Membership Expired Kat Hunter
Membership ExpiredForum Replies Created
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@Dave, some really great points there. You seem to be pretty level-headed on this one and have some great ideas.
@Danny, you’re right. Sometimes it’s just difficult to draw the line… You definitely need to be already on good terms with someone for this to work, and if someone is sly enough, they’ll try to use the “i’m sick” reasoning in future. I know with some of the best students I’ve had over the years (incidentally also the ones who were more committed to practicing and getting the most out of lessons), if they were sick and had to cancel at the last minute, they’d apologise for putting me out and OFFER to pay the cancellation fee because they understand that otherwise it’s a loss to a small business that they support. That’s how you know you’ve got some good eggs:)OK, so for me personally in 2015 I ended up basically having NO policy because I was so lax, and it was definitely to my own detriment. And one person in particular who knew about my (thinly held) 24 hour policy would cancel repeatedly 25 hours in advance. Not really showing respect for my time!
In 2016 I’m taking advice from a lot of you and completely restructuring everything! I think this is what I’m going to do:
1. lessons have to be paid at least 48 hours in advance to confirm booking. I was worried this would be a logistical nightmare but then I realised many of my students pay by bank transfer anyway, so they can just set up the transfer to come through earlier each week/fortnight.
2. Serious 48 hour cancellation policy. I’ll have a sign up n my studio, I’ll send an email about it to all my current students, and I’m in the process now of putting together a welcome pack pdf for new students! This is exciting as I think I can put in a fair bit of useful info, and the policy stuff can be couched in between “What to bring to lessons” and “How to get the most out of your lessons” so it doesn’t look so harsh all by itself haha!
3. Bulk booking discounts. Based on your suggestions and some things I’ve seen, I’m going to offer a discount on bundles of 4 lessons (useful for monthly payments), and also a more significant saving with “buy 9 lessons, get one free”. When students purchase this, I’ll give them a little card to stamp off the lessons as they go so students know how many they’ve got left. (Thanks Beckie for the great inspiration!!)I’m really excited about implementing all these changes. But only time will tell how effective it all is!
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The vista print loyalty card idea is a really good one! I might even use it for people who pay for “9 lessons, get one free” bundle up front, so they can keep track of how many lessons they’ve used. Awesome:)
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Hey Beckie, what’s your loyalty scheme? It sounds like a really good idea.
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True! I don’t know why I get so nervous over this stuff! Good to have y’all here backing me up!
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OK, so I’m going to enforce a new cancellation policy next year because I’m finding that the 24 hour one isn’t working for me (i’m getting people cancelling exactly 25 hours in advance ha! And it’s still not enough time to reschedule someone else in that spot). So I want to go to 48 hours. I think it’s also a good idea to take monthly payments at the start of the month or at least to have people paying a week in advance…
I’m not sure about charging people 100% of the fee though with 48 hours. Because with 48 hours if people get sick they definitely won’t know that far in advance. So I’m thinking I should make the cancellation fee 75% (I charge a fair bit here so maybe this is more reasonable).
I’m not sure if I’m being too soft. What do you guys think? do you have a problem with your policies when people get sick?
