hi. My name is Ann Marie Christell. I'm a coach for hairstylist that wants to grow their business behind the chair without feeling overwhelmed or working longer hours behind the chair. I have over 20 years of experience working behind the chair, earning over six figures if you wish to make more money without working longer hours behind the chair and bring in spiritual and sustainable principles into your business and life when you are in the right place. In this podcast, I will mix business strategies, marketing tips, personal development, spiritual practices and sustainable ways of living and working. Welcome to the sustainable hairstylist podcast. Welcome back to the podcast. I am again, super excited to be here with you today, and today's episode is going to be all about how to handle scheduling and cancelations gracefully as a hairstylist,
because I know
as a hairstylist,
we have all
of these relationships with our clients, and one of The things that can be hard for us is the fact that we have clients that we are rebooking. We have clients that are canceling in the last minute, and this whole back and forth with our clients can be super overwhelming. It can be something that maybe is one of the things that you think is super annoying. Why cannot those clients just show up on the appointments that they actually have on time and not in the last minute, want to reschedule, move that appointment back and forth and so on. So today is going to be all about how you can handle this gracefully. Picture this, you have scheduled out maybe a one hour appointment on three hour appointments and 10 minutes before the client arrives, all of a sudden, that person reads us out saying that they want to cancel their appointment, and you sit there with three hours or one hour doing nothing. I want you to create a system that so that you will be able to move out of this way of working, moving out of the frustration that you won't be able to fit in another client, and remove all those frustration that you might have when It comes to booking your clients having last minute cancelations so that you can feel calm, so that you can feel okay with the system that you have created. Because you don't need that all of that overwhelm. You don't need all that frustration. You don't need all of those situations where you have to text back and forth with your clients and so on. So let's talk about why we need to have a strong system for booking your clients, and why you need to have a system into place. So I'm all for having an online booking calendar. For the longest time I was struggling with this, and I only let my clients call me to book an appointment. I rarely would even take an email when it came to booking appointments, because I am super sensitive towards people's energy, and anytime that I get someone on the phone, I can get a feeling of what kind of person that is. And I wanted to make sure that I was screening everyone that wanted to book an appointment with me, and I thought that I would lose something by having an online booking calendar, having people scheduling in things like that. But what I realized was I had built a really strong brand of who I was on social media and on my website, my whole digital storefront was set up so that I started to have clients that were actually the right fit for me. I started to have systems into place to screen those clients anyway, so I decided to try. Out to have an online booking system, because, frankly, answering the phone all the time was stressful, and it took away time that I had together with my clients, and I really put the system into place to streamline everything for me. I had set up all my booking system in a way so that my clients knew exactly what the rules are. I also set up so that every single person that booked through the online system had to pay a deposit for the appointment, and there was an email going up when they were booking the appointment. There is a text message reminding them of their appointment, and then I also have a message going out after their appointment, saying things, getting them to create a testimonial for me, etc, etc, etc, so I've created a system that really worked, and when I created this, I was actually blown away of how easy it became for me. I was in love with having the system within like, a week, because I didn't have to answer the phone. I wasn't interrupted when I was working, and I realized that I was being able to be more in the moment with the clients that I was having in my chair. So I removed a lot of stress. I removed a lot of the back and forth with clients when they wanted to cancel and so on. One of the things when it comes to creating a system that really, really works, having clear policies into place, and policies are like your rules for your business and you are in charge. You are offering services. Your are inviting people into your space, and it's actually okay to set up your rules and your boundaries for what is okay in your salon and what is not okay, my recommendation is to always have your online booking calendar, and also that you create something that where you decide, how are people allowed to communicate with You? Because if you allow people to communicate with you on every single platform that exists out there, then you might be overwhelmed. You might feel that, hey, this is not working, etc, etc, etc, because some people want to send smoke signals to you. Some people want to use Instagram. Some people use Facebook, Twitter, etc, etc, etc. Someone texts, someone calls, someone blah blah blah blah blah, having your online calendar and having a system into place, you can almost booking. Calendars, you can actually add that there is a cancelation policy. If they cancel within 24 hours or 48 hours, whatever it is that you set up your online booking calendar to then they won't be able to cancel their appointment. They won't maybe there are systems into place. Depending on what kind of scheduling tool you are using, they can move the appointment, etc, etc. But whatever you are using, get the knowledge that you need to learn how that system works and put a system into place. Also have clear emails going out to your clients about how things are set up. And I know things happen. Someone might have an accident when they are driving towards you,
someone that has been with you for quite some time, and and there might be moments where you are not going to enforce your policies, but all of those clients that you know, and you probably have those that book their appointment when They leave this alone, and then one or two weeks before that set appointment, they want to change it. They want to tweak what they want to do with their hair, etc, etc, etc, or maybe you have blocked off six hours to do a color correction. And when they come to your chair, they say that A. I decided I just want to cut my hair today, creating the policies and creating an email system that are or text message system, depending on what it is that you're going to do a follow up sequence around the appointments and the expectations your clients can have on you saying, like, what I have set up is for different services that I offer. There are different things going into that email sequence so that when I block off many, many hours for a client, they actually know they cannot change this type of service the last minute, I have my deposit system into place, and I require that for every single client, even the clients that are coming back over and over and over and over again, because when People have to pay upfront when they're booking something, they are actually feeling that they are already invested so they won't be going into changing that appointment in the last minute. People that are willing to pay a deposit are more likely to show up. And people that are paying in a deposit, they feel that they are more invested in you. They feel that, yes, this is the right fit for me. So what I do is I have a 24 hour cancelation. So how I have set it up? And nowadays this is something that how I have set it up is how I handle the deposits. People can change their appointment up to 24 hours from when they have actually have their appointment. If they want to cancel their appointment. I won't pay any deposits back at all. If some one wants to move their appointment, and they want to move that within 20 less, not more than 24 hours from when they are actually booked in, I will move their appointment with the deposit. But if they want to change anything closer to 24 hours, that appointment and the deposit will be for me, and if they want to do another appointment, then they have to pay another deposit for a new appointment. All of this is stated in the emails going out they it's stated on my website and so on. And for any new clients that I take on when it comes to doing big hair, I actually have a video consultation with them. I don't do consultations in the salon, but I do video consultations. All of this is some things that I go through in the consultation so that all new clients are aware that this is the system that I've created. Also in my email sequence. I have a video where I talk about what is allowed in my salon, etc, and what it's my rules are around, arriving late, arriving early, etc, etc, etc. And what I noticed is that having a video where I talk about my policies, talking about what they should think of when it comes to coming to me as a client, they're more likely to watch a video rather than reading a long text on a website or a long email. So that is something that you should think about. One thing that I want you to start to think of, because I see this over and over again, is a lot of hair stylists are using their social media to talk about their policies, etc, but there's no information about the policies on their website. Social media is a tool to attract people into your world, to get people to see your work and then move them from your social media into doing a consultation, into booking an appointment with you. I think that talking about and having pinned posts on Instagram or on Tiktok or on Facebook about your cancelation policies, etc, how you can book an appointment it should not be there at all. That is the thing that. You do when you've actually moved from having a conversation with them to booking an appointment or booking a consultation. I also charge money when I do consultations, when people show up for their consultation, I pay the money back, or if it is the case that my clients will actually book an appointment with me, I move that money towards your appointment so they have to pay to one deposit for the consultation, one for booking the appointment, and all of those money is a deposit together for the clients that are my clients, and I can say 90% of all the people that I have a video consultation with me book an appointment. So those little times I actually spend with people when they do not book an appointment with me is usually because I feel that there is something off with that client. And I actually am super clear nowadays that certain amounts of what I need in order for people to be my client. I am very clear on if I feel that something is off, I rather say no than a yes. I truly trust my instinct with this and look at things from is this going to be a good fit for me, because if I feel that something is off most of the time, it is hard for me to be able to do a good job, and nowadays, it's more important to have many clients that are a good fit, rather than fit everyone in. So how can we handle last minute cancelations gracefully? First of all, I know when someone cancels in the last minute things happen. Maybe people forget about their appointment, etc, etc, etc, before you even respond. Because I guess that most of the time people nowadays are texting you, most of the time you get an emotional reaction, so before you even start to respond to something, I want you to take a deep breath and release any irritation and any idea of what is going to happen Just because someone canceled their appointment in the last minute, when you have set up your policies into place, making sure that everything is going out in an email sequence, in a text message sequence, so that every single client are aware of the rules. Think about and my recommendation is to craft responses. And if you feel that it is hard to craft your own responses on how you should deal with the situation with a client, you can ask chat GPT for helping you out with this, or if you ever have questions like this, don't hesitate to reach out to me. You can either email me at [email protected] or you can message me on Instagram at ScreenFlow underscore. I can help you out if you want to have
all my systems that I've created, you can also join my membership the serene flow marketing club. Can join for only $1 for the first 30 days. So it's a great offer where you can get everything set up into place, and where I actually coach and guide you once a week in Q and A's to help you become the best marketer there is for your business having emails set up or messages that you can just copy and paste, because then you don't have to go into all of those emotions. So before you even respond to something, I want you to shake out all of that irritation, all the thoughts about this is going to happen, blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah, because when we have someone canceling in the last minute, that could cause a lot of ideas in our heads. It can even go into my whole business is going to crash down. Now I'm not going to make this money. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, remove all of that and see it as okay, hey, this person is not coming now I have a gap if this cancelation happened, so that you actually have time to take another client in my recommendation is to have a list of the people that have reached out to you, that could be available, really closing and reach out to them. Make when you are responding to things, respond in a polite, clear way. And it's always good that if you have your policies into place on a website where you can just respond politely and then remind them of the rules, copy and paste and also always open with, do we? Do you want to move your appointment? Do you want to do this? Do you want to do that? But remember remove all the emotions and irritations that you have. Also, we want to remind our clients about your deposit and what your non refundable system is, so that they are aware of that this should also be in place on the website and in the emails that are sent out, and as I said before, offer a rescheduling time so that you can still have that client move to another appointment. But, like, I have a lot of clients that travel to me, sometimes things happen, like the train is late, etc, etc. Things happen when it's out of the control of the client, when things just go wrong, and for, like, some of my clients to travel three hours to come and get their hair done, I always try to, you know, even if I have a packed schedule, I will always offer them like, Hey, do you want to come when I'm finished for the day? Or do I have a gap here and there to to really accommodate them? Sometimes it's not possible, but things happen, and the same with the if someone gets, like, in a car accident, etc, etc. I try to accommodate when things are happening like that as well, and maybe move a little bit out of my policies, just to make sure that everything is working, because I know that this is not a person that just didn't want to show up or didn't want to do their hair. So there's two sides to this. So we want to fill the gaps in our schedule and thinking about okay, who have been reaching out to me the last week and actually wanting an appointment this week, put a list in your phone or on your computer or in a notebook, so that you're aware of who you can reach out to. I think if you are going to use social media to let people know that you have an open appointment, then don't put the appointment out. What time and day my recommendation if you're doing a story and write out, Hey, I have a last minute cancelation this week. DM me for me details. Why I want you to do that is because more people are more likely to show interest in that appointment. And then you can put all the other people on a list for last minute cancelations. And if it's not possible, move them into an appointment that works for them and a pro repair. Every time that you get someone to DM you on a post like that, it's going to be shown to more people on social media. So it's a good way to actually get people to see your content as well. But don't write out, Hey, I have an appointment left tomorrow at blah, blah, blah, blah. Say I have an appointment last minute appointment this week because someone canceled, or someone got sick, etc, so we have those clients that chronically cancels and no shows putting the deposit system into place is for this. Nowadays, I live in France, in Provence. I used to live in Stockholm, Sweden, and I still have a clientele in Stockholm, Sweden, where I actually go and do hair every three months. I take care of my clients, and then I go back here because I still love doing hair, and I still have amazing relationship with my clients. What happened last time when I was working was that I had booked a client to do a real transformation, and it was a six hour client. And what I do because I rent out an apartment where I work and take care of my clients, because I don't do any color services and stuff like that anymore because of my allergies, so I don't need to be in a salon. I just rent an apartment in an apartment hotel. So I text all my clients with what floor I am on, what room number, etc and so on. And the client in the morning had messaged me, saying, Hey, I got your message. See you later. So when it was five minutes after her appointment, I was little like, Okay, I went out just to see if something had happened, if she was in the hallway, if she was in the elevator, etc, just to see if she was there. Nothing. I went up to the hotel room. I called nothing. I texted nothing, and she had paid a $200 deposit for that appointment. I messaged her later on nothing, and I realized that she's not going to show up. And what I did is I couldn't do that much more. I reached out to two clients that really wanted to have an appointment, but I know that, can you come in an hour? It's not possible for everyone so but what I realized, okay, it was super, super strange that she didn't show up because she texted me in morning saying like hey and when I called, there was nothing when I texted, there was nothing when I emailed there was nothing, so she was just one of those that probably changed her mind, and I just realized that, hey, okay, it was not meant to be. I got paid
money for doing nothing, and I ended up doing some social media work instead, and I actually have a full podcast episode on what to do when you have a slow time in your salon, and I will link it in the show notes for you with some different things. What you can do if you don't have clients and you don't know what to do with your time, and that time is actually great to create content, that time is great to do things to promote yourself. So don't forget about that. And what I did here is so I required a big deposit. I will if she ever reach out, I will not do her hair. If there is a fact that she will reach out and she wants to book another appointment with me, then I will take all the money up front for that appointment, and I will add a more expensive price just because of the situation that happened, but more likely I will say no, I will not let that client in again, because I know my worth, and I know that it's more important for me to actually have those clients that actually respect me, and because nowadays I only work certain amount of days when I am back in Sweden, then I'll I really have To value Who am I taking on so you if you have a person that you know will cancel or will all the time or will is always the person that wants to move their appointment back and forth. If you have a client that is shady in that way, my recommendation is to always make sure that having a conversation with them face to face, or having a conversation, if you cannot have it on face to face, have it on phone, because texting, there can be a lot of things going on. In between the lines, they won't be able to understand what it is that you are actually saying, and why we want to have these conversations is to actually get our clients to understand what happens when they change their appointment in the last minute, what happens when they are doing this, and what are the consequences? So thinking about, what are the rules for you in your business? What are you allowing? And what is it that you're not allowing? Super important that you have those set, and you're actually writing that out for yourself, your the rules that you have for yourself and your business, about how are you allowing your clients to treat you, etc, etc, those should be something that you are private for yourself, but so that you can look at it and think about, okay, yes, I've set these rules for myself, and I'm not going to let my clients treat me in this way and having these boundaries and then putting policies into place to back those up, because I know you want to have clients that are committed to their appointments. You want to have clients that respect your time. You want to have clients that actually want to show up and want to show up for you and who you are. So I've been talking a lot about how we can handle our scheduling thing and using it for me anyway, using an online booking system, setting my systems into place has really, really been a game change for me, because it saved up so much time and I don't have to interact as much with My clients that come on a regular basis because they know that I'm sending out an email when I actually have my books open. They book their appointment, they pay their deposit. They know what systems are into place. How I reach out to them to know where and when things are going up, etc, etc, etc, and it has actually helped me feel calm and yes, just as I was talking about I had a no show the last time I was working in Sweden. But I realized that, okay, this happened, and I believe that everything happens happens for a reason. So I took the time to work on my business. Instead, I was doing work for the podcast. I was doing things for everything, for this alone as well. And I always try to maintain a positive mindset around all of this, I always try to maintain that I am calm. I don't go into rants. I don't go into like things around being annoyed, because before I even were aware of that, my mindset actually has an impact on me how I am feeling, because we actually are in control of how we react and respond to things, and I used to complain a lot around how my Clients were treating me, how they were showing up, how they like, what they were doing actually had an impact. And I was in such a negative mindset that I was actually spreading a lot of negativity around me. And I want you to also remind yourself that if you have a situation going on with a client that is very negative, think about how can you shift that into something positive? Because there is always a lesson to learn. And if you have a situation that someone is canceling over and over and over again, most likely you are not having the policies into place, and that is up to you. That's on you if you want change, put policies into place. If there is a situation with a client, what can I learn from the situation with this client? How can I show up and think and how can I look at this from a more positive outcome? Remember, you are running a business. You don't have to take. Everything personally. I know that you
are an emotional being. Maybe you are high, sensitive,
etc, etc. I know it can be hard to not take things personally, but remember, don't take it personally. Shit happens, and how can you maintain your positive outcome? How can you stay firm with your policies? How can you create more more of the systems into place so that you can just copy and paste your answers and for every situation that happened, you will learn something and you create. Can create a template where you can just copy and paste and not need to go into so much rent about that, and then let it go. If you are super irritated, shake that energy out of you, move your body and think about all those clients that are actually showing up on time, that are really happy to come to you, and that are not annoying, and focus on that. So we want to have clear policies into place taking deposits and having everything automated into place if you already have this. How can you prove this in a better way? Now, I would want to know from you if you have any questions about this episode, or if you have some tweaks in your systems that you don't really know, what is it that is not working, etc. Don't hesitate to reach out to me. You can reach out to me either via email, or you can reach out to me on Instagram at ScreenFlow underscore, because I would love to hear what your situation is right now, and maybe what is it that you can tweak if you feel that you really want to have all of this set up, I will put the link in the show notes for my membership the serene flow marketing club you can join for only $1 for the first 30 days. After that, it's $49 per month. You will have a lot of different strategies into place, in how you can attract clients, how you can create content, how you can put your whole marketing strategy into place. We have live calls every week where we do Q and A's. I have other educators that are coming in to be guests, and we have an amazing community where you can ask me questions, I can review the work that you're doing, so that you are set up for success. So it is a great platform for you that wants to have that extra help and want to have help by me. For all you that listens, if you enjoy any of this, please leave a review on Spotify or on Apple podcast. Or if you love this on YouTube, please do a thumbs up subscribe to the channel, because in that way, we can get this podcast out to so many more people. And please reach out to me if you enjoy any of this, if you have any questions, because I would love to hear from you. I want to say thank you and goodbye for today, sending you lots and love. Bye.
