How do you handle late cancellations for Personal Training sessions?
Hi Dianne,
do you have a cancellation policy? And if so, do you enforce it?
Many personal trainers ask for money in advance but you may have a hard time to introduce that retroactively when your clients are used to pay per session.
Personally, I also have my clients pay per session but I rarely run into the problem with late cancellations for trivial reasons. On the few occasions where it happened with some degree of frequency, I had an honest conversation with the client. I pointed to my cancellation policy and told the client that I would enforce it if late cancellations continued to occur. I also suggested that we should look at a different way of scheduling. Most of my clients are on a regular schedule, a few schedule week to week and have to choose from what is left.
If things do not continue to improve, it may be time to evaluate whether this relationship should be continued.
Good luck. This is always a thorny issue and an uncomfortable discussion.
Karin Singleton
www.meltnc.com
Hi Dianne,
I have an in-home training business and my clients pay up front for their sessions. I also have a 24-hour cancellation policy, and my clients generally adhere to this unless it’s an illness or last minute unforeseen event (which of course I allow). I’m very fortunate that most of my clients are great about my time, but I have had to talk directly with one or two about last minute cancellations (and I have not allowed make-ups for some–which puts an end to this as well).
If you don’t already have a policy in writing, you should develop one as it will help save you time, money and frustration.
Best to you,
Christine
