When you suggest setting aside time each week for seeing clients, which is a great idea, I have a problem--if I only have one or 2 days a week that I'm available then how will I be able to have people come to me who can't come at those times? This is something that has been bothering me for a long time, that I'll limit the clients I can see (not that they're coming out of the woodwork right now anyway). Is it a matter of trusting that the right clients will be able to make those times, or what?
As for your practice questions, these are great ones! They are very common too. Quite honestly, it DOES feel counterintuitive to limit your practice hours for the very reasons you pointed out. And yet, it turns out to be very beneficial to your practice in the long run.
The first thing I'll mention is that just like when you target your marketing towards a certain ideal client ~ you don't ever have to turn someone away when they ask for your services. Same with when you set your office hours. Having set office hours allows you to give a potential client some concrete options to choose from in order to get started with you. If none of your normal hours work, and if you have flexibility in your schedule and desire to work with this person, you can find a time that's mutually convenient. Remember, you never have to turn someone away if you don't want to. You are in charge!
Let me give you some examples to see if these help demonstrate what I'm talking about.
Recently, I was looking for a bookkeeper. A friend recommended someone, and she sounded great so I gave her a call. We talked about how she could help me, and I asked how to get started. She told me I could come by her home office anytime I wanted, just to give her a call with a heads up of a few minutes before I dropped by in case she was busy. I intended to stop by to see her the following Monday, but I wasn't sure what a good time was to drop by. I didn't want to interrupt her or drop in at a bad time or try to squeeze our session in between other commitments of my own. I felt awkward about the whole thing, so I never stopped by. She didn't call me back to follow up, so I figured she was too busy for a new client anyways. I've had this happen with massage therapists, chiropractors, hair dresser's etc. To me, this feels like the business owner is putting the responsibility of figuring out our appointment time on me instead of making it easy for me to show up when I know she's ready and available to focus on me.
On the other hand, there is a practitioner I've been seeing for years. She makes it incredibly easy for me to see her. She encourages me to purchase a 5 or 10 pack of sessions, and when it's time for a new round she spends a few minutes after our session getting those appointments booked with me so I know exactly when I am going to see her. It's a no brainer. The sessions are pre-paid and booked ahead, and all I have to do is show up and relax. She even sends a reminder email the day before. It takes all the stress and awkwardness out of it. This practitioner has an intuitive knack for making it easier for her clients and keeping her schedule full.
These are extreme examples, but I hope they are helpful in demonstrating the power of making it easy for your clients to schedule. If you leave it up to the client to tell you when they want to come in and see you, most of the time they won't follow through for similar emotional reasons as I described about my experiences with the bookkeeper above. The bookkeeper came across as either too busy to make time for me or too flaky to commit to working with me, neither of which gives me confidence about working with her.
If you have certain time slots allocated for clients on your calendar, when someone contacts you - you can very quickly give this person a few options from your calendar to choose from. This demonstrates confidence and gives the potential client a sense of security that you know what you are doing. It also gives the potential client the message that you are a busy (and therefore valuable) practitioner which gives them even more confidence.
About 90% of the time, people will be able to make one of those times work. In those rare instances when those options don't work, then you can work with the person to find a mutually convenient time. Here's how I would carry out the conversation whether on the phone or over email. Maybe this formula would be helpful?
Practitioner: "Let's get you on the schedule. I am usually in the office on Mon, Tues & Thursday. I could see you on Monday morning at 10am, Tuesday afternoon at 3pm or Thurs at 11am or 6pm. Do any of these work for you?"
If the answer is yes, great! If the answer is no, I would then ask "What time of day or day of the week works best for you?", and then based on the answer, I would suggest something in my schedule that's available most closely to what they need.
No comments:
Post a Comment