Are you involved in the healing arts? Why did you get involved? Was it to help resolve a personal health challenge? Perhaps you like working with people, or simply want to make a difference in the world by helping wherever you can. Rarely does anyone get into this business to make the big bucks! However, this is a business, and we all have financial responsibilities so how do we deal with the business side of our work.
Let me share some simple tips that if followed can boost your level of professionalism, productivity and can avoid awkward moments when dealing with money issues and clients.
When a client rushes in late, apologizing giving excuses how do you react? Do you give a partial treatment and finish the session as scheduled? Or do you tell them it is OK, that you will just start the session late and still give a full treatment?? I used to! Then one day I realized that it was the same clients who were consistently late for every appointment.
In the beginning when my practice was just growing I was happy to help out, however when I got busier it became very stressful for me keeping all my clients happy. How did I get my clients to change? Simple I changed myself. I decided that it was no longer OK for them to be late. If a client was late I explained that I would prefer them to be on time, as I had a schedule to keep to. The next time they were late I explained that the session would still have to end at the agreed time for the agreed fee, so their session time would be limited. If they wanted to receive a full session then they needed to arrive on time, or preferably five minutes early to give themselves chance to settle down and relax. As soon as the client realized that there was a consequence for their lateness it was amazing how quickly they managed to arrive on time.
Perhaps you the practitioner find it difficult to keep to a strict time schedule, and find yourself running over. One way to solve this is to charge by the hour not by the session. Figure out your hourly rate lets use the example of $60 per hour $1 per minute. Let your clients know in advance that you charge by the hour. From personal experience as a practitioner many of my clients would want to chat or ask questions “outside” of their session time, which they considered “bonus” time. However when they realize that they are paying for this “bonus” time clients became much more time conscious. By respecting my time, and inviting the client to realize that my time whether treating or talking was the same dollar value became a win/win solution for everyone.
How to deal with price increases was another area of difficulty for me. This I solved by planning any price changes months in advance. I decided to review my price schedule twice a year
GREAT Ideas! I do have some trouble with folks showing up late OR asking for lots of information about health issues… rather than purchasing a book that sits right there for them to look at/buy.
The thing about natural approaches to health is that people need to take responsibility for learning and applying some new things. I think sometimes they need some hand-holding and they do not realize that time is costly— ours AND thiers…which is why they need to learn!
I love having other health practitioners in Christina’s Website Workshop! Thanks!