Musical Appointments

I hate changing people around. From the git-go, I have always been likely to keep your appointment where you put it originally.

Maybe it’s because I hate writing with pencils? True story! I hate the sound/feeling of the lead scratching against the paper. Makes me cringe a little. It was a huge issue for me in elementary school, and the number-one reason behind learning about pencil leads so I could use my mechanical pencil on those Scantron sheets. Drove a couple of teachers crazy, but my tests always scanned just fine so they had to shut up.

I thought erasable ink was one of the best things invented by mankind.

Anyway, when I started doing nails, it was all about paper appointment books. And I really preferred writing things in ink. So maybe that’s why I didn’t get in the habit of doing a lot of rescheduling. Or maybe that’s just who I am. But my tendency to leave a client’s appointment where we put it when we originally made it is on my list of reasons for my client retention rate. I’m reliable.

I’ve worked with a lot of different salon professionals in my years. I’ve seen girls call up two full days of appointments on their books and reschedule 20 clients because they had cramps. I’ve seen people rearrange their clients so they could go shopping, or so they could watch their soap opera. I’ve heard a thousand clients tell me that the reason they left their last tech was because she constantly rescheduled their appointments; they simply couldn’t plan for the rest of their lives and still get their nails done.

But I also have clients who repeatedly assure me that if I need to reschedule them, it’s fine with them. Just give them a call.

But I usually don’t. If I call and reschedule someone it’s because I genuinely think the new time I’m offering them would be preferable to them. And there’s no obligation to take the new time.

Very rarely do I play the, “Can you come in at ______ so I can get someone else into the time you currently have?” game. And only once have I ever rescheduled everyone at the last minute so I could go on an “emergency” backpacking trip.

Nope. If I’m cancelling or rescheduling my clients, it’s a big deal. Like, “Hi, remember that motorcycle I got? Yeah. I broke my wrist. I’ll let you know when I can work again.”