glamarama

we had some doofus client (ALWAYS calls atleast 2 times to 'rebook" his appointment, half the time comes in RIGHT at closing, super rude to the girls, cheap, makes a bottle of juice last a year . . you know the type) have a CRAP last night - lobby full of clients, being served in order BUT they were cutting into 'his tan time' (oh, did I mention this was his 3rd rebook of the evening and he was STILL 20 minutes late anyways?!)

had to have one of the owners husband ask him to keep his voice down or LEAVE after he calledanother client a spoiled brat among other, more expletively laced misnomers - what is wrong with people?

jo

I wouldn't allow him to book appointments as he is undependable. Was he looking in a mirror when he called someone a spoiled brat?

MJ

I found your problem in the first sentence...appointments.
Don't do it. Problem solved.

I do not know why I did not go to walk-in only allllong time ago. I was never so happy so were my clients when I did that a few years ago.

MY clients love it now. I had a few resisters...they adapted.

I will:

A.TRY( I usually do) to Hold the bed for up to 15 minutes if they call
and it's available...and are on their way in.

B. Tell them how long the wait is on that particular bed so they can maximize their time..and for good clients...I will put them on the wait list and let them know to what time to get here.

C.For realllllly nice and/or big spending clients I will on eth down-low make and appointment for a special occasion..like my daughter is getting married or I am leaving on sunday and I have to squeeze just one more tan in.

Then the appreciate your efforts soo much more to accomidate them.And often show it by coming back to your salon next year or purchasing a lotion or a upgrade for your trouble.

When you do appointments for all...they simply think it is your job to jungle their appointments around to fit their schedule. and have an attitude.
JMHO

Now yes there are going to be some that HAVE to have Appointments they tan on thier lunch break.YOU evaluate if you want to continue to do that for them..
-Are they nice/polite clients?
-Do they annoy you and constantly jungle thier appointments?
-Do they buy alot of lotion?
-Upgrade a lot?
-ARE THEY COUPON CLIPPER YOU SEE ONCE A YEAR?
-Do they blow off appointments and never even call?

The ball is now in your court...make teh call---
You make the good clients feel special and take them a side and let them now you will accomidate them.

Since they have been such good clients and you appreciate them.And completely understand they are busy people..if they could just keep the Appointment thing to themselves. You will happy to help make appoinemts for THEM..shhhhhh(in case there are others in their office you will not accomidate. JMHO
You just added to your loyal client database by doing that.

The first year I had to do that it appeased my good clients and they rarely asked me to forego my salon policies...some occasionally do now but like I said it is usually for special occasions.Either way I did not lose them as clients.

Good luck..You will not regret when and if you switch to No appoinments--Walk IN only.

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Jane... You Ignorant Sl*t!!![ This Message was edited by: MJ on 2005-02-08 11:18 ]

suntanztanning

I wish my salon could run without appointments. Only having 5 beds makes it hard to do walk-in only. Between 4:30 and 8:00pm I have to take appointments. Otherwise I would have folks waiting way to long for a bed. On the other hand, if I had 14 or more beds I would go with walk-ins only. I think it comes down to the size of your salon as to whether you can axe the appointments or not.

For those of you who do take appointments I have a policy each customer reads and signs stating our appointment procedure, cancellation and no show policy. If anyone would like a copy of it, PM me with your email and I will send it to you. It has worked well for me.


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“Price is forgotten long after quality is remembered”
www.suntanztanning.com[ This Message was edited by: suntanztanning on 2005-02-08 11:41 ]

dcjjp2

I only have 3 base level beds (15 min) 2 level 2 beds (12 min) and only 1 level 3 bed (10 min) and another level 3 vertical on the way next week (7 min). I do not take appointments for anything. It isn't a problem here . Most will upgrade if their first choice is busy or just wait their turn. My other salon used to do appointments and I was in a downtown setting (washington d.c.) Parking was a b*itch and the whole day ran late EVERY DAY! Never again.

glamarama

i wish we could do it, we are SUBurban downtown, near public transit & i woudl say a huge block of our clients come in to tan either on a break or right after/before work -

we do take walk ins, no shows are charged but there is no way we coudl go 100% walk ins - although in theory if we were larger I woudl love it -
I actually Mystic at another salon (I'm not anti UV, I just like the extra kick of color) which does nOT do appointements, have had to wait an hour and a half for a mystic and this super annoys me - esp since I am a GREAT client for them, in & out in less than 2 minutes flat & I buy packages regularly & even refer clients to them

TotalEclipse

We're walk-in only...no appointments needed. No one's ever given us any flack about it either.

COCONUT

I also do not do appointments ..and it works for me!!

TanningEmporium

no appointments, no problems

missmojorising

Bartending 101...First Come, First Serve.