A couple of preventive measures for future that help and then how to handle now.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Preventive Measures:
1. Have a DEFINITE GRADUATION DATE.
This can be in 13 or 14 or even 16 weeks even from enrolment ... but at ORIENTATION. Set a little "graduation" date. You are so excited as you will work with her up until at least ....,....... (I like to have it on a Friday. It seems like a nice 'break point'. I can say they can ask me anything up until midnight graduation. They usually don't. Occasionally they want to continue and there are some evening questions to clarify and I don't mind but those are very rare.)
But it is a CLEAR BOUNDARY that ALL are aware of well in advance.
I would make it GREATER than 12 weeks ... err on the side of extra but then that is a line in the sand. This way it allows for unexpected or travel etc ... and still get things completed without an open end.
2. Book ALL REMAINING 11 COACHING CALLS at orientation call for the entire 12 weeks.
I recommend booking same day and time of the week - weekly x 12. We noticed a HUGE IMPROVEMENT with problems with reschedules and cancels when we did this.
This way THIS CALL was on the calendar FIRST and the rest of their life has to move around this. Otherwise if you are always looking for a time, this wastes a ton of time each week and leads to reschedules, missed weeks, "dropped eggs".
*NO NEED to ever confirm. THIS IS THE TIME. An occasional reschedule can happen. BUT this should not need to be revisited. To avoid ABUSE ....
3. Clearly outline in a COACHING AGREEMENT A MAXIMUM OF 2 EMERGENCY RESCHEDULES ARE ALLOWED during the 12 weeks. Additional reschedules are presumed to be an agreement of forfeiting the calls. This way, you don't need to worry about rescheduling ... and then by "16 weeks" if they have not done their calls etc. you are both clear that this is an agreement that you are DONE.
4. BEWARE OF RESCHEDULERS and do not invite into your program OR at least be cautious or charge extra as they WILL cost you MUCH MORE with less results on their part. People show their colours early. Notice the signs.
We noticed people who rescheduled three times on our call 1s or 2s ... NEVER EVER did show up for an appointment.(and some booked 7 or 8 apointments) So we started to BAN them from our calendar. THEY blocked space from people you could actually help.
People who did reschedule or cancel during the Call 1/2 that then became a client were the ones who had a BAD HABIT of rescheduling.😖 Reschedules ARE EXPENSIVE!!!!! One of my biggest pet peeves. It is almost always a CLEAR INDICATION that this is NOT a top priority. People's success is directly proportional to how big the situation is that will throw them off their commitment.
My client Marcos in the early days was very successful ... and he STILL SHOWED up for his 1:1 call with me even though he was in a car accident. He still made the call from his car!! Now I suggested we reschedule of course, but that level of commitment is WHY HE WAS SUCCESSFUL! I had another woman around the same time, who struggled to get clients, struggled every step of the way, complained every step of the way. She no showed for our 1:1 call, but was posting on FB about the movie she was watching ... DURING the time our call was to be. 🤷♀️
We now raise the bar and choose to NOT INVITE those who this is not a priority for or can't manage their calendars enough to show up. Of course, everyone makes a mistake here and there and people do have real emergencies ... but a reschedule definitely raises a 🚩flag ... I would be looking for other signs that THEY TRULY care about this at least half as much as I do before inviting them in. MAKE 'EM BEG to come in!
It is really frustrating to have clients where YOU ARE COMMITTED 1000X more then they are. Cut that fish loose. They will be the same ones that complain about YOU. They can infect your community. So ironic. They will take the most time, block the most spots, complain and lower the vibe of the community the most, not follow your program ... and then blame you for their lack of commitment. SO at the beginning it will be often "Pulse and credit card" - let's go, come on in. But eventually you will be more discerning on who you let in to your program.
5. NO TEXT OR EMAIL OR FB MESSAGE etc between CALLS with CLIENTS EVER! This is a set up for BURNOUT and being "on call" for non-paying clients asking you questions 24/7 for the rest of your life.😫
They ask questions ON THE CALL ... OR if you want ... you could have SOME OTHER FORUM where you NEVER communicate with family, friends or the public, where you can admit them IN when they are a client and then lovingly KICK THEM OUT when they are not. Again CRYSTAL CLEAR how to communicate. But the access is DONE at midnight graduation!
- this could be in Basecamp (pricey but what I use)
- VOXER - an excellent choice and I believe they have a free version
- private FB group just with them (or with just your paying clients) - that you can remove them from when they graduate.
BUT NEVER EVER text or email!!!
Otherwise, 3 months later you will get the text "Quick question .... " 😫
Direct all INAPPROPRIATE COMMUNICATION to proper channels ... and then IGNORE ALL TEXTS/ EMAILS or unauthorized ways of reaching you ... TAKE YOUR TIME RESPONDING to them.
If you answer them there they will continue to abuse. It does not end well for you or them.
I love that we have 99% awesome clients and client experiences! 💖🥳
But 100% of the 1% of issues have ALL been through inappropriate communication. All outside of Basecamp from clients that have ghosted, become unresponsive for extended periods and then resurface from their fear elevator with a hornet's nest. Often our staff don't realize how absolutely critical it is to have 100% of communication within proper channels (for us, Basecamp). If communication is via email, FB message, text that has ALWAYS been a costly DISASTER. Communication via other methods for people who are our clients is never good news for them. It means they've gone rogue/ unresponsive and may or may not be resuscitable.
5. THE MOST IMPORTANT CALL THAT WILL DETERMINE SUCCESS OR FAILURE FOR YOUR CLIENTS IS THE ORIENTATION CALL!
- our clients who don't know how to ask questions in Basecamp or find answers or follow the proven path, will struggle and be less successful than those who do.
- our clients who don't know how to show up for the calls they agree to will struggle and be less successful than those who do.
A successful orientation call is the single most important call that will determine success of failure.
All of this is very simple stuff. And we are constantly looking at how can we make our orientation process even better. We take our client's success very seriously. We now have checklists, a video, a post and sort of a "quiz" at the end of the orientation call to ensure they KNOW what was said and didn't just politely head nod through the orientation call. But also where to find answers if they forgot and how to ask.
So do your best to outline CLEAR parameters and expectations on the orientation call.
NOW WHAT?:
You are almost done with her. You've had 10 sessions. ✅
You book the same time and day already ✅
Am I correct in assuming that you already have the next 2 calls booked? Or is it just a loosey goosey thing where you kinda meet Tuesdays at 2 but if you miss a Tuesday at 2 it is possible you will have to chase and chase and chase ???
BOOK ALL CALLS. Then just do those last 2 calls ... a bonus one sure to ask any last questions.
But it sounds like the next call is NOT a sure thing - not in her mind ... and why do a call if she can just text/email 24/7 and get answers on the fly in a crisis...
They will MISS calls if they have another way of reaching you.
Since you have been email communicating and texting (which you will now know to NEVER do again) ... email her back (as that is what she expects you to do.
Hi (client)
I am so sorry that you were not able to make our last scheduled appointment.
We have 2 more sessions to go over before your graduation. I am very excited for these sessions, because this is when it all starts to come together. I love these last sessions and you will too!
I understand with the recent reschedules you've had that it is easy to lose track. It seems like you thought that there were three sessions left. I am happy to grant you a third bonus session. 🥰 However, I currently have people waiting to get started with me and I had anticipated we would be done in our usual time frame of 12 weeks which would have had your graduation date on May 3rd , 2024.
My apologies for not being more clear at our first orientation call on ............ that there was a 12 week time frame for this program to be complete. You can imagine the results one gets from 12 weekly consistent calls are much greater than if the calls were spread out over many months or years for example.
So I am revising our graduation date to be .......(4 weeks date)........... So that we can easily get in these last 3 sessions. This will also allow me to be respectful of new clients wanting to come as to an anticipated start date for them.
Thank you so much for staying in communication. However, our sessions will be MUCH more effective than email. We can go much deeper on our sessions, and I wouldn't want you to replace our last 3 live interactive sessions with email sessions.
I have us scheduled for ..day ... at ..... time. Bring your questions to that call and we will do a deep dive and a reassessment and start to set up a customized plan for you to implement over the next year. This will give you a few weeks to implement with my support before your graduation on ... (4 weeks date).
Thanks again for staying in communication. See you on ..... ..day ... at ..... time.