20 problems faced by massage therapist in appointment scheduling

20 problems faced by massage therapist in appointment scheduling : Massage therapist finds hard to fix appointments and making schedules. Often they go for recruiting a staff to schedule appointments. Though there is a staff to handle and manage appointments, there come difficulties in reaching clients. As scheduling is done manually, the massage therapist faces many problems.

 

Here given 20 problems faced by massage therapist in appointment scheduling with clients.

Showing availability

 

Massage therapist cannot show his/her availability to the clients. This is the common problem faced by the therapist. He may find his day as hectic one day and no single client in other day. This must be irritating to the therapist. Therapist cannot show his available days and hours to each client.

There must be a schedule fixed in the working place. Only the visiting clients can know about the availability. Otherwise, there is little chance of letting the clients know about available dates.

Schedule fixing   

Clients use to make calls and book appointments. The staff may note it down. They can have all the bookings at hand. But when it comes scheduling. They find it hard. The availability of the therapist should go with the clients’ availability. Otherwise the staff should re-schedule it from the first. It will become tedious and time consuming.

The staff can also not be able to handle the bookings. They should check for multiple times. Then only they can avoid clash in schedules. Thus, manual schedule fixing is difficult and frustrating.

Notifying the clients

Clients are not notified about the appointment. In many cases, the staff tells the client that he/she will let them know the timing later. When the appointment is fixed and trying to notify the client. They will be out of reach. Their contact number will be out of reach. Or they may not pick the call.

Some clients may deliberately avoid taking calls as they feel they waited for so long. There is only probability of knowing their phone number alone. You may not have any other details like their mail id and social media ids. This is the big draw back about scheduling.

Cancelling appointments

It is impossible to cancel the appointments by the clients. They do not care informing that they will not turn up to visit the massage therapist. They have to inform the concern staff about their unavailability on the day of appointment; Clients will never prefer doing it. So, they often avoid visiting the therapist without informing him/her. The day will go in vain for the therapist by waiting for the clients.

Off days

Massage therapist may have some off days.  Staff cannot call every client and inform the unavailability.  If there is a weekly holiday for the massage center, then it will be known to the regular clients. This will be a great trouble at times of unplanned off days. The clients may come and visit the place in the absence of therapist. This creates a bad impact among clients.

Time consuming

 

Scheduling appointment is the most time consuming task. Staff doing scheduling might face this problem. They have to spend hours and hours to fix schedules and inform the clients. At times, the created schedules need alterations in timings as per the convenience of the clients. This demands additional work. Thus the staff undergoes stress and sitting all the while to create perfect schedules.

Expenses

Massage parlor cannot get many clients. There may be regular clients taking massage therapy on a regular basis. Otherwise, there won’t be any clients visiting the parlor. Already, the therapist recruits a professional therapist to assist him/her in the parlor. In that case, the therapist cannot look for an additional staff to make schedules.

At the same time, he/she cannot attend the calls for appointment at all times. Both are not possible. Mostly, parlor may not give huge money as profit. The therapist cannot afford paying an additional staff. Economically also it is a trouble to recruit staff.

Preferences

Appointments of clients should be free from preferences. Based on the early approach, the schedules should be made. When scheduling is done manually, there may be the chance of preferences. Some clients urge the scheduling staff to get quick appointments. If it is done, then the early approaching clients have their appointments lately. This kind of preferences spoils the fame of the therapist as well as the massage parlor or saloon.

Managing schedules

Fixing slots is easy. But after that it should be matched with the workflow of the therapist. Complexity lies in arranging schedules in order. With that all the appointment should be filled in the workflow. This is tricky. Clash of schedules and appointments are probable in managing schedules. It is equally tough than getting appointments. Handling the fixed schedules and managing the appointments without clash is a highly challenging task.

Handling workflow

Therapist’s workflow needs to be in perfect order. Often the therapist is not sure about the workflow of him/her. Therapist should give updates about his workflow and working hours. Situations like having considerable number of appointments will be dealt only on the basis of current workflow. If there are any free schedules in present workflow, it will be filled in with the excess upcoming appointments. But the clients have no chance to know about the workflow of the therapist.

Re-scheduling

Clients will ask for another appointment if they miss fixed appointments. For the satisfaction of clients, parlor has to fix another appointment. Scheduling is already challenging. Adding to this difficulty often re-scheduling becomes burden to the staff. This is again the frequent problem faced by the therapist in appointment fixing.

Missed appointments

Some appointments may miss in schedules. Schedules are done manually. There may be chance of error and forgetfulness. As they note down the appointments, they must put it in schedules. It may be missed while creating schedules. Or else the timings may be twisted than the clients demand.

Staff has to check and assure all the booked appointments in schedules. But it is unavoidable that one or two appointments miss in schedules. While clients visiting for therapy, they find it as a careless attitude. It will be embarrassing to compromise the client with another appointment.

Uneven schedules

Schedules are made unevenly. The therapists have a very hectic and busy schedule for one day. He/she will be sitting without clients on the other day. This is also problematic in appointment scheduling. The schedules should be pleasing both the therapist and the clients. Uneven schedules make the therapist stressed. He/she deals many clients and lacks of appointments and never focuses in work.

This may lead the clients to complaint the worst therapy of the therapist. So, schedules should be balancing and even. This is the most occurring problem in scheduling.

Tracking appointments

Therapist will have difficulty in tracking the appointments. It is so common. Many clients book for massage appointments. But there will be a little or little response from the clients after appointments. When the therapist or the staff approaches to remind the booked appointments, the clients will never attend calls.

They may say their inability or inconvenience in visiting the parlor on the day of appointment. None will say or inform this. They try to track the client as much as they could. In all times, it will end in vain. This is really a frustrating thing about appointment scheduling.

Reaching clients

In appointment scheduling, the problem lies mostly in reaching the clients. Therapist can contact to the given contact number. He/she will not be in touch with the clients often. Many clients have taken therapies in parlor. But they will not be in touch with the parlor or the therapist any more.

Not all the clients have the contact number of the parlor. They cannot contact the same parlor for the next time.   If there is any update about the parlor, it will not reach the clients. Only the regular basis visitors and clients get to know about the updates about therapies and parlor. If the parlor is shifted to some other place than its usual, the clients will lose the touch with the parlor.

Communication

Parlors either give their contact details to the clients or they get the contact details of the clients. In both the cases, the given contact details to book appointments may fail. It is necessary to know other ways to keep in contact with the clients.

Having follow ups after treatments are impossible without communicating the clients often. To have many bookings and appointments, it is necessary to appeal to the digital platforms in which the client is very active. This is where the massage therapist lacks behind. Having given the contact number or cards are not enough to have many appointments.

Clash in appointments

Same visiting schedules may be assigned for two clients. At the end of the day, schedules are manually made. Scheduling staff cannot find scheduling easy and enjoyable. It will be highly stressing and frustrating job ever. It needs at most accuracy.

In spite of all these efforts, there comes an error like clash of appointments. It will be embarrassing to convince the clients. You cannot prefer one over other between the clients. There the therapist faces problem often.

Blocking appointments

Massage therapist cannot notify the clients about the cancelled appointments. It will be manageable when clients cancel appointments. But due to other commitments, therapist needs a break. At those times, he has to avoid his/her clients. This blocking and cancellation of appointments is not reaching the clients.

In result, the clients come to visit the therapist in his/her absence. Gradually it brings defame and bad opinion among clients. It is one such tough time faced by the therapist while fixing appointments.

Confusion

Confusion arises in fixing appointment scheduling. Though it is done with much care, there are possibilities of errors and clashes. While scheduling manually, it will be processed with pen and paper. Listing down the appointments and checking again and again will be tedious and tiresome. In that situation, it will be confusions in fixing schedules. Therapist will feel more burden than his professional strains.

Handling regular clients

Regularly visiting clients will have their continuation to the previous therapy. This will be missed often. The client cannot explain his previous taken therapy as he/she finds all same. There is a problem in fixing schedules for next session within the prescribed time. The client leaves this in the hands of therapist about his next visit. It is human forgetfulness that the therapist misses fixing appointments for the clients.

Thus the massage therapist faces problems in appointment scheduling. To avoid these problems, he/she can try scheduling apps. It will be a great alternate and economical. With the help of these apps, schedules can be made easily without manual interventions. You can avoid errors and make schedules with at most accuracy.

Featured image source