Rapport Lost?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marc Carlin on August 19, 2010 at 8:54am

Hi James and Henxly,

I agree with everything that you say. And if it were me on the other end of the phone and the hypnotist asked me for a credit card I might hesitate to give it out as well. But I am often reminding myself that I am not my client. I am not marketing to me or looking to influence me for what they are coming to see me for.
If I felt that it was worthwhile, i would go ahead with their rules. I give my credit card to book a hotel room, buy an airline ticket, rent a car and many other things. I pay for things online even when they aren't in stock and I have to wait for it to be shipped to me. And I just recently booked some work with a hypnotist to deal with the allergies and asthma that has been affecting me since 9/11 and paid him prior to the sessions.
I know what it was like to not take credit cards ahead of time. And I know what it's like since I started doing that. And I would never go back. In fact just yesterday I was on the phone with a man who balked at giving me the card talking of the bad experience that he had once when he gave the card over the phone. I mentioned that we could work on the fear that he's experiencing if it was necessary to get him what he wanted. He also told me that he had just come back from a trip out of the country. I didn't think of this at the time, but don't you think he gave his credit card to others at that time? Anyway I refused to set the appointment. I gave him an option though. If he wanted to see me at the time and date he wanted to reserve, I told him to call me the day or evening before, and if I still had an opening at that time, I would gladly see him. He quickly decided to supply his card info.
To me I also look at that as preparing my client to be compliant. I need someone to listen to me and to follow my suggestions and commands. That's my style of hypnosis, and if I can't get it before hand, then the prospect is certainly better off seeing someone else. I'm not for him, as he is not for me.
I know I have left out quite a bit about this conversation, like, I had him on the phone for about 35 to 45 minutes, I had good rapport, he had faith that I could solve his problem. These are the usual things that I look to establish in my phone consults with prospects. My phone consults are quite complete for a phone call. People have reported to me that they stopped smoking right after hanging up the phone from one of my "free" phone consults on more than one occasion. I have modified my approach since to avoid that happening. My wife prefers living in a house rather than a car.

Before accepting CC's I had many people schedule appointments as if they were making reservations at a restaurant and then they figure they could decide later whether to show up or not. There are probably others who agree to appointments because they don't want to disappoint you directly, or it's a way of getting off the phone and they don't want to tell you that they can't afford your services. There are many reasons why a person would make an appointment and not show up and not call ahead of time. I don't want to be a victim to their problem. I tell my clients that the chair that they sit in for their hypnosis session is some of the most expensive real estate in NYC. And it is. If I allowed people to make appointments without a confirmation and I had the large no show rate that I had prior to taking cards, I would have to raise my prices considerably to stay in business. I don't see how that would be helpful to my clients at all.



James Hazlerig said:

I usually tell clients that payment is due at the time of the session, but that if they wish to pay by credit card, they can do so online beforehand. I have had a few clients show up with only a credit card in hand, but every one of those has paid the online invoice within 24 hours.
Paying at the session implies a mutual trust in my opinion.
However, for workshops, I offer a discount to people who pre-pay; that tends to guarantee they won't flake out at the last minute.

James

Henxy said:

I do find it interesting that some people insist on beng paid before providing their service. I'm not sure that insisting on prior payment aids anyone in their rapport with their client. It may suggest that you're untrustworthy yourself, or you're untrusting...Either of these options to me is worse than the possibility of your client not paying up.
And every client I've ever had has been keen to tell me after their session that they'd pay me much more for my services :-)

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Permalink Reply by Leighton on August 19, 2010 at 9:24am

Yes, I can see your points of view also... I wouldn't ever request full payment before a session though. Just a small deposit - enough to make sure that the person is serious about seeing me and wanting to make positive changes in their life, but not so much that it seems untrusting or greedy on my part. I don't believe that would benefit anyone. Perhaps it can actually help build rapport and trust, if the client is willing to pay a small deposit in advance?

Perhaps also, a lot could be down to the area in which you're practising, and the general attitude of the paying public?

The thing is Fable - as I'm building up my practice, I can't really afford to put no-shows down to experience and make a cup of tea instead! I respect what you're saying though. To be honest, I've never had this problem before with 'general' clients - this smoker is the first. Though now, based on what others have said on here, I will be more 'on the ball' when it comes to smokers wanting to quit - it seems there is far more going on in these situations!

Leighton

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Permalink Reply by Henxy on August 19, 2010 at 9:30am

That's such a shame. Poor you.
I've only ever had one no-show.

Marc Carlin said:

Hi James and Henxly,

I agree with everything that you say. And if it were me on the other end of the phone and the hypnotist asked me for a credit card I might hesitate to give it out as well. But I am often reminding myself that I am not my client. I am not marketing to me or looking to influence me for what they are coming to see me for.
If I felt that it was worthwhile, i would go ahead with their rules. I give my credit card to book a hotel room, buy an airline ticket, rent a car and many other things. I pay for things online even when they aren't in stock and I have to wait for it to be shipped to me. And I just recently booked some work with a hypnotist to deal with the allergies and asthma that has been affecting me since 9/11 and paid him prior to the sessions.
I know what it was like to not take credit cards ahead of time. And I know what it's like since I started doing that. And I would never go back. In fact just yesterday I was on the phone with a man who balked at giving me the card talking of the bad experience that he had once when he gave the card over the phone. I mentioned that we could work on the fear that he's experiencing if it was necessary to get him what he wanted. He also told me that he had just come back from a trip out of the country. I didn't think of this at the time, but don't you think he gave his credit card to others at that time? Anyway I refused to set the appointment. I gave him an option though. If he wanted to see me at the time and date he wanted to reserve, I told him to call me the day or evening before, and if I still had an opening at that time, I would gladly see him. He quickly decided to supply his card info.
To me I also look at that as preparing my client to be compliant. I need someone to listen to me and to follow my suggestions and commands. That's my style of hypnosis, and if I can't get it before hand, then the prospect is certainly better off seeing someone else. I'm not for him, as he is not for me.
I know I have left out quite a bit about this conversation, like, I had him on the phone for about 35 to 45 minutes, I had good rapport, he had faith that I could solve his problem. These are the usual things that I look to establish in my phone consults with prospects. My phone consults are quite complete for a phone call. People have reported to me that they stopped smoking right after hanging up the phone from one of my "free" phone consults on more than one occasion. I have modified my approach since to avoid that happening. My wife prefers living in a house rather than a car.

Before accepting CC's I had many people schedule appointments as if they were making reservations at a restaurant and then they figure they could decide later whether to show up or not. There are probably others who agree to appointments because they don't want to disappoint you directly, or it's a way of getting off the phone and they don't want to tell you that they can't afford your services. There are many reasons why a person would make an appointment and not show up and not call ahead of time. I don't want to be a victim to their problem. I tell my clients that the chair that they sit in for their hypnosis session is some of the most expensive real estate in NYC. And it is. If I allowed people to make appointments without a confirmation and I had the large no show rate that I had prior to taking cards, I would have to raise my prices considerably to stay in business. I don't see how that would be helpful to my clients at all.



James Hazlerig said:

I usually tell clients that payment is due at the time of the session, but that if they wish to pay by credit card, they can do so online beforehand. I have had a few clients show up with only a credit card in hand, but every one of those has paid the online invoice within 24 hours.
Paying at the session implies a mutual trust in my opinion.
However, for workshops, I offer a discount to people who pre-pay; that tends to guarantee they won't flake out at the last minute.

James

Henxy said:

I do find it interesting that some people insist on beng paid before providing their service. I'm not sure that insisting on prior payment aids anyone in their rapport with their client. It may suggest that you're untrustworthy yourself, or you're untrusting...Either of these options to me is worse than the possibility of your client not paying up.
And every client I've ever had has been keen to tell me after their session that they'd pay me much more for my services :-)

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Permalink Reply by Leighton on August 19, 2010 at 9:36am

I like what you say there Marc! And I was thinking the same thing as I typed my last reply. I pay a deposit for hotel rooms, flights etc... and in fact, the only reason I don't have to do that at the doctor's is because they have all of my personal details on file. They can easily track me down and tell me off! If they didn't have access to all of my personal details, I'm sure I'd be made to pay a deposit to secure my appointment. The surgery couldn't function if people regularly didn't arrive.

The compliance thing is really important too I think... I hinted at that in my response. Just different ways of working I guess!

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig - HypnosisAustin on August 19, 2010 at 9:55am

Marc,

I'm not saying that your approach is wrong--it's what works for you. But I haven't found it to be necessary.

To be honest, there are a lot of people out there who think all hypnotists are scam artists, by default. You seek compliance; I foster mutual trust.

So far, I haven't found that letting people pay at the session has hampered their ability to accept my suggestions. So unless a client has abused my trust, I don't insist on payment before they arrive.

Different strokes,

James

Marc Carlin said:

Hi James and Henxly,

I agree with everything that you say. And if it were me on the other end of the phone and the hypnotist asked me for a credit card I might hesitate to give it out as well. But I am often reminding myself that I am not my client. I am not marketing to me or looking to influence me for what they are coming to see me for.
If I felt that it was worthwhile, i would go ahead with their rules. I give my credit card to book a hotel room, buy an airline ticket, rent a car and many other things. I pay for things online even when they aren't in stock and I have to wait for it to be shipped to me. And I just recently booked some work with a hypnotist to deal with the allergies and asthma that has been affecting me since 9/11 and paid him prior to the sessions.
I know what it was like to not take credit cards ahead of time. And I know what it's like since I started doing that. And I would never go back. In fact just yesterday I was on the phone with a man who balked at giving me the card talking of the bad experience that he had once when he gave the card over the phone. I mentioned that we could work on the fear that he's experiencing if it was necessary to get him what he wanted. He also told me that he had just come back from a trip out of the country. I didn't think of this at the time, but don't you think he gave his credit card to others at that time? Anyway I refused to set the appointment. I gave him an option though. If he wanted to see me at the time and date he wanted to reserve, I told him to call me the day or evening before, and if I still had an opening at that time, I would gladly see him. He quickly decided to supply his card info.
To me I also look at that as preparing my client to be compliant. I need someone to listen to me and to follow my suggestions and commands. That's my style of hypnosis, and if I can't get it before hand, then the prospect is certainly better off seeing someone else. I'm not for him, as he is not for me.
I know I have left out quite a bit about this conversation, like, I had him on the phone for about 35 to 45 minutes, I had good rapport, he had faith that I could solve his problem. These are the usual things that I look to establish in my phone consults with prospects. My phone consults are quite complete for a phone call. People have reported to me that they stopped smoking right after hanging up the phone from one of my "free" phone consults on more than one occasion. I have modified my approach since to avoid that happening. My wife prefers living in a house rather than a car.

Before accepting CC's I had many people schedule appointments as if they were making reservations at a restaurant and then they figure they could decide later whether to show up or not. There are probably others who agree to appointments because they don't want to disappoint you directly, or it's a way of getting off the phone and they don't want to tell you that they can't afford your services. There are many reasons why a person would make an appointment and not show up and not call ahead of time. I don't want to be a victim to their problem. I tell my clients that the chair that they sit in for their hypnosis session is some of the most expensive real estate in NYC. And it is. If I allowed people to make appointments without a confirmation and I had the large no show rate that I had prior to taking cards, I would have to raise my prices considerably to stay in business. I don't see how that would be helpful to my clients at all.



James Hazlerig said:

I usually tell clients that payment is due at the time of the session, but that if they wish to pay by credit card, they can do so online beforehand. I have had a few clients show up with only a credit card in hand, but every one of those has paid the online invoice within 24 hours.
Paying at the session implies a mutual trust in my opinion.
However, for workshops, I offer a discount to people who pre-pay; that tends to guarantee they won't flake out at the last minute.

James

Henxy said:

I do find it interesting that some people insist on beng paid before providing their service. I'm not sure that insisting on prior payment aids anyone in their rapport with their client. It may suggest that you're untrustworthy yourself, or you're untrusting...Either of these options to me is worse than the possibility of your client not paying up.
And every client I've ever had has been keen to tell me after their session that they'd pay me much more for my services :-)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Leighton on August 19, 2010 at 10:30am

To me I also look at that as preparing my client to be compliant. I need someone to listen to me and to follow my suggestions and commands. That's my style of hypnosis, and if I can't get it before hand, then the prospect is certainly better off seeing someone else. I'm not for him, as he is not for me.

This is just a part of an extended 'yes-set'.

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Permalink Reply by tony cott on August 19, 2010 at 7:14pm

Strange thing is in the past years (and there have been many haha) I have only had but a hand full of no shows, and it was never a big deal to me, it just gave me time to get ready for the next one coming in ! If someone doesn’t want my help then that’s on them not me, I deal with a lot of those from “the other side of the tracks” and funny thing is they always come in early and want to get help, maybe its because very few really care about the bottom of the world and since I do and they know its not just a “pity job” they see me in a different way.
Sorry for those who have such a problem
Just my 2 cents lol
Tony

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Hanover on August 19, 2010 at 9:54pm

What I am about to say may sound flippant, but I'm being 100% serious.

I've made an important discovery about human nature. The more I charge you for my services, the more you will value them, and the more highly you'll think of yourself for having the good sense and good taste to hire the best you can afford. If you've paid a mint for my PR and marketing advice, you're going to hang on my every word, and do everything I tell you to do. (Otherwise, you'd be forced to admit to yourself that you just wasted a big pile of money.)

Certain clients have paid thousands of dollars in advance for my marketing and copywriting know-how, and these clients LOVED everything I did for them, and asked for virtually no edits or changes to the manuscripts I delivered. They gave my work glowing, grateful reviews.

Conversely, I've allowed myself to be "talked down" by a couple of clients who praised my knowledge and experience to the sky, yet weren't willing to pay the going rate for it, nor to pay in advance. These discount clients have invariably turned out to be whiny, critical, nit-picky and demanding, and generally speaking, they didn't follow my advice. They were dissatisfied with my work (mainly because they didn't follow my advice) and gave me scathing, nasty reviews.

My clients have taught me that they respect what they pay a lot of money for, and they don't value what they get at a discount.

Far be it from me to argue with them. :)

Kathleen
Marketing and PR Opinionist

Henxy said:

I do find it interesting that some people insist on beng paid before providing their service. I'm not sure that insisting on prior payment aids anyone in their rapport with their client. It may suggest that you're untrustworthy yourself, or you're untrusting...Either of these options to me is worse than the possibility of your client not paying up.
And every client I've ever had has been keen to tell me after their session that they'd pay me much more for my services :-)

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Permalink Reply by Marc Carlin on August 20, 2010 at 3:23am

Hi James,

I don't think there's a right or wrong way of doing things here.

I just want to add that I don't make my clients pay to see me prior to them actually seeing me. I do not take money out of their CC account until after our session. I do an authorized charge on their card which assures that there is the amount of money in the account that is required for the work they've agreed to. I also have a money back guarantee on the first session. If I can't hypnotize them in the first session, and they don't want to work with me there is no charge for our first session.

Hi Fable,

When you say that you chalk it up to experience I have to wonder why? You have been lucky that no shows haven't caused you a problem where you had to turn away or postpone someone needing your help and ended up with idle time. I will always have something to do if a client is a no show. Experience should be useful to help you make changes if you notice something is not working or you note that you can improve upon what is. I used to chalk it up to experience and then I made some changes to make things more efficient.

I find that being in this business does require me to wear a number of hats. And one of those hats requires that I be the chief financial officer in my business so that my caring compassionate part of me has a place to work to help those needing my expertise.

I have also noticed that pricing is very flexible and it isn't always as clear cut as charge more get better clients and more compliance. I recently did an interview with a hypnotist in the UK who does a special type of weight loss work. She offered free group sessions for her program where she got a 95% success rate! That was a slap in the face for me. And I have recently offered my smoking program to someone who gave me a really good reason why she couldn't pay my normal rates and I agreed to work with her conditionally. I rarely if ever discount my smoking program because of the high cost that smokers pay to continue to smoke. But in this case I allowed her to work with me for money and trade, (what can I say, I'm a sucker for a crying smoker). And contrary to what I thought would happen, she was an excellent subject and has remained smoke free since our work together almost 6 months ago. So we know there are always exceptions.

Someone mentioned that doctors don't take your CC info prior to the visit. Most of the doctors that I'm familiar with overbook their time and seeing a doctor usually involves waiting around for up to 3 or 4 hours for a 10 or 15 minute exam. So if someone doesn't show up the office is still being used efficiently. It's the waiting room that has some space.


There are pros and cons with most choices we make. If you find it unnecessary to take a CC ahead of time or if it makes you feel uncomfortable asking for it then don't do it. One marketing consultant that I have studied with has consistently made a point of telling students to know their worth. Being congruent with your intent and what you believe is correct, whether it's the price you charge or how you run your business is required. So don't do anything that you can't believe in fully.

James Hazlerig said:

Marc,
I'm not saying that your approach is wrong--it's what works for you. But I haven't found it to be necessary. To be honest, there are a lot of people out there who think all hypnotists are scam artists, by default. You seek compliance; I foster mutual trust.
So far, I haven't found that letting people pay at the session has hampered their ability to accept my suggestions. So unless a client has abused my trust, I don't insist on payment before they arrive.

Different strokes,

James

Marc Carlin said:

Hi James and Henxly,

I agree with everything that you say. And if it were me on the other end of the phone and the hypnotist asked me for a credit card I might hesitate to give it out as well. But I am often reminding myself that I am not my client. I am not marketing to me or looking to influence me for what they are coming to see me for. If I felt that it was worthwhile, i would go ahead with their rules. I give my credit card to book a hotel room, buy an airline ticket, rent a car and many other things. I pay for things online even when they aren't in stock and I have to wait for it to be shipped to me. And I just recently booked some work with a hypnotist to deal with the allergies and asthma that has been affecting me since 9/11 and paid him prior to the sessions. I know what it was like to not take credit cards ahead of time. And I know what it's like since I started doing that. And I would never go back. In fact just yesterday I was on the phone with a man who balked at giving me the card talking of the bad experience that he had once when he gave the card over the phone. I mentioned that we could work on the fear that he's experiencing if it was necessary to get him what he wanted. He also told me that he had just come back from a trip out of the country. I didn't think of this at the time, but don't you think he gave his credit card to others at that time? Anyway I refused to set the appointment. I gave him an option though. If he wanted to see me at the time and date he wanted to reserve, I told him to call me the day or evening before, and if I still had an opening at that time, I would gladly see him. He quickly decided to supply his card info. To me I also look at that as preparing my client to be compliant. I need someone to listen to me and to follow my suggestions and commands. That's my style of hypnosis, and if I can't get it before hand, then the prospect is certainly better off seeing someone else. I'm not for him, as he is not for me. I know I have left out quite a bit about this conversation, like, I had him on the phone for about 35 to 45 minutes, I had good rapport, he had faith that I could solve his problem. These are the usual things that I look to establish in my phone consults with prospects. My phone consults are quite complete for a phone call. People have reported to me that they stopped smoking right after hanging up the phone from one of my "free" phone consults on more than one occasion. I have modified my approach since to avoid that happening. My wife prefers living in a house rather than a car.

Before accepting CC's I had many people schedule appointments as if they were making reservations at a restaurant and then they figure they could decide later whether to show up or not. There are probably others who agree to appointments because they don't want to disappoint you directly, or it's a way of getting off the phone and they don't want to tell you that they can't afford your services. There are many reasons why a person would make an appointment and not show up and not call ahead of time. I don't want to be a victim to their problem. I tell my clients that the chair that they sit in for their hypnosis session is some of the most expensive real estate in NYC. And it is. If I allowed people to make appointments without a confirmation and I had the large no show rate that I had prior to taking cards, I would have to raise my prices considerably to stay in business. I don't see how that would be helpful to my clients at all.



James Hazlerig said:

I usually tell clients that payment is due at the time of the session, but that if they wish to pay by credit card, they can do so online beforehand. I have had a few clients show up with only a credit card in hand, but every one of those has paid the online invoice within 24 hours.
Paying at the session implies a mutual trust in my opinion.
However, for workshops, I offer a discount to people who pre-pay; that tends to guarantee they won't flake out at the last minute. James Henxy said:

I do find it interesting that some people insist on beng paid before providing their service. I'm not sure that insisting on prior payment aids anyone in their rapport with their client. It may suggest that you're untrustworthy yourself, or you're untrusting...Either of these options to me is worse than the possibility of your client not paying up.
And every client I've ever had has been keen to tell me after their session that they'd pay me much more for my services :-)

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