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14 Oct | 2021

How to Force Families to Give a 30-Day Notice

Have you ever tried to enforce late fees, cancellation policies, or 30-day notice policies in your studio contract?

What usually happens?

Does the client get angry or upset?

Do you live in fear that you will get a bad review?

If so, you need to watch this video that I created with one of our Accelerator program coaches.

Alyssa has perspective and a working “tactic” that is quite rare in our industry… I guarantee that you will want to hear this conversation.

Video Content

(0:00) What do you do about studio families who don’t abide by your policies?
(2:51) Creating healthy boundaries for your studio
(4:50) The two biggest reasons you’re receiving pushback on your policies
(7:03) Your clients want predictable and authentic value
(10:10) Shifting focus from “loss” to “profit” with the right communication
(11:11) Isn’t it weak to run a studio with only a few policies??
(13:25) Tactical policy styles to integrate into your own studio
(16:11) What happens when things do get dicey with one of your clients?
(20:33) Should I issue refunds… ever?
(23:07) Structure, leverage, and personal feelings – what parts do they play?
(33:23) Conclusion – the strategy behind inner peace

The “Question” That Sparked This Video

We created this video because one of my clients sent in a question about a “sticky situation” in her studio.

Here’s the scenario:

“Currently my withdrawal policy states we need a 15 day notice to cancel the monthly auto-bill policy, or we charge the next month. Clients who are withdrawing often make a fuss of this, get upset, or refuse to pay, even though they signed off on it when they enrolled. I even tell them “Ok, then let’s stop in two weeks, I won’t charge you the whole month”, but I still get an upset response. Do I let them get away with it and always play “nice guy”, in order to keep my good reputation/customer satisfaction, or when is enough, enough? It it worth the money to get a bad review on google??”

In the video, we thoroughly cover ways to handle this issue… including a “hardball” way and a “soft” way.

Not only that, I give six strategies to make sure you get that last month of tuition from families that are leaving your studio.

Conclusion

We train people how to treat us.

I hope this video gave you some actionable strategies that will help you run your business smoothly!

What do you think? What questions do you have? Let me know in the comments!

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Daniel Patterson

Daniel Patterson is a private teacher, writer, and marketing consultant for music schools. He began teaching in 2004. He co-founded and led marketing operations for a summer music camp that sees over 200 children each summer.