I Had a Cancellation Policy. I Just Never Used It.

You probably already know you need a cancellation policy. Most teachers do. The problem isn't the knowing; it's the doing: the awkward reply, the stomach-drop when the text comes in, the path of least resistance that ends with you letting it go again.

In this first episode of The Victoria Clark Show, I'm talking about cancellation policies in practice: what a clear, fair policy actually looks like, how to communicate it to new and existing students, and what to do when someone pushes back. I also share a real moment from my own studio where I held my boundary, fully expecting the worst, and what actually happened.

If you've been winging it on cancellations, or you have something written down somewhere that you've never quite managed to enforce, this is your starting point.

In this episode:

• Why cancellation policies are the issue teachers struggle with most
• The real cost of not having a clear policy
• What my policy looks like and how I put it into practice
• How to communicate it without sounding harsh
• What to do when a parent pushes back
• The mindset shift that made it all feel more manageable

Links mentioned: Free Studio Policy Template

Access the show notes here: Episode 1 Show Notes

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Picture this. You get a text from a piano parent just after lunchtime saying their child won't be able to make it to their lesson this afternoon. They're going to their friend's house straight from school. Do you charge for the lesson? Do you offer to reschedule? Or do you just let it go again because the whole thing just feels uncomfortable? And accept that's just the way things go for music teachers. I'm Victoria. I started teaching piano part-time 18 years ago alongside a career in pharmaceutical market research, and I made pretty much every mistake you can make when it comes to running a teaching business. But today I run a thriving studio from my home on the south coast of England with students I love and a waiting list I'm proud of. I started this podcast because I want that for you too. If you've ever said yes to a reschedule you really didn't want to do, felt your heart sink when your phone buzzed with another last minute cancellation, or found yourself putting off increasing your fees for another year because the timing never feels quite right, this is the podcast for you. I've been there and come out the other side with a teaching business that lights me up every single day, and I'm here to help you do the same. Today's episode is all about cancellation policies and why you need them in your business. Now, studio policies might seem like a bit of boring paperwork, but they really are so important for your studio. Not just to run your studio in a professional way, but to protect your time, to protect your income, and also to protect your own self-worth. Now that might seem a bit deep for something like a cancellation policy, but this episode will help you understand why it's so important for your studio. So if you don't protect your time, you'll be giving it away without really thinking about it. When you automatically reschedule lessons, that time that you reserved for that student is gone and you can't get it back. And when you reschedule, you reschedule into time that was set aside for something else. Even if there was nothing in your calendar and it looks like just free time, that time was there for something. It could have been time you spent on doing some admin tasks, it could have been time you spent on your own piano practice. And when I when I say your own piano practice, I mean piano practice for yourself, not preparing student repertoire for another lesson. It could even be free time, downtime, which is really important. And if you are currently in the mindset where all free time is available time for teaching work, I get where you're coming from. This is where I used to be as well, until I discovered the importance of downtime. Now, coming back to another cost of not having proper cancellation policies, a really obvious one, money. You're going to lose income. If you set aside time that you can't then use for anything else, you're effectively giving away a lesson for free when you reschedule that lesson. Or you're directly refunding the money if you choose to refund lessons. Another cost of not having proper studio policies is it creates a dynamic between us and our piano parents or students that doesn't support what we need as music teachers. It doesn't support the teacher-student-family relationship. Because what ends up happening is unbeknownst to the piano parent or the student, they end up taking more of your time than they've paid for. They don't realize they're just asking for a reschedule or just you know telling you they can't come. But the feeling it leaves us with is it can feel like we're being taken advantage of. So if you have a particular student who cancels frequently, that can go from a good student-teacher relationship to a not so good one quite quickly. If this habit develops and there's nothing, there's no boundaries in place to keep it from becoming this unhelpful relationship that interferes with the actual uh process of teaching the student effectively. Now, when I first started teaching, I had a lot of advice from my childhood piano teacher who is a good friend today. She's in her 80s and she lives just up the road from me and it's wonderful. And so she gave me a lot of advice on how to get started, including giving me her template for her studio policy agreement. Now I read it and I thought, okay, yep, I'll do this. She's told me to do this, and she's a great teacher, made a great success of it for her whole life. So I used that. Uh, but the problem is I did not support, I didn't reinforce my studio policies because what she had in there was similar to what I have today, except mine is a bit um um mine's a bit tightened up. So her studio policies were that lessons missed would not be refunded, but could be rescheduled at the teacher's discretion. So she would offer reschedules if she had space, basically. And that lessons missed by the teacher would be rescheduled or the fee refunded. That's actually what's in my policy as well. Because I suffer with a lot of migraines. If I need to cancel because of more most likely it's because of a migraine, I will cancel the lesson and I refund the student directly as soon as I can, you know, when I can see again and use a computer, uh, and that works out fine for me so that I can keep the same monthly amount. But we can talk about more about that in another episode. Now, the point I'm making here is that even though I had a quite a robust studio policy in the beginning, I would share it with new students and they would read it. I didn't get them to specifically sign more than once, so I didn't have an annual re-signing of the agreement, so it was easy to forget details. And the second that anybody asked to reschedule, I just said okay, because that immediate feeling I got, that sort of clenched stomach, oh I I don't but I don't reschedule my lessons, but oh, but I can't yeah, okay, fine, sure, whatever. You know, I didn't have the I didn't have it straight in my head what my policy was because I didn't believe it, I didn't support it, I didn't believe that I deserved to run my studio in that way. And if you feel like that, I know how you feel, it's fine. Um, but it's something that something that we all need a bit of support with, and that's why I'm doing this podcast. So my studio policy is that I do not offer refunds at all, and I don't reschedule any lessons, no matter what the reason is, with one exception, and that is bereavement. So if the reason the student can't come to the lesson is because a family member has died or they are attending the funeral of a family member, then I will automatically refund the lesson. I don't reschedule lessons because my my studio is full. I just don't have the time. So when I say for any reason except bereavement, that includes sickness. So if the child is sick or if the adult's sick and they can't come to the lesson, um, I don't refund the lesson because if you refund every lesson for every student who is unwell, you will quickly be out of pocket in a big way. This is an area that I know a lot of teachers feel um quite guilty about because clearly the student didn't want to get sick, um, and the teacher feels like the student maybe is being punished by not receiving the lesson that they paid for because they got sick. However, it's impractical to try to accommodate all the illnesses that any of your students could get at any one time and to take that on your shoulders in the form of lost time and lost income. It's just not feasible. Now, in the beginning, you might think, well, if I've got five students, of course, it doesn't matter, it's fine. I can find the time, or it's just, you know, one lesson here or there. And I'll admit that's exactly what I did in the beginning. Before I had my studio policies, I refunded every single cancellation if I wasn't able to reschedule them. And I rescheduled wherever they could fit. So you can imagine what my teaching schedule was like. It was all over the place, and I didn't have a structure that worked for me, it was chaos. And as I got more and more students, I just couldn't keep up with it, so it became more and more difficult. If you're in that situation, please don't worry, there is a way out of it, and that is what this podcast is all about. And I provide support to help you navigate going from that situation to a situation where you are comfortable, where everybody knows the boundaries, where everybody is happy, everyone's on board, and you are able to concentrate on what you do best, which is your teaching. So, my policy is no refunds unless for bereavement, and no reschedules. Now, if a student cancels during the week and I know that that slot is therefore available, I will then offer it to someone else if they have to cancel and they can actually make use of that slot. But so I'm not opening up any new lesson slots. I'm taking from the schedule that I've already set out for my teaching, and I'm just slotting people around. Obviously, most of the time this doesn't work out in that way because it has to fit everyone's uh the person who has cancelled and that then needs to have that gap at that precise time. But when it does work, it's great, and I can offer that and I explain that's where that slot came from. That's quite important to do. So you don't just make them feel like you've made a slot available for them. I make it clear that this is because someone else cancelled, and that's why I can give them that lesson slot. Now there's a couple of different ways that I communicate my studio policies. Every year I get all of my students to sign up for the next academic year. So I run my studio from September through to August. I don't teach in school holidays, so I'm not actually teaching in August or any of the school holidays, but it runs from September to August as a 12-month agreement. So in that agreement, all of these policies are laid out, so they have them in writing. I also send an email out to my whole set of students and parents pointing out the uh the key points in my studio policies, which they're all very familiar with, unless they're they're new to me. So it's duplicated by email, and I also give them a paper copy during the lesson, and this is normally around just before half term in the summer term, so that they can sign up for the next academic year's lessons and get the agreement back to me before we stop for the summer holidays. So that's how I work it with the timing. But they get the physical copy in the lesson, they have an email with the points made and the agreement attached so that they they can read through, and in the lesson, if needed, we discuss it in person. And I also do this for all of my trial lessons. I it's one of the things I include in every trial lesson that I do is I have a copy of my studio policies that I give to them to take away so that they can read through and understand exactly how my studio works before signing up for lessons, so that there's no surprises and everyone knows how it works. This helps a lot when it comes around to supporting your policies, which is actually harder than it sounds. Now, something that's inevitable is that piano parents and/or students will push back at some point on some area of your studio policy. Uh that's fine, that's human nature, and the skill that you need to develop is to learn how to support your own policies and not undermine them. And that involves a bit of a mindset shift, which might sound a bit tricky, but and I won't lie, it is a bit uncomfortable the first maybe half dozen or dozen times, but it does get easier, and it's in your best interests, in the best interest of your your entire business and your relationships with your piano families that you support your own studio policies. So if uh a piano parent or a student comes back to me either by text or in person and just says, Oh, I can't make this lesson, can you reschedule to another time? You need to be very clear without over-explaining, and just say, I'm sorry, I can't reschedule lessons. I'm sorry that you'll miss it. Now it's really hard not to over-explain, not to add a justification because your your whole body is screaming out to justify this policy that you have, but you don't need to. And the reason you don't need to is the second you start adding reasons, it opens up the dialogue for a debate, for a discussion, for ways to negotiate. And it's not it's not something to negotiate. These are your policies, this is the way your studio runs, and you don't reschedule lessons. So I'm afraid you're going to miss the lesson. And that's it. Like I said, it does get easier with time, uh, but in the beginning, it's it's one of those one of those awkward things that none of us want to deal with, but it's in everyone's best interest to do so. So the mindset shift that I mentioned earlier, this is this is a key point of it, and it won't happen overnight, but believing in your studio policies is what takes you from a person who teaches piano but doesn't run a piano teaching business to a professional who knows how to run their business, has good working relationships with their students and piano families, and does not suffer from the the crippling guilt and indecision and self-doubt that comes with not supporting your own policies. So, shortly after introducing my cancellation policy, I received a casual request from a piano parent by text saying their child couldn't come to the lesson that day and could we reschedule the lesson? Now, as a rule follower, I find it very difficult to understand when you know that everyone is on board with the rules, you know, the studio policies that you've put together, they've they've read it, you've discussed it in person, they've signed to agree, and then they go and ask for a reschedule. It kind of feels quite uncomfortable for me because I think, well, I I wouldn't do that if I knew reschedules were not were not offered, I wouldn't go and ask for one. However, putting that aside, what I did in this situation was because they had texted me, I texted back and I kept it nice and short and brief without being too formal, because this is an area that some people fall down. They are uncomfortable with reinforcing this boundary that the language can come across as a bit condescending is probably the best word that I can think of. So you don't need to use extra formal language, it just needs to be clear without over-explaining. So what I did was I replied and said, Oh, I'm sorry, so and so can't come for their lesson today. Um, I don't reschedule lessons, so it will be a missed lesson. Full stop. Look forward to seeing him next week, and that's it. And you go through the process of writing this, and then your mind starts going uh haywire, and you think, oh, this feels really uncomfortable. Uh, you know, how are they gonna respond to this? Are they going to be really upset? Is this gonna make things awkward the next time I see them in person? All the drama that can go on in your head. But what happens 99% of the time is you send the message and then you get one back saying, Okay, thanks for letting me know, or okay, that's fine. See you next week. And it's fine, and it really is fine, and it's nothing to feel guilty about, or feel like you're imposing this big burden on them. And do you know why? Because they have signed the agreement to have lessons with you, knowing that this is the way your policy works, and if they want to have lessons with you, that's the way your studio works, and that's it. You didn't force them to come and have lessons with you, they chose you, and that's what you need to remember. So, as time went on, after I had introduced my cancellation policies, these requests uh came less and less often, and actually, I'm in a place now where all of my students and families have been with me for so long that everyone understands how it works, and no one questions it. I don't get any awkward texts or or requests in person. And it's wonderful because I'm not wasting my energy and my time worrying about how to respond to these messages or how to remind people while feeling a little bit awkward that no, I don't reschedule lessons, and no, I can't refund your lesson because you're unwell, that kind of thing, you know? So things are a lot, a lot, lot better now, which is why I want as many music teachers as possible to understand that this is okay. It's okay to run your studio like this, and many, many companies do. You might think, well, that's a company, that's a that's a bigger thing than me. I'm just a it's just me teaching students, but yes, you would never expect to let's use the gym example, you would never expect to get a gym class refunded because you missed it, because you were ill. It's been paid for, the time is there, you've missed it, and you've missed out, so you lose the money. The money has already been spent, you don't get any money back, and it shouldn't be any different for us as music teachers. So, if you take one thing away from this episode, it's that studio policies aren't about being bossy, they're about protecting your time, your income, and your energy so that you can show up and be the best teacher you can be without burning out, without losing all that extra time and losing all that extra money that means you need to take on more students to make ends meet. This is about creating a schedule for your business and a structure that is sustainable. Now, if you don't have a studio policy already, I have a free studio policy template. It's got the exact wording that you can adapt for your own studio so that you don't have to start from scratch. All the formatting's been done. I think it's really lovely. I've done a good job. Um, and it's the exact one that I use with all of my students, and I just update it every year with the new figures and the new details. So you can access that via the link in the show notes. So, thanks for listening to this episode. It's been wonderful to share this with you. I would be very grateful if you enjoyed this episode, if you wouldn't mind giving me a rating and sharing it with any music teachers you feel could benefit from this show. Thanks very much. Bye bye.