We are embarking on our busy time of the year! New Year’s resolutions are coming, our schedules will get a little tighter, our demand will be a little higher, and our paychecks will get a little fatter.
This is an exciting season in our business, but it is also such a demand on our schedules, we may find ourselves running behind and having little to no personal life. Time management will be the key to saving clients, one’s reputation and a little sanity. If we incorporate some time management guidelines now, they will be firmly in place and functioning when our peak time hits!
- Prepare your existing clients. Explain to your clients what is about to happen with your time and demand. Express to them the need to be on time to their session, get a solid workout and end on time. While we don’t want to be rude or cut someone off, this is still our business, and we have to manage it as one.
- Read your clients. We all have those clients that need a little extra attention. Recognize your clients that are very social and enjoy talking with you or just need a little more explaining. For this client, it may be best to either schedule a little extra time in your day for them, or schedule them just before a break or the end of your day. This could take the pressure off of you offending a client that may be waiting and ready to get started and still allow you to add a little personal touch to that person’s time. The last thing we want to do is have a client feel like we don’t care about them or their goals.
- Incorporate the changes. If we do not incorporate the changes now, imagine how hard it will be to do when you are busy. The value of managing your time before you get busy will take a lot of stress off of you and allow you to manage your day more efficiently.
- Manage some time for yourself. I can remember having 12-14 clients in a day and not having the time to stop for lunch or dinner. When we do that to ourselves, we are pushing the envelope of burning out. We enjoy what we do, but we can get too much of a good thing!
Managing your time and schedule ensures you are not running behind, takes some stress off of our day, caters to the needs of our special clients and allows us to enjoy what we do for a long time to come.
Happy Holidays, and enjoy the upcoming New Year!
