Late cancellations and no-shows can be frustrating for any coach. They affect not only the coach, but also the client’s ability to make progress towards their goals. Cancellations are understandable. Life happens and it’s important to be flexible and empathetic with what clients experience.
What is typically done in the coaching industry is to require a 24-hour notice for cancellations. But not all clients adhere to this, and when it becomes a pattern, the coach needs to address it.
In this article, we’ll explore how to deal with late cancellations and no-shows so you can support your clients commit to coaching and you can also protect your time.
The first thing to do is to review your written contract to check your late cancellation and no show policy.
Do you have one? Great, this is what you will be able to reinforce with your client.
You didn’t include one? That’s not a problem, you can still talk to your client about it. Make sure to add one in your coaching agreement so you can have it for any new client.
Here’s an example of policy you can use:
Sessions cancelled or rescheduled within less than 24 hours notice will be considered late cancellations. You will be charged your session fee [or a fixed fee of x].
No-shows without prior notification will result in the session being charged.
Once you’ve checked your agreement to make sure late cancellations and no shows are covered, you can assess the situation you are facing.
The first thing to ask yourself is: did the client cancel at the last minute for the first time? Or is it a pattern? The answer will affect how you should handle it.
If it’s the first time, we advise to be flexible. Things can happen and you want to be considerate, even if that means you won’t be able to make up that missed session with another client.
You also want to be mindful of particular circumstances. For example: the client has to cancel because their child is sick, or they don’t have childcare, or they are sick themselves, or something exceptional happened that couldn’t be planned. For those situations, you also want to be flexible and not charge your clients, but simply reschedule the session at a time that suits them better.
If your client has cancelled more than one or two sessions, it may be a good time to start talking to them about it and remind them of the policy in the coaching agreement. It may happens when the client has a work meeting scheduled at the time of their session, or they have two appointments and prioritise the other.
If you notice your client has been cancelling sessions with little notice, and seem to find it challenging to prioritise coaching over other commitments, it’s important to discuss it with them directly. This can be done right before or at the end of the next session.
You may say something along these lines:
“I noticed that we’ve had to reschedule / you cancelled a few of our sessions recently with short notice. Can we take a few minutes to talk about how our sessions could better fit into your schedule and if there’s anything we can do to make it easier for you to prioritise our time together. How are you feeling about our sessions and the timing right now?”
The key is to show genuine curiosity about what’s happening for the client so the late cancellations can be improved. During this conversation, you can emphasise on the importance of consistency and regularity to see progress in coaching.
Understanding why the late cancellations are happening are key to find a solution together with the client. Is the client stressed? Has family obligations? Health issues? Work-related challenges? In those situations, you could invite the client to discuss these topics in their sessions.
Other reasons that might explain these last-minute changes could be the client experiencing doubts about coaching, or being unsure about coaching. Here, you can uncover what those doubts are about, and spend a little more time to recontract with them on the definition of coaching, the role of the coach and the client, the process of coaching, etc.
If you noticed a shift in motivation (e.g. the client was highly engaged the first month and suddenly dropped), you can also mention it to explore what causes the change.
Once you’ve talked to your client, you can identify together when would be the best time for the client to fully commit to their sessions.
You can also mention that you will need to start charging the session’s fee for future late cancellations, to let the client know in advance.
One thing to consider is whether the client is still getting something out of their coaching engagement. Sometimes, clients can disengage when they feel they don’t need coaching anymore and they don’t discuss it with their coach.
As the practitioner, you need to be mindful of this. Is the client still getting something out of it? Are they still making progress? Is the goal of coaching clear to them? Those questions are worth asking to the client.
You may say:
“I wanted to check in with you about how you’re feeling about our work together. It’s important that you’re getting what you need from these sessions. Are you still finding value in coaching?/ Is there anything specific you would like to focus on? / What are you taking away from your sessions? / Do you feel you need coaching in this moment?”
It”s important for the coach to offer the possibility to stop or pause the coaching engagement if this is in the client’s best interest.
If the client tells you they want to continue coaching, they set a clear goal, they were offered flexible times to book their sessions, and yet they still cancel a session at the last minute, this is when we advise to let them you will start charging them for the session’s fee, as per the agreement.
“As I mentioned a few weeks ago, our agreement includes a policy regarding cancellations that are made with less than 24 hours of notice. I will need to start charging the session fee for these cancellations, starting with the session you just missed. Let me know if you have any questions and if you’d like to book your next session.”
The late cancellation fee is not to punish the client, but to protect your time and your practice. Just make sure that you give the opportunity for the client to commit to coaching before you start charing the missed sessions. It’s about setting clear boundaries with empathy and professionalism.
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