Hi!
If you are new here, welcome!
I’m Tracy Karkut-Law, I’ve been a homeopath in east London since 2007 and I’ve been sharing my practice through this newsletter since 2013.
March is always a busy time in my practice, and hopefully for you too. 🌷
With the hayfever season around the corner, I find it’s a good time to reach out to anyone I have ever treated for hayfever, so I can offer them an allergy prevention protocol.
The thing about hay fever is that its roots are largely miasmatic, so homeopathy is uniquely placed to offer a solution.
By way of contrast, high blood pressure, fatty liver and insulin resistance are almost entirely due to lifestyle factors.
There are many ways that homeopathy can support it, but we need to understand what we are working with and find tactful ways to help people make better choices.
If this topic interests you, I hope you will join me on Friday 22nd March for Homeopathy for Insulin Resistance.
If you are a student please email me for a discount code to give you 25% off.
Save the date - upcoming webinars ✨
Checklists and Strategies to Grow Your Practice Online - Watch on replay
Homeopathy for Insulin Resistance - Friday 22nd March
Homeopathy for Women’s Health - Friday 26th April
Homeopathy for Hayfever Prevention - Friday 10th May
Money Wisdom - Friday 17th May
Firm but Fair 🚦
One of the less fun things about being a homeopath is managing appointments.
Hopefully, most clients respect and understand that our time is valuable.
Two things I want to avoid are:
Discovery call no-shows
Late notice for rearranging an appointment
I am grateful the booking system I use has useful features to help me prevent these situations from happening.
How I try to avoid Discovery Call no-shows
Automated SMS and email reminders for appointments works just fine for most people.
The only thing about Discovery Calls is that the person doesn’t have a relationship with me yet, so they don’t necessarily feel an obligation to show up.
Step 1
To avoid this happening, I send a personal email in addition to the automated ones, asking them to confirm.
Step 2
If I don’t receive an email reply, I use Timely to send a personal SMS:
‘Hi ___, we have a free homeopathy call booked at ___ , please confirm this still works for you.’
I give them to the end of the day to confirm.
Step 3
If there is still no reply to my email or my SMS, I use the Timely feature where you can ‘edit’ the booking to cancel, and select the box that says ‘did not confirm’.
This action sends an automated SMS and email saying the call is cancelled due to them not confirming.
Sometimes this prompts a reply and say they want to go ahead!
I feel this process helps to set clear expectations, which feels like a good thing.
How I try to prevent late notice rearranging
A couple of years ago, I used the Timely consultations forms feature to set up a Terms and Conditions form for all new clients to sign online.
Since then I rarely get a late request to rearrange.
I’m quite relaxed about moving an online appointment, as I usually have some flexibility.
What I am less happy about is a late request to move an in-person consultation, especially a First Consultation, because more time is blocked out and it’s harder to fill at short notice.
Recently I had a request for a Discovery Call for a new client, who is very busy. (Her assistant booked the appointment.)
We went back and forth over several emails trying to find a time that worked for both of us until I finally said I’d be happy to respond to any questions via email and if you want to book, here’s the link.
The in-person appointment was duly booked and paid in full.
Five days before the appointment, I received an email asking for it to be pushed back due to an ‘urgent meeting’.
I wasn’t very happy, but it was within my terms and conditions, so I moved it.
This week, I received an email asking to move the booking again.
I realised I couldn’t accept this request, and thought about how to handle it before sending this email:
This doesn't work in my practice.
When I block out 80 minutes in my calendar, this is time I cannot offer anyone else.
The last appointment was rescheduled and opened up 80 minutes at late notice.
This time has been blocked out for several weeks, which makes it unavailable to anyone else.
I can refund 50% of the appointment fee if you wish to cancel.
Kind regards,
Why did I say this?
I realised it was entirely down to me to draw the line.
Her reply?
I received an email saying she was not aware of this complication and would rearrange her meeting so she could attend after all!
This is not something that has happened before and hopefully won’t happen again.
When we meet I will have an honest discussion with her about why I need to protect my time and to set expectations for future bookings.
Something I would do differently next time
When I received the first email I should have made the point that I could do this once but not to ask to move it again.
Because this person wanted to see me in person, she needed to respect my schedule. Hopefully, now, she does.
These two scenarios may not have happened to you but hopefully, they will give you some ideas for how to respond to any issues that may come up in the future.
Would you like to try Timely?
The single app that makes my practice run more smoothly is Timely. I’m sharing my affiliate link at no extra cost to you. You get a free trial, and if you sign up for a plan, the first two months are half-price.
If you have any thoughts on this topic, please feel free to share a comment below, I promise to reply.
Brain food💡
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An interesting read on gut feelings
Homeopathy for Insulin Resistance 🍭
Friday 22nd March, 10 am - 2 pm
£50 to join live and/or watch the replay
Every homeopath needs tools and strategies to treat and hopefully prevent early signs of 'insulin resistance' a term sometimes used interchangeably with 'metabolic syndrome'.
Around 1 in 4 adults in the UK and 1 in 3 adults in the US are thought to have this condition which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
These issues can be something of a 'wake-up call' for adults in mid-life who have been avoiding taking responsibility for their health.
Homeopathy is not a 'magic solution' but together with lifestyle changes each of these issues can be significantly improved and even reversed.
Webinar content
What we need to know about hypertension, fatty liver and pre-diabetes
Lifestyle factors and useful supplements
Nosodes, therapeutics, organ support, homeobotanicals
Tips and strategies for case management
Note: You will receive a full set of notes before the webinar.
Available to join live or watch on replay with no deadline.
Questions?
Please just reply to this email and I will reply as soon as I can.
Click the link to find out more.
As always, thanks for reading.
If you found something of value here, I would be grateful if you could forward it to a friend. ✨
Tracy 👩🏼💻