DoLessWork · Free tool

Standing Rules Starter

One page that tells anyone answering your enquiries what to say, what to never put in writing, and what to hand straight to a person. Tick what applies, add your own, take the document with you.

Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us, stored, or logged — no account, no email, no card.

Your practice name

Optional. It only appears at the top of your document, and it never leaves this page.

Pricing

The single most common enquiry, and the one most often answered badly in writing.

Never quote treatment prices by email. Offer a consultation first, always.A price with no context gets compared against a medspa down the road that quoted a different thing.
Package pricing exists but is never the opening answer to "how much?".Leading with the biggest number ends the conversation before it starts.
A published starting-from price may be shared when the client asks directly.Some practices would rather filter early than book consultations that will not convert.
Never offer, confirm, or negotiate a discount in writing.A discount in an email becomes the price for every future visit, and gets forwarded.

Clinical boundaries

What a written reply must never attempt. These are the rules worth being strictest about.

Never assess whether someone is a candidate for a treatment in writing.Candidacy needs a person who can see the client. Anything else is a guess with liability attached.
Post-treatment concerns go straight to the clinical team, unanswered."Is this normal?" is never a front-desk question, however routine it sounds.
If someone mentions pregnancy or breastfeeding, route to a human immediately.Contraindications vary by treatment and by trimester. No template covers it.
Any mention of medication, a medical condition, or a recent procedure routes to a human.Interactions are not something to reason about in an inbox.

Your team

How staff are described and named to clients.

Never name a specific injector unless the client asked for them by name.Naming someone creates an expectation the schedule may not be able to keep.
Never promise a specific practitioner’s availability in writing.Rotas change. A written promise does not.

Booking and deposits

Fill these in with your actual policy — the wording matters less than it being consistent.

State the deposit policy in full whenever a booking is discussed. Never waive it in writing.A waived deposit in writing is the one every future client will cite.
Quote the cancellation window verbatim from the policy. Do not paraphrase it.Paraphrased policies are the ones that get argued about.
Never confirm an appointment slot that is not already held in the calendar.A confirmation the schedule cannot honour costs more than a slow reply.

Voice and sign-off

The part that makes a draft sound like you rather than like software.

Open with the client’s first name. Never "Dear Client" or "Hi there".The fastest tell that a reply was not written for the person reading it.
At most one exclamation mark per reply.Enthusiasm punctuation is the most common reason a draft reads as automated.
Sign off with the practice name, not an individual, unless the client wrote to a named person.Keeps continuity when whoever replies next is someone else.

When a human takes over

The catch-all. Worth writing even if it feels obvious.

If it is unclear whether an enquiry is clinical, treat it as clinical and route it to a person.The ambiguous cases are exactly the ones where guessing is expensive.
Any complaint, or any mention of a refund, dispute, or lawyer, goes to an owner unanswered.The first reply to a complaint sets the tone for everything after it.
Press, partnership, and supplier enquiries are never answered from the front desk.Cheap to route, awkward to undo.

Your own rules

The ones nobody else would think of. These are usually the most useful lines in the finished document.

Your standing rules

10 rules selected. Edit anything above and this updates as you go.

STANDING RULES — YOUR PRACTICE

How written enquiries are answered, and what is never answered in writing.
Give this to anyone who replies to clients on your behalf.

PRICING

  - Never quote treatment prices by email. Offer a consultation first, always.
  - Package pricing exists but is never the opening answer to "how much?".

CLINICAL BOUNDARIES

  - Never assess whether someone is a candidate for a treatment in writing.
  - Post-treatment concerns go straight to the clinical team, unanswered.
  - If someone mentions pregnancy or breastfeeding, route to a human immediately.
  - Any mention of medication, a medical condition, or a recent procedure routes to a human.

YOUR TEAM

  - Never name a specific injector unless the client asked for them by name.

VOICE AND SIGN-OFF

  - Open with the client’s first name. Never "Dear Client" or "Hi there".

WHEN A HUMAN TAKES OVER

  - If it is unclear whether an enquiry is clinical, treat it as clinical and route it to a person.
  - Any complaint, or any mention of a refund, dispute, or lawyer, goes to an owner unanswered.

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A starting point, not a finished policy. Edit it until it sounds like you,
then give it to whoever answers your enquiries. It is about what gets said
in writing — it is not clinical or legal advice.

Built with the free tool at dolesswork.com/VA/tools/standing-rules

What this is, and what it is not

It is a communication policy: who says what, in writing, on behalf of your practice. It is a starting point that expects to be edited, not a finished document, and it is not clinical or legal advice. The lines about clinical questions are about routing them to a person, never about answering them.

This is the same document we build with you in the first month, from your own real enquiries rather than from a checkbox list. You keep that one whether you continue or not — this is just the version you can have today, for nothing.

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