Attract Your Ideal Clientele for Your Hairstyling Business Through Your Professionalism
The ideal client shows up for their appointments on time, has realistic expectations and appreciates professional recommendations. They purchase retail products, pre-book their appointments and refer their friends. Clients are trained by what they experience in the salon. If your clients are less than ideal, take a look at your own behavior.
1. SHOWING UP ON TIME. If you’re always running late, don’t be surprised when your clients begin showing up late. Why would they make an extra effort to be on time when they know from experience that most likely they will have to wait for you?
2. HAVING REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS AND TAKING RECOMMENDATIONS. Clients with unrealistic expectations for their hair simply have not been educated about the hairstyles that will work with their hair type, face shape, and maintenance requirements. What are you doing to share your education and expertise? Educating clients during the consultation and discussing the process throughout the service establishes your expertise and heighten your value as a service provider.
3. PURCHASING RETAIL PRODUCTS. Be honest: are you guilty of expecting your clients to purchase retail products from you when you haven’t even “prescribed” anything? Prescribing and offering are very different. Doctors prescribe products they believe are necessary to fix a patient’s ailments. They tell you what you need, why you need it, what it will do and exactly how to use it. Prescribing is not a pushy sales pitch that turns people off: it is a service. Simply throwing out, “Do you need any products today?” does very little, if anything, to train clients to purchase retail products from you.
4. PRE-BOOKING APPOINTMENTS. We are in a service industry, so some accommodations should be made in order to provide excellent service to our clients. However, are you bending over backwards and working extra hours at the expense of your family or your health to squeeze in clients who haven’t pre-booked because you haven’t set that standard? Start training your clients to get in the habit of pre-booking so that they can get their ideal time slot and you can have a balanced work schedule.
How you conduct your business and carry yourself behind the chair speaks to clients and how those clients respond to you. If you want the ideal clientele, some training is necessary. Before you get the urge to start firing clients, evaluate your own behavior and business practices. The ideal client is trained by our professionalism behind the chair.
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