March 19, 2020
You want to run the best hair salon Cedar Rapids, Iowa has ever seen, but you’ve run into some issues with your clients in the past. Simply put, you’ve had some arguments, and the atmosphere has been, at times, less than friendly. This problem is one that we at Salon Voche have heard many of our clients discussing. And it can be a very tough situation to manage, mainly if you aren’t sure how to handle unsatisfied customers. Thankfully, we have tips to help keep your salon atmosphere friendly.
The toughest thing about running a hair salon is working with clientele who may show up unexpectedly. Walk-ins aren’t necessarily a bad thing – they can help out if the day is slow – but they can also throw things for a loop if a client who scheduled an appointment comes in and ends up getting frustrated that somebody else is being worked on instead of them.
Most specialists suggest that booking a day in advance is usually preferred for most salons. This step should give you more than enough time to know what you’ll experience in a day. Just as importantly, it can provide you with a guide for each client, giving you a better chance to prepare your gear for a person’s needs. And you can also avoid the kind of complications that occur if you try to fit a walk-in into your schedule before an appointment.
Just as importantly, booking early also gives you and other salon experts time to prepare for what a person may want to be done. For example, if you get a booking for a prom or a dance, you’re going to need time to work on her hair before its done. That extra time helps to make this situation more comfortable to handle and provides you and your clients with the necessary help to ensure every one is as satisfied as possible.
Now that you have a flexible and easy-to-understand booking system in place, you need to make sure that you also provide your customers with the kind of high-quality work that they deserve. Doing so shouldn’t be a significant challenge if you and your workers are adequately trained and experienced. However, it would help if you still created a plan before you start to ensure that things go smoothly.
Start by asking the customer what they want you to do with their hair. Most people should have a pretty good idea of what they want you to do. If they don’t, get out your style books and show them some pictures that they can use as a guide. Don’t hesitate to help people out in this way. Doing so can help to make their style much more comfortable to achieve and give you and them the chance to fully understand what their new style will require.
Lastly, you may want to show them pictures of people who have come to your hair salon in the past and who seem to want a similar style to what they are asking. They can then confirm the look for you and make your job a lot easier. First of all, this helps by giving you a guide to what they want. And it also helps by ensuring that there is no confusion about what they want later on in the process.
One of the more challenging elements of running a salon is knowing whether or not you should talk to your customers or leave them be as you work. Many salon experts run into this issue every day. They may want to chat with somebody new to learn more about them or simply to pass the time. And their customer may or may not be open to this kind of discussion and may react poorly if not.
Start out by asking a few questions to your customers when they enter the hair salon and after they sit down in the chair. Gauge how they react to you talking to them. Do they seem engaged and interested in what you have to say? Or do they look bored or even uninterested in talking to you? In this the latter situation, you may need to stop talking and just focus on getting their hair done instead.
The most significant step here is to simply read what your customer wants and to provide it for them. Remember: just because a customer doesn’t talk, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t friendly or enjoying their visit. They may simply be shy or introverted and struggle to speak to others. You may want to try to pair introverted clients with introverted hair specialists or extroverted partners together. Doing so can help to make this process even easier by merely pairing similar people.
So you’ve done what you can to provide your clients with the hairstyle that they want. And you think that you’ve done a pretty good job: but they don’t agree. They are quite unhappy with the style that you’ve created, even though you followed their suggestions to the letter. And they may be quite aggressive about it or even quite hostile. How can you keep your hair salon friendly when this happens?
Start by understanding that the customer is always right: even if you did exactly what they wanted, if they are unhappy, you need to address the issue. Please don’t argue with them about it. Accept that something went wrong and try to come up with a plan to resolve the issue that will help them leave satisfied.
Lastly, you may want to provide any unsatisfied customers with a discount, a refund, or even a free adjustment to keep them happy. It is often best to offer these benefits after they have had some time to relax and calm down. Or you may want to do it right then – it all depends on what they want and what kind of time crunch you’re suffering. Do what you can to help them out, and you should avoid any unfriendly feelings.
As you can see, it isn’t too hard to keep your hair salon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa friendly if you pay attention to these simple steps. You want your customers to feel satisfied with what you have to offer and almost like you’re a friend or even a family member. Ultimately, it would help if you reminded them that you got their back, no matter what the situation. So if you’re interested in learning more about this topic or need help with other elements, please contact us at Salon Voche to learn more.
