The Art of Customer Retention

Growing your business can seem like a daunting task.  But what about keeping the business you already fought for?

Speaking of actions and efforts, it is no accident that you are reading this article.  If you have this showing on your screen, I know what keeps us both up some nights.  Here is some great advice for us all. 

You have seen this happen, haven't you? As you focus on obtaining additional customers, the ones you have are leaking out the back door. The lifeblood of any business is not just growth.  I have experienced that it is actually twofold: obtaining new customers while retaining current ones. Are you so completely focused on acquiring new customers, that your current current customers receive less than your best, and slip out the back door and across the street (or across town) directly to your competition?

How can you stop this?  Here is one very promising idea:

You. 

 

When a customer returns, it is all about YOU baby! What simple things about you are the things people come back for?  Friendship?  An amazing scalp massage?  Laughter?   That one way to do the neckline he loves?  Be consistent with every customer and take a look at what wins their loyalty and opens their wallet.

Statistics say that there are many reasons customers do not return to a place of business.  This list sites that 4% move away; 5% leave to try something new; 9% leave you for your competition; 14% leave disgruntled with your service, and an overwhelming 68% of your customers leave you because they encounter an attitude of indifference (meaning your customers felt that you did not care if they stayed with you or not).

While these figures are represented as percentages, the real truth is that these percentages translate into dollars.  Your customers have chosen you as a good reason to part with their money. We must never forget that customers are always free to choose, and just as they chose your salon, they will choose another salon if your service is not up to par. The solution?  Superior customer service is a factor that YOU control.

What is superior customer service? Simply, it is the kind of service you would like to receive. And don't forget, this kind of marketing is free if you do it, and costly if you don’t.

What will distinguish you from your competition?  What makes your business irresistible? What keeps your best customers speaking highly of you and coming back forever?

Many salons implement actions or services that positively impact or impress your customers.  They step it up the first time they see a new customer, and then tend to allow these WOW factors to fall by the wayside.  Stop this. Superior customer service is consistent - from the first visit to the twentieth visit to the one hundredth visit.

When you FOCUS on your gracious words and the ability to deliver the service your customer came for will greatly increase your odds of that client coming back and even better, bringing someone with them next time too.

(***Don't forget to include a request for referrals on the bottom of each email SCHEDULE'em sends out for you.  Its a no brainer that our subscribers have reported an amazing influx of new referrals since they started using our software!)

Don't forget to radiate the kind of customer service

you would want to receive

for every customer, every visit.

An Artists Path to Geater Success

I often remark that a bad hair day is that it is not so much about our vanity as it is our self esteem.

Every day a client will come in, sit with you and leave a while later sporting a great new look. This is one of the reasons I love my job, love to make people look and feel great!  The transformation of our appearance is often a visual marker for how we are feeling.

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So how do we we tap into this creative side of ourselves to deliver that every day to our clients? What is it that continues to ignite our passion and fuel our drive?  How do you keep up with the always evolving technical trends? What are you doing to keep those juices flowing and making it fun and fresh and exciting again and again?

Here are some ideas I have used  to ignite the creativity and build clientele and expertise:

-  Meet with your staff individually and assess with them what they need support with technically.
-  Offer continuing technical education. Keep in mind that you can pair up staff to learn skill from each other, and your new experts can cross train others.
- Look online and see what is out there. YouTube. Blogs. The website for your favorite product line.  Beauty message boards.  They are all so easily accessible.  This can be a beneficial way to encourage your staff to research independently during the downtime between clients.
- Put regular "training" into the schedule and stay committed to filling that valuable time.  Make this available to all levels of experience.
- Your Distributor/Manufacturers always have new information to share.  Make it an expectation that they always show and tell you something about your retail or products when they visit.  You might be pleasantly surprised how much they can boost your little business!

"Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere..."

What is your cleint retention "secret"?

I have lost a client. It's sad, but true. 

I missed the boat and I don't know if he is ever coming back. 

You see, his wife told me that there is another Big Box Salon who is willing to do what I have assumed was no longer necessary to include in my everyday service.

The Scalp Massage.

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While this five minute luxury may bore me after years of rubbing my client's tension away, apparently my great cuts and friendship are not enough to keep him coming. He will sacrifice a hair cut he likes for a hot towel and head rub.

His wife is not happy.

His former hairstylist (sigh) has learned something: My technical work is outstanding, but my tried and true "loyal client" building/retention skill has gotten rusty.

As a young stylist I continued with my Beauty School training and completed a 5-minute scalp massage with each customer. Every visit. And my clients loved the extra TLC.

As my clientele grew, I started slipping into faster, more routine work and my scalp massages became fewer and further between.

So now as I reflect on this experience, it makes me wonder again about that personal touch. I like being that one person in some one's life who took the time to "reach out and touch someone." 

Time to reinvent that part of my client experience.

What are the simple things that keep your clients coming?



Want to make more money? Grow your color clientele.

Training on color treatments will be vital to your business. Color is such a crucial part of any thriving salon business! "Color is the major and most significant sales area aside from retail that will create financial abundance, stability and profitability for the salon!"  Miladys

Training should be continuous, just because a technician has been certified once doesn’t mean that they are done with their color training, especially in our industry where color techniques continue to change, evolve and improve.

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Here is some suggested systems for in salon color training program that will work for individuals or a team:

• Hold at least one training each month, for example the first Tuesday on each month from 1-3pm. Have your certified color specialists lead color training to new hires and assistants. This keeps them involved and having to be the example of what you taught them and helps to free up your schedule.
• Display latest applications and manufacturer formulas and specifications for the highest quality customer experience. This will also support you in cutting down on waste.  
• Focus on helping someone go from 90 minutes to apply color down to, for example, 80 minutes will increase productivity and make more room for adding other clients onto their books!
• An expert consultation will build confidence with your client.  Properly explaining the benefits of one style of color or another will avoid disappointing results to the customer.
• The promotions you are running should always include opportunity for new color clients as well as new looks for your returning clients.
• Consider a Color Specialist certificate at your workstation. This certificate not only boosts confidence and pride but also is a great incentive for customers to see. A framed certificate goes along way in supporting building credibility in the clients mind.

 

The more color, the more profit!

Just a trim, please

"Just like last time, please."  I love that request for two reasons: 1) They have had lots of happy hair days since they were here last and 2) Nothing generates as much confidence for me that they like my work as that simple nod of approval for a job well done.

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One of my favorite clients had to cancel their appointment at the last minute. Their next appointment was a few weeks later and his hair was still in an AWKWARD state.  Too bad for them that I didn't have flexibility in my schedule that day to accommodate their need. Now my "loyal client" has new found faith in my hair magic wand....

Sometime it is beyond me how a paid hairstylist can even get a cut so bad.  And why did they even get paid for it????  This isn't rocket science, folks.  There is a reason lots of people attempt their own hair care without a professional,  (yeah, I can pick the "home cuts" out in a crowd.) but your work really does speak for you long after your client leaves the salon.  What do you really want to say?

Every client deserves my very best work. 

I do amazing things and I can show you how!

praise

A sign large posted in one of the salons I used to work for said:  "Don't talk about yourself.  We'll do that after you leave." 

Oh, I hated when my shift there ended.  Because I had witnessed the gossip and newsy ventures into the life of those not there to defend themselves....  Clients, staff and their offspring were not safe!  BEWARE!

Can you imagine?  So, you can be assured the salon is now a parking lot of an assisted living center so the drama does not live on, but the legacy of how that made me feel about going to work there does.

The owner was a specialist with years of expertise and so much to teach me.  Her aged mother would waddle in and review my work even as I was applying hairspray.  Sometimes she was not very appreciative of my efforts, and did not hesitate to correct me even if the client was still sitting there.

The lessons learned at that little nail shop shaped how I ran my own little full service salon a mere mile away just a few years later.  I know for sure that when the old ladies heard I was attempting my own shop they slapped their foreheads in disbelief.  I had learned much about what NOT to do and was now giving my best for the best place to rent/work ever!  I had much to prove, eh?

It didn't take long for me to realize that our staff there would work ten times harder for a compliment than they would for a dollar.  Don't misunderstand here, we all have bills to pay.  But make no mistake, we love this job because we love to make someone happy and its a bonus if they actually turn around and say to us "Thanks, I really like this!

Praise! Praise! Praise! This will only reinforce practice, practice, practice! and make your team even stronger and talented.

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Whether its for a well executed service or a noticeable effort to improve their talent, don't forget to pat them (and yourself) on the shoulder for a job well done.  Just in case the happy face going out the door gets missed in the traffic.

Dress for success

I occasionally shop at a certain store here in town that specializes in natural remedies and organic food. The workers there reflect the store specialty by generally being very "granola" in their appearance in both style and cosmetics.

So I was surprised to be greeted by a familiar face with her newly shaved head with a heavy side fringe dyed Royal Purple that practically screamed "hello" at me. Wow! Apparently, her fiance is a few hours away from graduating from a local Beauty School and has been playing in the paint pots of hair color. As we discussed him and his talent, I found myself thinking  something like "No matter how talented, that person might be, if my hairstylist stood above me in rainbow colored hair, I doubt I could take anything they said seriously, let alone trust them to dig in. ( -- Unless you get me on that not-so-rare-anymore day when I'm game for just about anything that may cause my mother to wince and my husband to think I have gone out of my mind. Just for the heck of it. And then the next day I'm pretty glad the moment has passed.)

Which brings me to my point today. What does your personal appearance say about your desire to succeed? Do you wear on your head and on your body the look that will attract the kind of clients you want to work for? If you had a job interview today, would you get the job? (Technically, every client who sits down for you is your boss.)

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As a color educator for a major company, my supervisor insisted that I never pack or wear jeans for any travel or appearances. As a representative for this company you were expected to always look the part, showcasing your very best appearance at all times.

 

Another place I worked had this dress policy: If your old crush from high school walked in the door today, would you greet him with "I'm All That and a bag of chips!" confidence or would you be looking for the nearest exit, hoping to not be recognized? If it is the latter, why do you come to work looking like that?

One of my first mentors ever was a girl who came to work in torn jeans, flip flops, no make up, and absolutely straight hair. Her clientele? You would not believe it based on the advice I written so far. The shop's most glamorous, big hair, and if I may say big spenders were all in her chair. And they all left looking like a million bucks-- hair teased and sprayed into perfect clouds of famous fluff. You could wait MONTHS to get your turn in her chair. What??? She will assure you that she DID THE DRESS FOR SUCCESS THING for years while she built her clientele. She carefully dressed each morning in super firm bangs and high heels to collect her glamorous and high paying clientele. Once her talent and reputation spoke for her she relaxed her personal style and laughed all the way to the bank.

Think about your professional appearance  Are you wearing what you are selling?  Take care to be the kind of look you want your clientele to be.  Its as important as any ad you would pay for.



What is your success style?