Now that we've covered how to regain old clients you might have lost, let's get into keeping your clients so the former never happens! Being a hair stylist is so much more than a beautiful blowout or great haircut. In order to keep the money coming in you must be able to market yourself and your skills, and this isn't usually taught in beauty school. But with a little help from us and your salon, that appointment book will stay full and you will stay profitable! Salon owners, this would be a great topic to discuss at a future training with your staff.We invite you to take these tips and train your employees, remember if they aren't profitable you aren't either! If you bring anything you learn here in your salon and there is progress or improvement, please let us know. We are always looking to tailor our content to bring you the best business advice.
Looking The Part
Being a hairstylist comes with a certain amount of expectations about your look, so it is important to remember you are the first representation of your work. Would you trust a dentist with crooked, yellow teeth? We hope not. It is important to show up to work every day looking your best even though we know you're exhausted on the inside. (Cue our 5th coffee of the day.) Getting up that extra bit early to do your hair and put on something comfortable but stylish will not only promote a great, professional first impression to new clients but will help you feel your best every day at work which will transition into beautiful work on a daily basis. Remember why you went into hair in the first place! Was it to make others feel beautiful inside and out? Clients will feel this if they see you preach it! Take care of yourself first, you work hard enough and we'll just say it for you, you deserve it!
Early is On Time and On Time is Late!
Everyone's time is precious including yours and especially your clients. With everyone moving a thousand miles an hour, it's easy to get caught up in our mounting to-do lists. And the worst thing you can do is be that stylist that is always late for appointments. This is a sure fire way to lose clients, if they have to wait for you this could affect your tip, no matter how gorgeous your work turns out. Be ready for every appointment and give yourself time to make sure you are in your best headspace to greet, connect and talk to your clients. We understand sometimes things happen and we aren't in the best mood at work. Maybe the appointment before never showed up or that client was a nightmare, take a deep breath and bring your best attitude to every appointment. Energy is infectious and lets face it, hair is fun! We are literally in the business of giving people makeovers every single day. If you are bright and positive, your clients will love your work even more and spread the word about your services to their friends!
Brag A Little… or A Lot!
Hair is one of those few industries where even though you work at a business, you still need to generate your own. A successful salon can sell itself if you make it to a big, well known one, but often you are starting at a smaller salon, or you’re a booth renter and you are in charge of how successful you are this means selling yourself!
We cannot express how important it is to constantly promote your work. As a new stylist trying to build their portfolio of work, you need to be posting almost every single day with the appropriate hashtags and correct lighting to really stand out on Instagram. Promoting your work is another full-time job so find a moment whenever you can to really commit to taking beautiful pictures and do not post in the moment! We know it is exciting to feature a beautiful new look but wait until you have at least 20 minutes to dedicate to coming up with an eye-catching caption and hashtags that really encompass the work. If you are looking for local bookings, we encourage local hashtags in your area to increase the reach of your posts to the correct audience every time. With the introduction of Instagram Stories as well you can make fun videos and show your personality on there but keep your feed about your work. This creates a consistent feed people want to follow and will, in turn, result in more bookings! Especially if you encourage your clients, who aren’t camera shy, to post pictures on their profiles and tag you this brings exposure to their followers too.
Be The Expert
Be the expert they come to see! During their appointments give realistic recommendations on how often they need to come in for haircuts and color touch-ups. This time is crucial for rebooking, especially if you bring it up during the shampoo so you can get a feel for what their schedule is like. If you have a client that you know is low maintenance because she’s been coming to you for years and she suddenly wants to go all in on a blue transformation, remind her this means regular appointments for root touch-ups and an investment on her part in her at home care. You would rather be honest about the work a fantasy color takes than have her be surprised later and angry at you for not warning her.
Also, mention what days you work during their visit and see how this coordinates with their schedule. If there is a common time both of you are available, don’t hesitate to ask to Pre Book at the end of her session, since you know this day usually works for her, she is more likely to say yes! And even if they have been coming to you for a while, continue to hand out that business card. It isn’t for her as much as it is for her friends! You never know in whose hands that card could end up and the appointments it could end up bringing you!
Listen! No really, listen.
Something about the Hairdresser’s chair really makes some people open up, even on the first visit! Make the environment your client is in as comfortable as possible. You are together for the next couple of hours anyway right? Why spend it in awkward silence? Of course, you won’t become best friends with every client but taking the time to remember the things they said during their last visit really makes people feel comfortable with you and builds this almost friendship like bond. If she talks about her husband passing away or a child going off to college, remember these things so they aren’t left repeating themselves and thinking that you don’t care about them and you only care about their money. Which at the end of the day means nothing if they don’t come back! Being a therapist or sounding board is one of the biggest parts of this job, and if you embrace this sooner rather than later you can reap the benefits in tips! Just be careful to never cross the line, if they make a joke you don’t particularly care for or are rude to you, just provide the best service possible. An argument can make you seem difficult to work with and could result in negative reviews that are hard to come back from.
Now Go Out & Conquer!
We encourage you to take these tips and conquer your client book! Review every client who you have seen in the past year and take into account how often have they visited, what do you really know about them and are there any trends on when they usually visit the salon. How can you use this information to increase their business? Are Saturday mornings usually best for them or do they need that Wednesday after work to get away from the kids? What current specials or treatments compliment what they most recently got done? What kinds of specials do they usually respond too? Was that last email marketing campaign successful or not? You have the power to make this career in beauty as successful as you want it to be. Go out and take it back with Envision! Let us know if you’d like this to be a series as we have many more tips on keeping your clients coming back for more! Reach out on social or at social@ennoview.com.
