Salon Advice: How to find your Perfect Clients (and say goodbye to the tricky ones)

Salon Advice: How to find your Perfect Clients (and say goodbye to the tricky ones)

As a Salon Owner and hairdresser for over 20 years, we have all experienced tricky, nightmare clients who can be more trouble then they are worth.

The ones who are always late for their appointments, complain about everything and then try to argue over the cost... the ones you dread coming in for their appointments.

But it doesn't have to be like this, there is a way to say goodbye to these clients and grow those clients who will motivate your teams and help to build your business. Here is how we did it in our salon...

EcoTowels Perfect Client for your salon

Work Out Who Your Dream Client Is

Who do you really want to come into your salon - what does that client look like and how can you service them?

As a starting point to pinning down your dream client, take your top 20 clients and list them into perfect clients (those you really look forward to seeing), good clients (those you don't necessarily bond with but are happy to have them on your list) and the difficult clients (the ones you dread seeing).

Once you've categorised your clients, start looking into their lives - where do they shop, what to they enjoy doing, favourite magazines/radio/tv shows, where do they like to go out? And when it comes to the salon, what are their hair requirements? Do they buy retail products? What services are they looking for?

From here you can build the personalities and start picturing your perfect client - once that is done you simply need to start delivering your business and services to them. It really is that easy. 

Grow Your Perfect Client List

Now you know who you want in the salon, you need to start addressing their needs. What does your salon and staff say about your business (and is that what your perfect client wants)? Is your price list and services addressing what your perfect client needs? Is the overall experience what your perfect client is looking for...

Even the small things - are your magazines and refreshments what your perfect clients prefer? Do you need new coffee options or an updated look in the salon? Do you need to be more sustainable and eco-friendly? What about vegan clients - do they need to be offered more?

When marketing the salon on your website or social media channels - are you sharing the right points about your brand that will attract and engage with your perfect client?

Posting about using EcoTowels and your green credentials is a great way to attract a new client or even a picture about the range of non-dairy milks can also show you are ready to respond to all your clients' requests. 

Just make sure you and your team focus on what your perfect and good clients enjoy and look for in their salon visits. Give them more of what they want and that list of clients will grow, while the nightmare clients will eventually begin to fade away..

Saying Goodbye to the Tricky Clients

By focusing on the needs and wants of your perfect and good clients, the nightmare clients should start to drop off but if you need to move the process along, there are ways this can happen...

For those clients that are constantly late or miss appointments, we recommend introducing a policy of paying a deposit before their appointment - something some of them refused to do and therefore went elsewhere.

For those clients that were very difficult and demanding, we politely made it clear that we were not going to allow for our staff to be bullied or made to feel uncomfortable at work. If those clients were unhappy with their appointment or stylist, we happily informed them that we understood if they didn't want to book another appointment with us and wished them well. 

 

Image courtesy of Adam Winger/Unsplash