I’ve been a salon owner going on 20 years, and my first and only concern was, how can I give the customer a great experience?
Back then, I just wanted to give them a great location and a proper atmosphere that was friendly, diverse and safe.
Fast forward to now. I have learned so much and I feel that salon and barbershop owners fall short in this area by not understanding that the customer experience is so important.
I have seen the experience with bookings and appointments get better because technology has allowed us to have different platforms. However, we are still figuring this customer improvement thing out. This is not a knock on every salon and barbershop, so, allow me to share from my experiences, and in from travels across the world, going in and out of many salons and barbershops.
Remember the television show Tabitha Takes Over; where Australian stylist and salon owner Tabitha Coffey, would go into salons that were suffering and on the edge of closing? She would investigate first and uncover all of their unprofessional short comings, like uncleanliness and drinking on the job.
The premise of the show was to help salon owners who reached out to her for help. She would go in and take over in ways the salon owners were not really used to, or ready for.
Without adding too much color because all the salons and situations were different; Tabitha changed the salon owners and managers for the better. But sometimes all the staff was not in agreement with the changes and ended up leaving. However, in the end, the salons, the estheticians and teams were forever changed in ways they could not have imagined.
There is really no blueprint to how you should run a salon, but there are many examples on how to. These are just some of my highlighted ways that can really improve customer experience.
- Be true to your open and close hours of operation.
- Greet the customers as they walk through the door.
- Ask customer specifics on what their needs are.
- Offer customer refreshments/snacks.
- Remove foul language/music and inappropriate television shows.
- Promote a fair and diverse experience for everyone of all colors and creeds and religions.
- Think retention! Repeat customers are always the goal.
If we think about the customer and how we want to accomplish keeping them coming back and retaining their trust, these are some of the ways you can do it.
The goal is to be intentional about wanting to be a successful salon owner. It doesn’t matter whether it’s just you or a team of ten in the salon, make sure the overall goal first is a great customer experience.
Bad customer experience will travel super-fast in today’s social media driven society, that alone can hurt your business, along with your finances and growth in the long run.
Note: hiring the wrong team members can hurt your business as well and one person can become cancerous and spread bad vibes to a detriment that you cannot come back from.
I believe that if you have the right mindset and goals for being a great leader and salon owner, you will make major leaps and bounds.
I would seek a successful mentor that is doing and achieving what you want to do. Don’t overlook reading self-help leadership books as well.
Focus on the first 6 things I listed and you will get that 7th one as a result. Here’s to an awesome start to the new year and much success.
Best,
Dr. Tye
ShearShare, CEO Co-Founder
