Customer service room 101

As both providers and consumers of services, beauty professionals are experts in what makes a great customer journey, but there is always room for improvement. Hellen Ward shares her top tips

I can hardly believe it’s the end of the year and we are entering our busiest time. Where has 2023 gone?

December is a funny time for salon owners who aren’t running columns.

Everyone’s occupancy rate is maxed out so it actually can be a very productive time to catch up on admin. When the team are fully booked, they don’t need much managing – phew!

It’s therefore a good opportunity as a management team to have a debrief on the year, look at the elements of service we want to improve upon in 2024 and set our new year’s service resolutions.

I’m sure I’m not alone in having some pet peeves – both as a customer and a salon owner. Informing and re-training the team on your “no go”s when it comes to the client visit is always a work in progress, so customer feedback on the user experience and journey flow is vital to track and discuss.

I often have to remind myself that some less experienced team members may not be quite so au fait with what exemplary service is. Perhaps some have never been lucky enough to experience the ultimate in customer feel good factor in order to know what good looks like, and if that’s the case, we need to ensure they are educated and trained on this crucial part of our salon treatments.

Listing out your room 101 of service no-nos is a good place to start. My top five are:

1. “That’s OK” – when you thank someone at a till, or after they’ve served you, the response should never be “that’s OK”. I know it’s OK. You’re being paid to provide me with a service. We can learn a lot from our cousins across the pond because the correct response is either “you’re welcome” or “my pleasure” (which it should be).

2. Sticking to the protocol – it’s astonishing to me that some salons and spas don’t insist on the most vital part of the preservice consultation: how you like your treatment to be conducted. In silence, or shall I talk you through the protocol before, during or after?

Please ask this question to your clients before you start, therapists. Remember, when it comes to treatment protocol, the client writes the script, not you. P.s. be prepared to deviate from that script too – see point 4.

3. Post-facial bed head – when I mystery shop, I’m always astonished that anyone would allow a client to get off a couch with their hairline full of exfoliating grains and oil and then expect them look in the mirror and feel good about themselves. That’s not going to happen until I’ve got a slick of lippy and a coat of mascara on, and clean, blow-dried hair (we include a blow dry in our facials for that very reason). I’ve even experienced a booking when my blow dry happened before my facial. I didn’t have the heart to tell them they’d got it the wrong way around.

4. Being on send and not receive – sometimes, our teams can be stuck on transmit mode. Too busy telling the client all about themselves and their personal lives to listen for the clues. Sound familiar? We can all think of a team member who has lost a client by failing to listen. In fact, surveys suggest it’s the biggest reason that customers change their operator.

“People VOTE WITH THEIR FEET and don’t need many excuses TO LEAVE, so we need to make sure we DON’T GIVE THEM ANY ”

And here’s the p.s. from point 2: too much talking and not enough listening and you’ll fail to create a bespoke, tailormade experience to suit your client’s needs. Conduct a thorough consultation, prescribe, advise and recommend, then deviate from the norm if needs dictate.

5. Politics, religion and sex – remain, more than ever, no-go areas. I remember when I was a trainee regional manager and was posted to Northern Ireland to conduct a salon visit. It was in the height of the troubles in the early ’90s, and in the main shopping street where the department store was situated there had been a bomb scare that morning.

Naively, I came in saying, “Oh my god, have you seen what’s happened out there?”, only to be ushered to one side by the salon manager who explained to me in hushed tones that I shouldn’t mention it.

“You don’t know who you are talking to”, she said. “One team member’s family member could have planted the bomb, whereas another’s family member could have been injured by it. You have no idea where their sympathies lie, so it’s best not to say anything.” Wise words, and I’ve lived by them since. In fact, we had a complaint about one of our team recently along those very lines – the client loved their service but didn’t want to listen to a load of anti-woke, anti-vax rhetoric, however good their treatment was.

Steer clear of world politics, wars and other contentious news. People are coming to escape and rejuvenate, and they rarely want to talk about anything serious, least of all be subjected to personal opinions.

We can never afford to rest on our service laurels. People vote with their feet and don’t need many excuses to leave, so we need to make sure we don’t give them any. It’s wise to remind the team that they’ll often be the last to know what they’ve done to upset the client and make them leave, so prevention is better than cure. A team meeting on your own service issues is never a waste of time.

Like me, I’m sure you have your own list of faux pas that makes your hackles rise. Share them with me via pb.editorial@thepbgroup.com or via Instagram @hellenwardltd.