How important is customer service at the salon to you and your staff- REALLY?

This is a true but anonymous example of a friend who encountered a bad experience at a salon which in turn neglected her need to return. Make sure this isn’t you or your colleagues...

The hair salon in question was visited by one of my friends Caitlan* who was due to spend £475 for luxury micro ring hair extensions. As one would assume, with quite a large investment, she had high expectations. Caitlan* really values customer service. She’s one of those kinds who religiously tips over 10% at restaurants, more if it’s great service.

Firstly Caitlan* arrived at the salon and was not greeted until she had been sat down for about 15 minutes. When she had finally been greeted, there was no further engagement except who she was and what she wanted. Now she loved/ loves her extensions and the treatment itself went great. However, she seemed really distressed as we discussed the event.

Caitlan’s biggest problem was she found that the salon were constantly nattering about other clients, the state of their hair and the things they complained about. She also said her hairdresser texted her friends back about 9x throughout the 4 hour stint which elongated the process somewhat. She found this irritatingly uncomfortable and afterward, and was therefore, anxious about her return for maintenance. Her hairdresser was the salon owner.

Needless to say, Caitlan* researched another hair extension specialist and never returned to the salon after this experience. She has had the hair extensions in for 2 years and they have lasted well. This means the original hair extension specialist who charged £80 every 10-12 weeks for maintenance has lost at least £640 in maintenance costs from this one client.

This really is something to think about! You might wonder why we are writing a blog on this, stick with us! Salon management software isn’t only for booking services and treatments. You can improve your staffs abilities and attitude with the endless access to reports, targets and performance. Here are a few ways you can manage your staff and really help them succeed in your working environment.

First of all you need to prioritise and make a plan of what it is you would like to improve at the salon with regards to staff, be it their attitude, retailing or overall performance. Consistency is key so if you start with a new development programme, make sure you are managing expectations.

KPI’s and Performance

Even if your employees have regular clients and are always booked out, this doesn’t mean they are underperforming on other business fronts. Are they selling retail or ensuring they rebook clients before departure? Are they, like the above, using their phone midway through doing treatments? With Salon Tracker you can not only delve into overall business KPI’s but individual staff strengths and weaknesses. These features are so important since as a business owner, it’s also your responsibility to encourage training and development. Everyone has an ‘Achilles Heel’ when it comes to work, but it is essential that salon managers know what this is and how to nurture it and in turn, motivate and turn this into a positive.

Aim with targets

Researching your KPI’s is great but not if you aren’t going to put anything into action. Key point indicators are exactly that, indicators of what to do next! A salon management system will allow you to track targets and monitor consistency through your reporting function. As long as you know the catalyst for underperformance and how to develop this, you are being a great manager. 

Don’t let them get stuck in ways

Not many people like change but switching things up is so important once in a while to prevent complacency. Junior staff who haven’t been with you as long can usually be trained to a result you require, and are usually looking for ways to improve and deliver. Ensure that all staff respect your decisions with training development, regardless of their serving time. If they are insulted, why not use them to train in strong areas to improve overall performance of the team.