The Foundation of Your Beauty Business Matters
There was a moment in my salon recently, where I was able to step back in and spend two full days with clients. This rarely happens these days, but I’m so glad it did. These little experiences help you to remember what you have built and exactly how far you have come.
I had the pleasure of doing a manicure on a lady I hadn’t met before.
We got talking about where she had her nails done last and she mentioned it was in another salon in the city. She wasn’t happy with the way they looked, or how the business was run. Her nails were chipped and damaged. I asked her how she heard about my business and she told me someone had recommended her. I was really intrigued to find out more, so I kept asking her questions. It turned out that she worked with a client that no longer comes to the salon due to the fact we stopped offering the service this clients had previously been having.
When this new client started to complain about her nails and how she was treated by this other salon. The past client said you must try *insert my salon here. The lady said she was concerned about getting her nails done again and wasn’t sure if she should even bother. The past client said, “You don’t need to say anymore, go here, and you will be looked after!”
I was so happy to hear this as a business owner because, this past client had been coming to the salon for many years. She used to have me doing her nails, and then I passed her onto my staff when I stopped working in the salon. I had made the business decision to stop offering the service this client was having due to profit margins, and the difficulty there was in hiring staff for that particular service. This sadly meant we had to let this lady go.
To know that a past client still thought of our salon in such high regard even though I personally wasn’t doing the service showed me it doesn’t matter who is doing the service, it matters on the message the salon is putting out! The past client told the new client not to worry at all, because we knew what we were doing and we would look after her.
This is 3 years after the previous client had stopped coming to the salon. That was an incredibly proud moment for me, as a business owner.
Later that day, I had another client come in and when I asked her if she had been to the salon before she replied that it was her third time, and she first came in because her daughter, who used to come in before moving to another state a year ago was a regular client!
This really did bring a huge smile to my face. Yet again, positive reinforcement that the good work that was put in years ago was still paying off. The message, that my salon was the professional in the services that we offer, and that we are to be trusted years after past clients had been coming to us, highlighted to me that the foundation of your business is truly what matters.
My biggest takeaways from this experience that I couldn’t wait to share with you are:
Your message to your clients needs to be clear and consistent.
If you do take on staff, they need to be trained in your foundation and no matter who is doing that service, every step needs to be the same.
How do you stand out from the crowd? You don’t need all the answers now, but you do need to keep an open mind about what you are building.
Mapping out the way you want your business to run, even if it’s just you will help streamline the business and allow clients to become familiar with how you do things. It will make it a lot easier for you down the road, and having your systems in place will also allow the client to build trust and be able to rely on you for their services.
I have created a free downloadable workbook for you to get those creative business juices flowing and the foundations to put a plan in place to start building your own business that will be able to support you for years to come.
Please feel free to share this post with anyone you feel it may resonate with.
Have a fab week,
Jessica xo