Hairdressing Hints and Tips
Finding Customers
- Your customers’ hair is your best advertisement.
- Give friends and family introductory sessions. Make sure they
know you want them to hand out referral leaflets to their friends
and families. Consider offering them free sessions for every
customer they introduce.
- The elderly and the housebound particularly appreciate
hairdressing services in their homes. If you are prepared to
provide mobile hairdressing, offer your services with posters and
leaflets at local doctors surgeries and other places where they and
their carers might visit. Target them with leaflet drops.
- Postcards in newsagent windows can be particularly
effective.
- Old-age homes can be useful places to find
customers if you don't have a salon. Find the home's manager
and, if he/she likes the idea, provide a form (including your
contact details) for residents to sign up for appointments, maybe
on a specific day every week. By doing this you will involve the
home in helping you find and manage your customers. Give your
customers your business cards or leaflets to give to their friends
and relatives. (added 3/12/09)
Keeping Customers
- Your business will be built around repeat appointments. Don’t
be afraid to ask for customer contact details, and then call them
(not email – which is easy to ignore) before they are due for their
next appointment.
- Use your mobile for ‘anytime’ appointments. A customer who
needs an urgent appointment will only use someone else if you can’t
quickly fit them in.
- Never compromise on quality. One poor haircut or styling will
not only guarantee that customer won’t return, you are also
advertising your standards to everyone they meet.
- Always allow enough time to do a great job. Don’t compromise
one customer to accommodate another.
- Instead of throwing it away, give your customer the remainder
of any un-used chemicals, eg relaxers. Not only will they
appreciate you are trying to save them money on their next visit,
they will be committed to using you again to use it up.
- Give your customer tips and even training to help them manage
their own hair at home. Don’t worry, they’ll still need your
expertise in due course, but they will understand you are being
fair and helpful – a service they probably won’t get from larger
operations and one they’ll tell their friends about. It may also
lead to your customers developing new ideas for you to try at their
next appointment.
- Always experiment on a dummy, not on your customers.
Things you must do
- Keep yourself up-to-date on the latest techniques and
fashions.
- Take up offers to train yourself in the use of new chemicals
and treatments.
- Keep stock levels to a minimum until you get a better feel for
how quickly you run out. You may pay more per item without volume
discounts, but in the long-run it will save you money.
- Time each procedure carefully. This will help you schedule
appointments efficiently. The last thing you want to do is rush or
not finish a job to the best of your ability.
Things to be cautious about
- If you must recruit assistants, be prepared for them to leave
as soon as they think they know how to cut and style hair
themselves. It takes a long time to train someone properly, but it
is tempting for temporary staff to think they can work for
themselves without achieving proper qualifications.
- Beware of ‘quick’ training courses. They can be expensive and
might leave you or your staff with dangerous gaps in your
knowledge.
Other tips
- Ask permission to take pictures of your customers before and
after. Use the pictures on your website or on a digital photoframe
in a waiting area. Email the pictures to your customers after the
appointment.
- Ask your wholesale supplier for extra discounts if you bring
them new customers.
- Visit all local salons to check prices, but don’t be tempted to
undercut excessively. Your customers will want to use you because
they believe you are better than the rest, not because you are the
cheapest. No-one wants a haircut that looks cheap.
- Change you bank to one that does not make charges for
transactions.
- Smile a lot. Staff at your competitors probably don’t.
- Some larger salons may be prepared to give you a 'chair' in
exchange for commission. You'll still have to find your own
customers, but you may be able to earn extra when the salon is
short-staffed and they know they can trust
you. (added 3/12/09)
The One Thing You Must Do....
- Be honest with your customers. If you don’t believe a style
will suit them, tell them. If you can’t safely fit them in when
they want an appointment, let them know you can stay open longer to
fit them in, or go that extra mile to accommodate them in some
other way – but never compromise.
Useful Services
www.salon-sales.co.uk – a
popular online wholesaler
www.sallyexpress.com – general
supplies with outlets throughout UK. Contact local store (details
on website) for a Sally Card to obtain trade discounts.
www.capitalhairandbeauty.co.uk
- another online general supplier
www.hse.gov.uk/hairdressing
- Important health tips. “Up to 70 per cent of hairdressers suffer
from work-related skin damage”