CONSULTATION

Carrying out a consultation with every client before any treatment is advisable. It is highly recommended that all beauty salon owners or professionals implement this When carrying out a client consultation it is advisable that the client fills out a form and signs it for legal and insurance purposes prior to treatments. A consultation card can be used to find out if there are any contraindications which may prevent you from carrying out a treatment. All salon professionals carrying out treatments must keep their client’s consultation cards and store them in a lockable cabinet to comply with the data protection act

Client consultation questions could help beauty professionals find out if their client has had the treatment before – this can indicate wither a patch test is required is pregnant – it is not recommended that woman have treatments in their 1st trimester of pregnancy has asthma – this could be an issue because of nail dust or spray tan vapors has had recent surgery – massage, sunbed use or spray tanning would be strictly prohibited in this case has had a recent injury – this could be dangerous as open wounds can cause cross contamination

Client consultation questions could help beauty professionals find out if their client wears contact lenses - contact lenses can become contaminated by spray tan vapors and nail dust medical problems – if the client has a medical problem, it could become an issue during treatment has diabetes – spray tan is a sugar which can pose a threat to diabetics who are not following their recommended treatments has allergies - this is a vital part of the consultation process as a client could be allergic to any type of product used skin type – skin type is important if the client is using a sun bed as this could affect the amount of time they are allowed in the bed uses medication

Remember to: Have the client sign the form Review the form Question anything that is unclear Only carry out a treatment if a written letter from a doctor is given to you before the treatment is carried out

Good Communication If you are a hairdresser, tell them what you plan to do before you start working on them and make sure that the client understands what you are about to do. If you are a beauty therapist, make sure the client does not have any questions over what their treatment is going to involve.

Put Clients at Ease Put your clients at ease – from the first consultation to every one after that. How you talk to your client is just as important as what you are saying, so pay special attention to your tone and body language

Delivering a consistency good client experience Customer experience differentiates your salon from the one around the corner.  We all deliver a great client experience at times but how do you get the team to make sure this happens every time. Having good and bad days is normal but we lose too many clients through inconsistency in our service

Confidentiality As hairdressers and beauty therapists you are in a position of trust. Clients trust you with their most important information, and it is vital that this information is stored correctly. Not just from a client sensitivity point of view, but data protection is your responsibility and if it gets into the wrong hands a client is well within their rights to make a claim against you

We all deliver a great client experience at times but how do you get the team to make sure this happens every time. Having good and bad days is normal but we lose too many clients through inconsistency in our service You could say, we settle for a slightly lower standard because we know we can deliver this level of service every time and we are tired of reminding ourselves and the team about the little touches and important features that can be so easy to overlook. Not all salons suffer from this issue, so What is their secret? What do they know you don’t? What do you need to improve the clients experience and have the confidence it will stay consistently improved?

Here’s 5 basic Top Tips to get you started 1: Decide what and who your market is. Too often salons try to deliver an experience that’s not compatible with their market, determine yours first in order to plan improving the client experience 2: Break the client experience down into a journey of small bite size pieces. Maybe start with how the phone is answered, then look at how clients are greeted at the salon doors. Next at the consultation process, each stylist is likely to have a different approach so how can you make this consistent? All these things will set the experience off to a good start

Here’s 5 basic Top Tips to get you started 3: Work with the team to designing the client experience. The team are more likely to deliver a consistent service if it’s been created using their ideas. This way they will understand what the salon is trying to create and how best to go about delivering it. There’s an opportunity here for the team to support each other to progress the business and put the focus firmly on the client experience 4: It’s all in the small detail. I know you will have heard this one before, in fact even Richard Branson talks about this. Small extra touches done consistently well create extraordinary results. You may become known for the little extra touches your salon provides and this will support client retention

5: Walk your Talk If you are a salon owner working on the floor with clients then you must walk your talk. Never expect the team to do what you say if you don't lead by example. Mentor them instead of instruct, do it right yourself and they are sure to follow.”