Personable vs Personal. Why It’s Essential to Keep Salon Relationships Professional By Elle Wilson

Deep connection is one of the most soughtafter feelings in the world. Human beings are not alone in this deep desire. For example, in the animal kingdom, birds have a “preening gland” to attract their mate. It’s a common biological phenomenon: every organism instinctively knows how to reach out to keep the species going.

Of course, we don’t consciously think this is why we have this core need to connect. Until we accept this, it happens unconsciously, AND we continue to exhibit behaviors to make it a reality.

Some good, and some not so good.

This is why it is almost impossible to not bond with your clients. Now and then, you will be tempted to cross professional boundaries and enter the “friend zone” with your client.

I have experienced this personally. And the truth is that often we find some of our greatest bonds and friendships in our salon life.

In fact, one of my clients became a lifelong friend. However, when we crossed that line, I quickly realized we entered a different zone of influence.

I had to make a deliberate decision with this client and give up being her beauty advisor. She was no longer a customer, but a friend. I was willing to do this because my relationship with her was truly meaningful. That was a cost I was willing to pay. However, when we enter the friend zone, the unconscious need to connect often overpowers us, and we forget the consequences it can have to our business.

This is what we will look at today. compared to the professional relationship between a beauty advisor and a client.

It almost feels as though you are going against your very own nature: to not enter the friendship zone with a person you like and who also likes you..

You are defying the natural state of things -- the deep biological need to connect.

However, in business, the professional zone is too important to ignore, especially as we face the toughest time in the beauty industry. A time when the online presence of so-called ‘beauty advisors and influencers’ have hit an all-time high and continues to grow

The beauty professional is competing with celebrities, multi-level marketing guns, bloggers, and influencers. Offline, you are also in competition with the pharmacy assistants, the department store counter experts, and the makeup artists.

You might say, “Elle, they have been there forever.” And you’re right, they have. But now, they have a large online arsenal that promotes them.

Life has gotten so very tough for the genuine and authentic beauty professional. If you believe, even unconsciously, that your clients love you and will remain loyal to you, think again.

There are so many levels to our work in the industry. One is the real, visible results of our professional treatments. Another is our leadership skills. Then our retail skills.

None of these essential parts of a successful beauty brand can be sustained, maintained, and transformed into a powerful long-term beauty business if your client doesn’t see you as their #1 beauty expert/advisor. The golden real estate for any business owner doesn’t exist in any other place, except in the mind of your client or future client.

That’s the space you need to enchant, capture the attention and earn the trust of the men and women in your location. They didn’t choose you to make a new friend. They chose you to become the one person in the world they can believe in and trust when it comes to their beauty choices.

That is what she’s really looking for when she scours her Instagram feed: advice and someone to believe and trust. She wants her beauty pain points healed and solved. She’s looking for someone to lean on.

The friend zone just complicates matters. Even though it fulfills and nourishes a deep, human need to connect with another, every beauty professional must ask herself the question:

“What purpose do I hold in the life of my clients and future clients?”

Answer with humility and sincerity.

So stay in the beauty advisor zone, beautiful.

You have such extraordinary value to share and to extend.

Be the one your client looks upon to help her in a world that makes her vulnerable to short-term fixes and pseudo-solutions.

You are irreplaceable in her world when you step up and take your purpose to heart.

Elle Wilson is the Founder & CEO of TrueBrow™