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BEAUTY
7 EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING CLIENT ANXIETY IN YOUR SALON By Joy Crossingham
When you work in the same environment every day, you tend to get very comfortable. It’s easy to forget the first time you walked into the space – how it looked, what it smelled and sounded like, and most importantly, how you felt. But this is really something you should try to remember when you have people coming into your salon for the very first time on a regular basis. It’s a great idea to try to walk into your salon at the start of every shift with open, fresh eyes. Imagine you are new; look around, take it all in. Feel the vibes. No matter what your branding or décor style, whether your business is more clinical or spa, we all want our clients to feel welcome, comfortable and safe in our space. For many clients, this is easily done with a friendly front of house staff member, comfortable furniture and a cup of tea. However, some of our more anxious clients may require a little more TLC. With so many of us having been in lockdown for such a long time, both clients and therapists may be experiencing a little bit of ‘back to normal’ anxiety. Other clients may simply live their day to day lives with anxiety. And others may have anxiety around visiting clinics and spas due to previous negative experiences or associations. Good therapists and stylists have a knack for reading people, and you may be able to tell when a client is more anxious than usual. Most clients who are visiting your space for the first time will likely be more nervous than on their subsequent visits. Or perhaps one of your regular clients is experiencing more stress in her life currently, so her anxiety is high. Whatever the reason, whoever the client, there are lots of different strategies my team and I use to help our anxious clients feel more comfortable throughout their salon visit. Let me share with you some of my favourites.
THE WELCOME TEXT
For some clients, visiting somewhere they’ve never been before can be stressful. We like to send a welcome text to our new clients, outlining things to help them know what to expect. It might be something about parking, finding the front door, payment options or arriving makeup-free: think about questions or issues you’ve had come up in the past, either from your clients or your own experiences.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND YOUR SALON
Every time you meet a new client, you introduce yourself. But do you introduce your salon? Direct your client to the waiting area; show them where to take a seat when they’re filling out forms; show them where they can find water and the amenities if they need to use them.
