Consult to win

No matter how skilled your team, or how regular the client, the consultation should never be skipped or rushed.

Hellen Ward explains why ’m a big fan of mystery shopping and tend to use it as a tool to not only see what other salons are delivering, but also to test the expertise and customer service of my I to discover and meet their needs, then exceed expectations, which remains the winning formula to ensure that crucial repeat business. You won’t be surprised to learn consultation skills and reminding all our team that they can never not explain eye colour, skin tone, texture, density and face shape. We’ve also alerted customers as a policy that if they come own team. Furthermore, I also that we are being increasingly in on a Monday they won’t be use it when there’s a performance mystery shopped by other seeing the salon at full pelt, as problem. salon owners, and we’ve learnt 90% of our 100-strong team

Let’s be honest, when was the some valuable lessons from take Monday as their day off last time any of us were salon what we’ve been told. A fellow (including our chef, so there’s no customers? Sending someone salon owner sent two of his food available). Mondays for us to see a leading salon from a key staff to experience us as a are merely there to service our client’s perspective is a sure- leading brand, and they were regulars, or for those who love a fire way to get them to up their disappointed, because of the lack bit of peace and quiet. The fact game, because sometimes all of consultation. was, we hadn’t really explained the coaching in the world is no This error can be likened to that before now, so learning substitute for experiencing the going for an eye test only to from someone’s bad experience real thing. find the optometrist had already can only ever be a good thing.

I’ve always managed by one diagnosed your sight before using principal; if your staff training is any of the equipment to check. good enough, there’s no such Imagine that – not having the air thing as a bad treatment, merely puffed into your eyes, not using a below-par consultation. Failing the dots to check peripheral Hellen Ward is managing director of Richard Ward to truly engage with the customer vision, not reading the letters out, Hair & Metrospa in and discover their own personal and so on. Not explaining why the London, one of the most wish-list will always leave them tests were being conducted and profitable independent salons in the UK. She is beauty wanting. And with competition so what they were looking for. ambassador for the National Hair vast, there’s always a competitor Lessons were learnt and we’re & Beauty Federation (NHBF). who’s willing to go the extra mile re-training our hair stylists on hellen@professionalbeauty.co.uk