Are Clients Getting More Fickle These Days?

[bougeac]

Hiya,

Have recently been in the situation where a couple of my regular(ish) clients have dispensed with my services and gone elsewhere.

In both cases i only found out because i saw them in my local town (not to speak to) but they had obivously had gone and had their hair done somewhere else. Thing is, although i have been doing hair a decent amount of time i STILL feel rejected/knocked back/question my skills when this happens. Its like when i saw their hair what they had had done was not anything i couldnt have done competently. They had always been happy with the service i provided (at least told me so) and i had been happy that i had done good work! ARRGGGGGHHHH!!!

I think part of the problem these days is that there are SO many salons/mobiles around that people are far more prone to change on a whim than ever before.



I remember when i used to work in a salon how painfull it was when a regular suddenly turned up in the shop, id look up and recognise them and think to myself "hey youre not booked in today" and then one of my colleagues took her to THEIR chair , thankfully it didnt happen too often but always an uncomfortable experience.

Can anyone relate?

Chris x

 

[SteffiMc]

Hiya,

Have recently been in the situation where a couple of my regular(ish) clients have dispensed with my services and gone elsewhere.

In both cases i only found out because i saw them in my local town (not to speak to) but they had obivously had gone and had their hair done somewhere else. Thing is, although i have been doing hair a decent amount of time i STILL feel rejected/knocked back/question my skills when this happens. Its like when i saw their hair what they had had done was not anything i couldnt have done competently. They had always been happy with the service i provided (at least told me so) and i had been happy that i had done good work! ARRGGGGGHHHH!!!

I think part of the problem these days is that there are SO many salons/mobiles around that people are far more prone to change on a whim than ever before.



I remember when i used to work in a salon how painfull it was when a regular suddenly turned up in the shop, id look up and recognise them and think to myself "hey youre not booked in today" and then one of my colleagues took her to THEIR chair , thankfully it didnt happen too often but always an uncomfortable experience.

Can anyone relate?

Chris x

It id rubbish when that sort of thing happens but some people will always go for a cheaper option and some people are just floaters, before I was a hairdresser my sister used to just go in here there and anywhere that could take her!! So it might have nothing at all to do with the way you do their hair. For every unloyal client I'm sure you have loads of really nice loyal ones so try not to let it get you down xx

 

[SJK]

I think it's the rise of the deal websites, of which there are several. People are struggling money-wise at the mo and this is one way they can cut back because deals are usually significantly cheaper.

Having said that, as has been reported on here, the customer service isn't often very good. Make that your priority and it will help.

Why not contact them and offer them a discount for their next service? If they are just shopping around, they might take you up on it. If you have lost them for good, you'll know, because they won't be interested.

 

[DaniG]

This happens a lot where I work, but we usually find that when they've worked their way through all the other local salons they come back for a while before repeating the process. What really annoys me though is when weekly clients stop coming to you because you take a week off work and you're not there to do their hair that week. I hate taking time off now because I can guarantee that I'll lose at least one client.

 

[bougeac]

Hi,

Yep had the old "you werent around so i booked someone else" chestnut happen before.

It would be great to have the nerve to just ask these clients outright "what did i do wrong?".

Chris x