The business lesson I learnt from my hairdresser

As you may know, we moved at the end of last year further into the countryside. Over the last few months I have been slowly exploring new places, meeting new people, learning new ways of being. Last week I was WELL overdue a hair cut. The women among us will testify to the fact that when you find a good hairdresser, you don’t change for the sake of changing. In fact, when you find a good hairdresser, you hold onto them for dear life and never let them go.

Unfortunately I’d slightly fallen out of sync with booking a haircut and when I tried, my current hairdresser was booked up until April (he’s super popular!) So I decided to call a new hairdresser and try something new…. after all, a change is as good as a rest, right?

When I say desperate, I mean I was really desperate for a haircut. So much so that when the lady on the phone was a bit, well, ‘off’, I just ignored it and booked in anyway. Sub-consciously though I was already having an ‘average’ experience.

I believe that a haircut (or indeed any personal care experience) should be one of calm, one of luxury and one which encourages a sense of self investment. It's not just the haircut, it's the experience of the haircut. The second I stepped into this salon I was underwhelmed. Nothing bad happened, it just wasn’t the experience I had imagined. There was a queue to be greeted, the lady checking me in didn’t really offer a warm welcome (in fact she first told me there was no booking in my name) and told me that my hairdresser was running late. Not a great start.

In a nutshell, my experience from there was OK, it was just underwhelming. 

When I got home, my husband said ‘Wow, your hair looks great!’ and to be honest I’d not even really thought about my hair because I was still pondering over why my trip to the hairdressers hadn’t lived up to my expectations.

The thing is, the haircut was good. In fact it was better than good. When I actually took a moment to look, I was really happy…

And in truth, the cost was less than half that I’m used to paying.

So what was missing? Surely, I’m just being fussy… I went to a hairdressers and got a good cut… right?

Wrong!

When people invest in your service they want to be wowed. YES you want people to think you're brilliant at what you do. But the thing that will turn your clients into raving fans is the way you treat them, the extra mile, the icing on the cake. It’s all about how you make them FEEL.

So when you’re:

• comparing yourself to other people on Instagram
• spending hours wondering how other people ‘get away’ with charging more than you
• asking yourself how others charge double when they’re not twice as good

... divert your attention and ask yourself what else you can do to WOW your client.

Here are some areas you might like to consider when creating a WOW experience:

• Your brand
• Your website
• Your social media presence
• Your enquiry process (your email/phone language and tone)
• Your booking procedure (the ease in which someone can book you)
• Your client workflow process

Every step of the way, think about how you’re making your client feel and how you can sustain this throughout your clients experience of working with you.

With Love,

Faye x

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