Automations That Can Create Your Best Client Experience

So we all know that client experience is really freaking important. I mean, it is one of the biggest levers that you have in creating a business in which people are willing to pay higher ticket for you, in where you can create organic referrals and new client requests for yourself without relying so much on social media. When you do post on social media and you work your ass off to get a new client in your chair, this is the department we look at to actually make sure that they're coming back and all of your hard work does not go to waste, right? Client experience is by far the number one way that you can justify higher prices and create a really beautiful, effortless business for yourself and set yourself apart in a day and age in which it's very difficult to set yourself apart.

And me and my students have been implementing things for years now that have already been accomplishing this, but we are always raising the bar, and we're always bringing things to the next level. And the more that the technology advances, the more powerfully we get to do those things. So I'm gonna be talking to you guys a little bit about the most powerful things that we can accomplish in our client experience, the biggest things that clients are affected by in the client experience, whether it be pre-visit, in the chair, and post-visit, and how technology is really advancing that and allowing us to do those things even better and better and better as years go on and as we're implementing a lot of modern technology into the business right now. Does that sound like a plan, Jodi?

I love it. I think that anything we can automate to make that client experience and retention easier to facilitate, especially with how much more complicated being a stylist is now, is absolutely worth paying attention to. So this is gonna be good. 100%.

I mean, for me, I, in my own business, like, I've been able to implement, uh, uh, just, like, replays, okay? Yeah. Like, for me, like, to be able to upload a replay of a call, it would take, like, two to three days, or my team even, two to three days to get it all done and to get it up in the right place and then announce that the replay's up and then things like that. Nowadays, like, the email and the replay is all uploaded automatically right after the call.

The email has the bullet points. It fills out people's dashboards when we have them for them all automatically. And so it gives our customers, our hairstylist clients, much faster service, much more convenient service. They know where to find everything, and they're able to get things a lot faster.

And so I've done a lot of work in my own business for how we can create a better client experience for our people but also streamlining our own operations so that way we can focus on the things that furthermore benefit our customers as well too. And we're sharing with our people who are stylists how they can do the same thing with their clients, and we're sharing that with you today. So let's talk about one of the biggest things I think that is super relevant right now in a day and age where everybody's expecting things very quickly. Uh, I, I talked about this, uh, statistic so much last year.

Uh, it's escaping me. I think that people said the majority of consumers ex- expect a response from customer service within 15 minutes or something like that. I, I think even, even less than 15 minutes or something like that. It was, like, kind of ridiculous.

Uh, because of how much everything is so self-serve, how much people are craving convenience and starting to get used to convenience, people want fast responses. When somebody is looking for a hairstylist now, which there's no shortage of, a lot of the times it really just comes down to the wire of who's gonna get back to me the fastest, right? And so if, if, if Susie down the street from you is charging the same amount of money, if their work is really great and looks up to par and the same as yours, or maybe you're charging even more, right? Maybe the person's last bit of, of decision-making is, "Who's just gonna get back to me first?

'Cause I love both of these options. Whoever gets back to me first is who gets my, my business and my money," right? You may have a lot of those Susies who are maybe falling off, and you're not converting them just because your lack of response. Up until this point, we've done a very good job of streamlining response time while still being in control because, of course, there is a level of communication that goes into making sure that when you respond to somebody, that they're getting booked for the right amount of time, that you're giving them a good quote up front, all that good stuff.

And so when you have a new client inquiry, it needs to be handled in a way in which the client has the expectations set up front and that you have everything that you need to make sure that everything is kosher when they go to book an appointment. And so we've set it up at this point, up until this point, to where you can click a button, exactly what they need to book online, the client gets everything that they need, and you feel confident that they're booking the right thing, and it's all done and good and dandy. And that has been so excellent and so time-saving for our people up until this point. But now, with AI, we are able to just completely have our hands off of this entire process, where the client is still getting an extremely, even more personalized experience, super specific to them, where they're getting that response immediately.

You're getting all the information that you need to make sure that everything is good, and they're booking by themselves, and everybody trusts that it's a good situation. And not only is it just at the base level they're booking the right thing online, they're even being upsold into things that are going to be beneficial for them based upon the information that they're sharing off of your service menu. And so this is where we've designed an AI service recommender, where they'll fill out a short digital consultation form. You've trained an AI to be able to read all their submission information and then share with them the personalized recommendation for exactly what service they should book and any upsells or add-ons that the person, uh, may benefit from.

And so that, everything is completely hands-off, and you're catching that hot lead while they're hot before somebody else reaches back out to them while they're on this search and getting quotes and reaching out to multiple salons. And I think what's really important to, like, reiterate with these, like, way that you've set these automations up and with what's made possible is that this is not just, like, going to the internet and searching for what it should recommend. Like, these are not open AI tools, like the brand or the concept, right? It's, it's something that- AI has made possible, so you're programming it.

You are the one who is telling it exactly what to look for, and it's reading your client responses. So it's as if almost like you had trained, like, your assistant basically to look and see what they should recommend. I think that's a really important distinction when it comes to creating these client experience automations. Thank you for sharing that.

It's very true. Like, if you were to... I mean, I'm literally working with a salon owner right now who pays, like, two receptionists up front to go through, and she's done such a beautiful job of, like, equipping them with what the rubric is for what service that they'll go into based upon what the person is sharing with them over the phone or over text, right? And I'm like, "AI can completely take this over so your front desk can focus more on things that are actually gonna grow the business and get more inquiries, and then the AI can take care of the inquiries, and you're confident that the AI will do a great job for you."

And the great thing about the AI is that the AI does not have business hours. It works at all hours of the day. It doesn't get sick, and you don't have to... You can train it once, and then you never have to train somebody ever again.

And you can go in and change it whenever you want to. And quite honestly, you're gonna have a lot less error with it or maybe just as much or a little bit less as you fine-tune it, right, than you would with a human or having to train a whole new human, right? So I love that you brought that up because this is not just like, you know, somebody going onto general ChatGPT or whatever and asking them what they would need to book online for you with your service menu. This is based upon your own criteria.

So both of you, your client and yourself, feel in control still without having to worry. Like, imagine going on vacation, and you don't feel this urgency to reply to a new client because you know if they got- went through your process, they will get everything that they need to book themselves with, uh, in the most convenient way possible with exactly what they need to book. Like, that is really badass and beautiful, and that is what's possible with what we have available in our program right now. The next thing that we talk about with the client experience is, and what we've consistently seen in our surveys, is how important relationship becomes.

The majority of st- of, of clients will pay high dollar and not go to another stylist because they don't want to break the relationship. When you build relationship with your customers, it is so strong. And it's n- and you know, I think that a lot of people just talk about this. Like, it can almost be like a duh situation.

But it's not just a generally known thing and, and theorized thing. It is proven with data and statistics and survey results that relationship is your biggest number one lever. But what I think is a lot of the time, we, as business owners, we leave relationship building left to chance. We kind of rely on our natural ability to connect with people or do what we've always done to nurture the relationship instead of approaching it from a systematized way.

And I think approaching relationship building from a systematized way can only compound how great that relationship becomes. And I don't think there's anything wrong with adding assistance to it. And by the way, I mean with a C-E, not a T-S, like assistance. If, uh, just in case anybody's, anybody's confused.

Assistance to make it so that relationship building is even more intentional and more powerful. And so what we've done, because what builds relationships? Jodi, what do you think builds relationships with people? Remembering things about them, asking them questions about things they've told you.

Like, making them feel seen, heard, and understood. Period, 100%. If you remember, like, a little detail about somebody, if you're like, "Oh, how was your cruise that you went to the last time?" Or whatever it may be.

Or especially just even about the service. Like, "I remember last time you were talking to me about this frizz that you had going on. Tell me more about how that product was working for you," whatever. That stuff, just relying on your beautiful little memory is not enough a lot of the time, especially when you have a lot of volume of clients coming in or your clients have a low average frequency of visit and you're not seeing them for a long time in between.

Like, it is n- you're not superhuman, and you can only remember so much. So we've created an AI, uh, consultation note-taker which, while you're consulting with them, it'll record all the notes for you and summarize everything that you talked about, so that way the next time that they come, you have all the personal details that you can talk about. You can review it before you go into the consultation. You can create a plan.

And you can be intentional about bringing up the little things that will make it so your client feels heard, recognized, and remembered and not just like a number. We are craving authentic connection in today's day and age more than ever, and very increasingly so. And so you remembering these things, even if it required some assistance, is still very authentic and genuine and powerful because you're doing what is needed in order for you to serve that client better and create that deeper relationship. I always say, like, with my boyfriend, okay?

My boyfriend requires some emotional connection from me that sometimes slips from my brain, that I'm not always naturally, uh, uh, uh, equipped to be able to do consistently easily, okay? And that's because of my ADHD or whatever you wanna blame it on, right? And I don't think that there's anything wrong, personally at least, with, like, maybe setting a reminder on my phone to remember to text him at a certain time or something like that. Like, okay, of course maybe, like, it would be more magical and beautiful t- for me to just naturally remember this thing, right, to do it.

Of course that feels more authentic. But at least I'm making an effort, and the thing is still getting done because I care about him, right? I care about what he wants from me. I care about making sure that there's an effort put into place to, in spite of my, of my lack thereof, I'm still creating a system that it makes it so it's easy for me to do this thing so I can stay consistent with it.

I recommend that we approach our business like that in all the ways possible. So- I love this tool. It's been very cool for people to use. It does way more than just, you know, create the summarized notes for you next time.

It creates follow-up emails for you and stuff like that. But it's been really cool to see people take advantage of it and see the results of it. I love that 'cause, like, you know, when you were saying that, I'm like, I also don't think there's anything wrong with utilizing tools because there's this duality right now of, like, w- all we want is this, you know, authentic connection, and we want to be able to, like, remember people. We wanna be able to be present.

But then on the other hand, there's so ... more things pulling at our attention and our capacity than there ever has been. And so I think, like you said, it, it is part of caring and caring about something and something being important to you, setting up ways for you to consistently do the thing. So I totally agree.

I think that's so smart. Thank you. 'Cause we're only human. Yeah, exactly.

We're only human, and you're running a whole ass business. You're literally, when you're consulting with somebody, you're thinking about what's the formula gonna be. You're literally doing math. You're managing this person's expectations.

You're look- you're dealing with, uh, uh, uh, recognizing body behavior, coming up with the solutions. It's a lot. And so you manually taking notes while that's happening is only taking attention away from you being able to do that. It's a lot of cognitive load, right?

And then also, like, if you wanted to take the notes consistently, the client will feel as if you're not fully engaged because you're taking notes. It also makes it so it takes time away from your consultation, so I think it's brilliant. I mean, c- w- how many times have you gone to the doctor and you feel like half of the time it's just them taking notes? Yeah, 100%.

Where that time could be filled with actually talking to the person and getting everything that they need. So I love that a lot of doctors are starting to embrace the same tool. It's where I got the idea, 'cause my doctor started to ask me permission to, uh, uh, record the situation. Yeah.

And I'm like, "Hell yeah, dude. I would love if you're actually locked into me versus- Yeah ... figuring out how to type all this shit while I'm talking." I know my brain can't do all that shit at once.

I do the same thing with all my clients too. It's like- Yep ... you know? It's, it's just part of it.

It allows you to be more present and more, um, yeah, engaged throughout the process, so I love that. Okay, next thing is the post-visit, so, like, what happens after the appointment? So I think that, like, I've talked about how this is, like, one of the most underappreciated places where majority of hairstylists don't show up. Like, we, a lot of the time will focus on maybe, like, a little bit of the onboarding and the pre-visit sometimes.

We'll all go really hard on the in-the-chair experience. But then there's all this silence in between when somebody leaves and when they come back, and in that silence leaves risk and opportunity. It leaves a ad that goes to them that says, like, "Ditch your salon and start doing at home color," right? Uh, it leaves another salon, you know, showing somebody that they sh- they follow up with their clients, and you don't, you know?

Um, staying top of mind in between the appointment and consistently being the authority and also just supporting your client in their, in their hair journey, right? Like, being, like, the full-blown assistant of the, of their hair career. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. Thinking about it like that, like, it's more than just they come and get the appointment, and then they get their hair done, and it's done. It's like you are owning their entire lifetime of their hair journey. Like, that is really fucking powerful, right?

Like, that is, like, worth paying a lot of money for. Mm-hmm. And what we've normally done is we'll, we'll set up post-visit experiences that are, of course, streamlined with, like, a form or whatever it may be. But now with AI, we can do even more of that, make it even more personalized with less work.

So maybe a text that we would send before would look like, "Hey friend, it looks like it's time for you to book a whatever, uh, in a couple weeks." So then it would remind the client to book an appointment. But now with AI being able to personalize things, we'd be saying instead, "Hey friend, I know that we talked about XYZ at the last consultation about how you might wanna go lighter, so you're probably gonna wanna book a full up foil instead of a partial foil this next time. You can go ahead and book that right here with the booking link.

It's right under this service." And so it's super personalized notes, and it feels like it was written by you. And that person will, that, that will only strengthen the person's relationship. It makes it a lot easier for somebody to actually go and take action to come back to see you.

The easier it is to come back to see you, to, uh, the, uh, the better, right? The higher your retention is going to be, and also it's gonna just make the person feel like they don't have to think as much about all this shit and that they're dealing with an expert who is fully taking care of the journey from the beginning all the way through to their lifetime of being a customer with you, which I think is really powerful. And we've always done some form of this stuff manually, but it just gets more automated and even better over time. And that's why I'm really excited to be innovating and sharing that stuff with our people in our programs, and it's been really exciting to see, like, what the return of that looks like and how mind-blown everybody is about it.

And I, I don't know. If I do say so myself, girl, we stay ahead of the curve here over at Hunter Dona LLC. We're not fucking playing around. I'm bored, okay?

So I'm bored. I create new shit for y'all all the time. Whenever I see an opportunity, I wanna give it to you, and, uh, I, I love getting to share it with you guys on the podcast, so get your ideas flowing and s- actually understand what's possible right now. Love it.

I think this has really showed what it looks like, like, what it can look like, how this can actually improve your client experience. Because at the end of the day, I know at the top of the episode you said, like, it's one of the most important things. I would even, like, go and as far as to say I think this could be, like, the most important thing when it comes to retention, when it comes to growth. It is, because, you know, you could have the best, most beautiful marketing ever.

Everything could be really streamlined on the back end for you doing, you know, taxes, inventory, whatever it may be. But if your client experience isn't good, then everything else, all, all those other things that are optimized completely falls apart. And I think that client experience, like, really creates a foundation for everything else to be better naturally. It makes your marketing better.

It makes the operations more streamlined. It helps you build your operations from a much more clear perspective. Like, client experience is a really important foundation that bleeds into a lot of other things and makes things more important, and without it, a lot of everything else falls apart. So I love that perspective.

Thank you for sharing that. I hope that you guys learned something today. I hope that you guys were, are excited about getting this stuff implemented in your business. I'm a complete nerd about it.

Hopefully you enjoy me nerding all, nerding about it with you. Thank you for tuning in to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. Peace out, girl scout. Bye bye.

End of transcript. © 2026 Hunter Donia LLC.