Top 3 Strategies To Get Your Clients To Come Back - All About Retention (Part 2)

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to The Modern Hair Stylist podcast. In the last episode, we talked all about the reasons why your clients may leave you, and your clients may leave you for a bunch of different reasons, which, uh, I, I broke down pretty extensively in the last week's episode, so make sure to go ahead and listen to that if you have not yet. In this episode, I'm gonna try to do the opposite.

I'm gonna be sharing with you the reasons why your clients may come back, so I'm gonna be teaching you my top three retention tips. Now, here's the tea. There are a million different reasons that your client may come back to see you, and there are a million different strategies that I could teach you about retention and increasing it. But in today's episode, I really don't want to overwhelm you, and these are the three things where it's like, if you just did these three things, or if you just asked me for just three things that would make the biggest impact, then these would be it.

I'm gonna break down in the pre-visit experience, the in-the-chair experience, and the post-visit experience, what is the one thing in each part of that customer journey that you could do to immediately increase the likelihood of a client coming back to see you over and over and over again, and also help you make a bigger impact in their lives, and, uh, with your service as well too. So, if you are ready to hear these top strategies that will immediately increase your retention rates, then let's get into it. Let's go. All right, my friends, so we're gonna be starting off with the pre-visit experience.

Now, I want to make clear that I'm gonna be talking about a returning client's pre-visit experience today, because I'm focusing on retention here, right? So I'm focusing on, how do we get a client back into the chair again, right? So I'm not talking about, how do we impress the new client from the very beginning? I'm talking about, how do we get them back into the chair?

So then therefore I'm talking about all of your existing clients. So, the thing with the pre-visit experience is you have to think about the booking the appointment, and then managing the appointment, and then everything else that leads up to them coming back for the in-the-chair experience, um, up until that point. So, that is what I'm referring to when it comes to the pre-visit experience, and in today's day and age, people are very much prioritizing convenience and comfort. Okay?

How do we provide convenience and comfort? Well, we create a self-serve business model, one in which somebody does not have to reach out to you or wait on you to get shit done. In today's day and age, nobody wants to wait around for anybody else to get their ish done, right? We are busy.

We, uh, do- we don't want to reach out to people. We don't want to talk to people on the phone. We don't want to wait. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Right? So therefore, you want to create the most convenient self-serve business model that you possibly can. That means making it so your client can do business with you without you. Now, I want to caveat this by saying that this does not mean that you are completely removed from your existing client's pre-visit experience.

Of course, you are going to be there when they need you. Of course you are going to answer their questions and maybe help them through your online booking if they need that, right? However, you want to make it so the client doesn't feel like they have to in the majority of circumstances. That is going to make somebody very happy.

If you were trying to navigate rescheduling your own appointment or scheduling a new appointment with somebody that you were going back to, the last thing that you want to have to do is waste more time, right? By reaching out to them, waiting for their response, et cetera, et cetera. You just want shit done right now. And here's the thing.

The majority of the time, your client won't need you, but that's only if you set up these digital assets and the way that your client does business with you in a way that is user-friendly and strategic for the client experience. So, what I'm talking about here is, is online booking first and foremost. If your online booking is something that is inconvenient or confusing, or your client is scared that they're going to mess it up, then you have a big issue on your hands when it comes to the pre-visit experience. Again, this needs to be a comfortable and predictable, easy thing for them to navigate.

If it's not, it's gonna be really hard for them and annoying, especially when it comes to not just booking a new appointment, but also rescheduling an appointment as well. If you want to reduce your last-minute cancellations and no-shows, make sure that your online booking has a, a option for the client to reschedule their appointment by themselves. Trust and believe. You need to make sure that your service descriptions are set up properly, that it's very easy for somebody to click one service block to be able to actually book the right thing every single time with the right amount of timing, instead of having to click five million different buttons to be able to book the right thing online.

And I promise you, my friend, it is possible. You can streamline this. You can make it so it makes sense to the client. Trust and believe.

What I also walk my, uh, students through in previous pathway as of right now, is creating a client-only app. And the client-only app is really beautiful, because it's very easily accessible by the client. Instead of having to find your website or go on your Instagram or whatever it may be, they can just open up this app on their home screen, very easily navigate to your online booking link, but also find really other cool things that are gonna allow them to do business with you without you having to be there walking them every step of the way or manually doing anything, right? So, creating digital assets that makes the client experience convenient and managing appointments convenient in the pre-visit experience is a really beautiful way to increase your retention, because getting back into the chair with you is easy, convenient, it's not hard to find, and they can do it by themselves on their own time without having to wait around for you.

Then we have the in-the-chair experience. So, they have a beautiful pre-visit experience, it's easy for them to book and manage their appointments, and they have all their questions answered on the client-only app for them, and then they come to the in-the-chair experience. How can we make it so the in-the-chair experience is set up for ret- for success when it comes to your retention? There is a katrillion different ways.

Um, however, the number one overall arching theme and tip that I can give you is just make sure that you are always thinking about planting seeds for retention. Okay? So what this looks like is making sure that, on a consistent basis, that you are offering something fun, new, and exciting to your client, that has a end then next step situation for the next appointment. So for example, you have Suzy in your chair.

And in your consultation you go, "Suzy, oh my God, I just saw that you were in with me today over the weekend, and I was so excited to see you. And I just went to this class where I learned how to create these really cool caramel highlights for the fall time. I thought they would complement you and your skin tone really well. They're an extra $50.

If you'd like to do them, I can throw them in for you today. They're super low maintenance. We won't have to do much to them or retouch them for another couple of appointments. We may want to do a toner next time to switch up the tone or the color, or to just to refresh it and make it pure.

That's a super cheap, easy process. Um, if you would like to do it, I'd really like to do it for you today." And so therefore, you just sold this add-on. You made Suzy feel like you care about her.

I told you in the last episode that you're one... A huge reason why a client will not come back to see you is because they don't feel like you actually care about them. This is a great way to make sure that you make your client feel like you care about them. You're giving them something that is special and new and fun.

You're releasing little chemicals and dopamine releases in their brain that are making them feel like they are cared for and special, and that their hair appointment is more than just a chore. You want your clients to feel like your h- their hair appointment is more than just a chore. That will make them want to spend a ton of money with you. That will make them want to refer you out everywhere.

That will make them a loyal-ass freaking client. So, you give Suzy these caramel highlights, and then you share with her in the consultation that next time you might do a toner to change the color or do whatever it may be. Great. So you do the entire service, she gets the caramel highlights, and then it's the very end of the service, and what I want you to do is, is I want you to do an end-of-service consultation.

All right? So you planted the seed for retention, because you planted something where it's like you're doing something new and there's gonna be some sort of upkeep to it later, or some way that they can change it in an exciting way. Y- I want you to do an end-of-service consultation. All right?

This looks like you have blown out their hair, it looks absolutely beautiful and they absolutely love it, and you sit back down before you take off the cape, and then you review what you did that day. And then, you talk to them about their options for next time, or what the plan is for next time. This is a game changer, and no stylist does it, ever. I never see stylists doing it, I never hear about stylists doing it.

It is a wild game changer because at the very end of the appointment, the last possible place for you to have this in-person interaction with them, the last chance you have, it's a great way to set up the foundation for success for somebody being more likely to come back to see you. So, "Okay, Suzy, we did your caramel highlights today. I'm so glad that you love them. I think they're really beautiful too.

We can do something like this every time we change up the season, so instead of doing caramel for springtime, we can make them more a blonde and a little bit more bright. Um, we can just have them around your face if we ever want to touch them up. They should last you a couple o' appointments, like I said, but every time you come to see me, we can do a small little toner that will refresh the tone, and we can try so many different tones. We can go a little bit more warm, we can go a little bit more of a cool caramel.

Um, it's gonna be really fun, and I'm really excited that we get to go on this journey and, like, fluff this up and make this more fun moving forward, instead of just the same old root touch-up." Right? And that makes your client feel like they are cared for, and it makes them feel like... It, it sets up the expectation for them to want to have fun with their hair, and it makes them feel like their hair appointment is more than a chore, and it's something that's exciting, and it gives them more confidence, and it makes them feel like you are just giving them a really great service overall.

You know? So, plant the seeds for retention. Make sure that you're taking full care of your client by offering them something exciting. And then make sure that in that appointment that you have them there that you are always thinking about the future, and also sharing with them what the future looks like so they have something to look forward to Okay.

Then we go into the post-visit experience. The post-visit experience is arguably the most important place for you to show up when it comes to retention, because you don't have them in your chair. And it's also a place where they are absolutely inundated with information, marketing, and sales. We have tons of social media influencers right now that are teaching people how to do their own hair at home, how to do their own balayage highlights at home.

Um, we are ha- we have Madison Reed, we have boxteller companies who are completely after you by putting ads out there that say, "Hey, you don't have to go to the salon anymore. We're gonna create a custom, uh, formula for you, and then you can get on a video call with one of our people and they're gonna show you how to do it." Like, there's a lot, right? And then they get a million emails in a day that are product, uh, beauty product related.

There's so much shit out there that your client is inundated with. So you need to stand out from that, right? This is your opportunity to be able to stand out from that. But if you never show up in their post-visit experience, if you never show up in between the visits, then their attention and focus is gonna go away from you and to on these other, onto these other things.

Or onto their friend Karen's hair, who looks r- i- who it looks really freaking great and she's getting it done for cheaper. Right? You need to show up and remind the person that you are valuable and that you are high value and they want to come back to see you, and this is a great place for you to be able to do so How do we do that in the post-visit experience? Well, number one, you should be giving them a followup email shortly after their appointment.

And that should have a ton of things in there such as, what they should book next time, um, w- uh, uh, uh, when they should book, right? Um, what their maintenance instructions are gonna be, what your product recommendations are, personal notes from that appointment. "So Suzy, I had so much fun with you today. I hope that you have a great time at your cruise.

Make sure to take tons of pictures so that way we can talk about them when you come back and I can see them. Um, make sure to take care of your hair," blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. RightSo that's gonna make your client feel like you wrote this entire beautiful thing, and that you really care about them and you want to make sure they're set up for success. It's gonna make them feel more capable of taking care of their own hair in between the appointments, which is gonna make them feel better about themselves.

And they're gonna associate their hair and how they feel about themselves in a positive light with you, which is gonna make them more likely to come b- come back, et cetera, et cetera. And all of that stuff, that one post-visit email that has all of those customized, personalized things in it can completely be automated. And I teach my students how to do that in my program, so that way you don't have to write up this manual email for every single one of your clients. And then, on top of that, customized booking reminders that go out and sh- are shared with your client when you specifically want them to be shared with your client, based upon what your frequency of visit is for that service.

So for example, you have somebody who is a balayage client, and they are gonna visit you every three months, hopefully. Right? Sending them a reminder email to book four weeks before they're due is really smart, because you know that you normally have availability after four weeks. And that is going to be when they're due, and you're most likely not gonna pre-book somebody who's coming back to see you in that sh- uh, in that long, um, uh, timeframe.

Right? So, you'll have an automated booking reminder email go out and tell them exactly what service they need to book online, so that way you have enough time. And it'll go out at the time that you expected it to and you wanted it to, based upon when you want them to come back. That's gonna increase your frequency of visit, make sure that you're more booked and busy.

It's gonna make sure that that client is set up for success. It's gonna keep you top of mind, et cetera, et cetera. It's also super customized and tailored to the client, telling them exactly what they need to book, when they need to, which makes them feel like you actually care about them. So, those are my top three tips for retention when it comes to your pre-visit experience, your in-the-chair experience, and your post-visit experience.

All of this stuff is stuff that I teach in depth in my programs, um, so if you want to check those out, you can go to hunterdonia.com, and you can see all that I have to offer there. All the techy stuff, all these booking reminders, all the, uh, client-only app, all the setting up your online booking in a way that is easy to use for the client and foolproof so you can trust them to actually use it, all that stuff is stuff that I go over in IT. I've taught my thousand-plus students at this point, um, and it's really beautiful shit.

Once you have this stuff set up, it's really easy to maintain, and you can do a lot without having to work a lot. Right? That is always the goal, is, as a business owner, is by creating leverage in your business, you can do a lot and make a big impact and grow quickly without having to do a lot manually. You already have enough to do by yourself with working as a hairstylist full-time.

So, creating this client experience that is really next level, that is gonna get a client back into the chair and increase your retention, yes, it's important, but I don't believe that you should have to work your ass off to make it happen. Which is why I create solutions for you to create these amazing experiences, but without having to do everything manually. So, I would love to hold your hand every step of the way in creating that and making that happen for you, my friend. But nonetheless, I hope that these retention tips were helpful for you.

Hope they gave you something to think about. I hope that you have a blessed rest of your day. Thank you so much for tuning in. Peace out, girl scout.

Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2024 Hunter Donia LLC.