Why Your Clients Leave You - All About Retention (Part 1)

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to The Modern Hairstylist Podcast. Listen, at the time of recording this right now, and honestly whenever you listen to this, because this is something that will always matter, your lifetime customer value of each of your clients matters very much. Lifetime customer value is the amount of money that you make from each and every client that enters your business, and extending that lifetime customer value not only has to do with you making sure that you're doing everything you can to raise your average ticket by selling retail sales and add-ons, and then of course, um, increasing your frequency of visit, but also your retention.

Retention, retention, retention. That is what we are talking about today, and I think a lot of hairstylists unfortunately focus way more on attaining a new client versus retaining the clients that they have already. Focusing on retaining existing clients is just as important, if not more important, than gaining a new client. Especially right now, retaining clients is a game that you want to play and that matters.

Here are some statistics explaining to you why. Number one, acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer. You guys ha- may- may have heard me talk about this before if you've been listening to me for a long time, but ******* said that if you are... Your resources as a hairstylist are your money and your time, as a business owner are your money and your time, right?

And so therefore, you need to look at this statistic where it says acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer. You need to think about how much time it takes you to actually get a new client into your door, particularly if you're using modern-day client acquisition channels such as social media or Google My Business and your website, et cetera, et cetera. Those, um, activities, those consistent things that you have to do cost you a lot of time. And then if you get a new customer into the door, which costs you a lot of time, and you do not retain them, then you are wasting a ton of time and money, like a ton, right?

And so if your retention isn't good and in place, then all of that time and effort that you put into getting a new client into the door is absolutely going to go to waste and you won't get an ROI. And so you want to make sure that you are protecting your profit as far as your time goes as much as you possibly can, and focusing on your retention is a great way to do that. Increasing re- customer retention by just 5% can increase profits from 25 to 95% more. So not only is you keeping these customers in the door going to make you baseline money, right, and make sure that you have a stable foundation to be able to grow, but it's also going to allow you to make a lot more money because the success rate of selling to a customer you already have is 60 to 70%, while the success rate of selling to a new customer is 5 to 20%.

So you're creating a lot of opportunity for yourself and a lot more stability when you take retention really seriously. And retention and the game of it is always slightly changing as consumer behavior changes and as the trend of the economy and the market changes as well. And so I've had a lot of students come to me recently and ask me about retention strategies, and we've been having some really great conversations and I've been doing some really intense research, and that's why I'm gonna be sharing with you this two-part retention series. So in this episode, I'm gonna be talking to you all about your retention and why your clients leave you.

I'm gonna be sharing with you some statistics and numbers that you wanna look at, and then the main reasons why your clients will end up actually leaving you. In the next episode, I'm gonna be sharing with you some really great tangible strategies to actually retain your clients that you can actually put into place that are working right now in today's day and age. So if you are ready to make sure that you are not spending all of your time and effort getting new clients just to lose them, if you are ready to increase your profits from 25 to 95%, if you are ready to make a shit ton of fucking money off of the people that you already have and not have to slave over getting new clients all the freaking time and scrambling for new people to fill in your gaps, then this episode is for you Let's get into it. Let's get it popping.

Let's go. Okay, so the very first thing I want to get into is new client retention versus existing client retention. So industry average for new client retention is that you have a 30% on average likeliness that a new client will actually return for a second visit, okay? That is very low.

That means like one out of every three new clients you see will actually come back to see you. Now, my audience that listens to me and super particularly my students that are a part of my programs who are implementing really next level things, really care about their business and offering a great client experience, for you guys, I wanna hold you to a little bit of a higher standard than that. I don't want you to just hit that average of 30%. I want you to be hitting a new client retention average of 50% or more, particularly because of the things that I shared with you in the intro of this episode.

I don't want your new client acquisition efforts to go to waste because that is a massive waste of time and a very disappointing waste of time, particularly when you are a business oriented hairstylist and you're not just getting by and giving people half-ass service. So I want you to be shooting for 50% or above when it comes to new client retention, which means for every two new clients you see, on average, one of them will return to you at least three times or more. So I like the benchmark, the general benchmark that's been put out there of you have officially retained a client if they have visited you three times or more. Now, when it comes to the calculation of new client retention and existing client retention, things can get a little bit tricky and nuances are oftentimes not taken into consideration, particularly from other business coaches and education that I've seen out there So I wanna be clear that, you know, p- other people are gonna do things their own wayAnd of course, nuance should be taken into consideration when things are done a little bit more generally, but a lot of the times people don't take those nuances into consideration, such as when it comes to pricing.

Like, I just genuinely, at this time at least, don't believe that there is any calculator out there that will perfectly tell you exactly what your price should be, which is why we offer so much personalized advice and attention within my program, so I can really dive into the nuances and deep dive into all of the different angles and your specific background to make sure that we are taking into consideration a lot of different things. And one of those things when it comes to considering what your new client retention looks like and how to calculate it, and then also your pricing, et cetera, et cetera, is your frequency of visit, your average frequency of visit. This is a massively important number to take into consideration, and something that should be taken into consideration when it comes to the ac- calculation of these numbers, because it's really difficult to track whether or not you've retained a low-maintenance balayage client if you aren't doing the math correctly. And you could say, "Oh, my new client retention rate is really low.

What's going on?" when in reality, you're only tracking over a very small time period when that time period has to be a lot longer to be able to accurately track if this new client has come to see you for, uh, for, uh, more- three or more times, right? And so, in Modern Stylist Movement, which is our alumni-only program or pre-visit pathway right now, it's our main mastermind program, we offer a new client retention calculator that I have found to be very reliable and really badass. Now, what about existing client retention?

Here's the thing, and my very controversial opinion, I love, you know, that we want to figure out existing client retention. The more numbers and data that you can get, the better. However, I just don't find existing client retention to be easy to calculate or a reliable number, particularly because you raise your prices, you change your schedule, the economy changes, and I ju- and also, I'm gonna be talking about this in just a moment, there's a lot of things that are completely out of your control that will make you lose existing clients. And again, as much as I would love to rely on this number, I just don't think that it's worth spending a lot of time focusing on it, as much as it's important to focus on your new client retention.

Here's the thing. If you can get a new client to come see you three or more times, I'm not worried about your existing client retention. Like, truly. Like, I'm really not worried about it at all, because if you are able to do that, which is a lot harder than, eh, retaining an existing client, then I know damn well that your existing client retention is probably something that's reliable, as long as you are offering a consistent experience, whether they've come to see you three times or a million times.

And I'll be talking about that in this episode as well too. So, existing client retention doesn't matter to me when you're coming to talk to me in a one-to-one or whatever it may be. Um, but new client retention very much does matter to me, and I'm gonna hold you guys to the standard of 50% or more when it comes to that new client retention I want you guys to be careful out there. If you are doing any sort of calculations and it's not taking into consideration the average frequency of visit of the majority of your clientele, then you are very, very, very much possibly setting yourself up for an incur- incorrect number that is not the s- uh, correct reflection of your efforts and what your new client retention actually is.

All right? So, with that being said, those are the numbers that I want you to look out for and the benchmarks I want you to shoot for. Now, I'm gonna get into some of the reasons why your clients leave you. I want to start this off kind of on a good mindset-y note, um, a good positive-ish note, which is, even when you kick ass, even when you deliver the most badass service ever, and you have an amazing client experience, there are going to be reasons people leave you that are simply out of your control, okay?

And we need to get super comfortable with that, especially when it comes to loyal clients, which I know stings. Like, when a loyal client leaves you, one that you feel like you've created a relationship with, it really hurts. It can be very confusing, especially be- because a lot of the times they won't even communicate with you why they did that. Like, I don't know if you've ever reached out to a client that you've lost and you haven't seen in a long time, and you ask them what, what happened, and they just won't give you an answer.

It can be really difficult. And this is exactly why I talk about separating yourself from the business all the time, because if you're not creating those types of boundaries for yourself, these things are gonna hurt you emotionally, as a human being. They're gonna hurt your, your feeling of your own worth, and that's gonna show up in your life, in your business This is a transactional relationship at the end of the day. And so you need to remember that when you lose a client, the business is losing a client.

And that's just the way the world is moving, that's just the way that human is moving, and it's something that is interesting. It's something that you should look at analytically, but not emotionally, 'cause it can be really easy to do so. Right? But one of the biggest reasons somebody is gonna leave you that you literally have no control over is s- coming- I- when it comes down to money constraints and the fear around money, which is a lot of what is happening right now.

This year particularly when I'm recording this, people are very fearful of the world and are getting tighter with their budgeting. So just remember, a lot of the time, it's not you. You could have knocked it out of the ballpark. But when it comes to the, the perception that somebody has around money, and maybe even conversations that they have with their partner, maybe their partner thinks that spending $400 on their- on hair color every however long is just not feasible for their budgeting anymore, it just happens, and it just is what it is.

All right? So what I want you to think about is the goal when it comes to retaining clients is not to stop somebody from leaving. It's not to stop somebody from leaving. But it's to make somebody want to stayAll right?

That's the mindset that I want you to have when it comes to focusing on your retention. There's gonna be many times that you have done everything that you can to make your client want to stay, and they do want to stay, they would much rather not leave you, but they feel as if they have no choice but to leave. And that is okay. We need to get comfortable with that, as hard as it can be sometimes.

Now, this is not to say that there aren't tons of things that you can do to prevent people from leaving. Absolutely there are, and we are gonna cover that a little bit in this episode, and especially in the next episode. So, let's talk about why your clients leave you besides the things that you can't control. So, a big reason that your client will leave you is if your service isn't perceived as good in their eyes.

I often find that business educators, because they have their own agendas, it's not what they're actually teaching you, won't talk about this very much. Like, the rhetoric will be, like, "Oh, you could shit on somebody's head and do really bad hair, but as long as you have a great business and client experience, somebody will never leave you." And there's a part of me that kind of believes that, but when you look at analytics and data, particularly for new clients, it really comes down to the product that you're delivering as a huge factor as to whether or not somebody's gonna come back to see you. So, of course, you absolutely need to have a great skillset.

You need to know what you're doing when it comes to that hair, and you need to have the confidence and the ability to be able to deliver on the product that the client is asking you for. However, I 100% also believe that your skillset isn't always going to be what makes the client perceive your product that you delivered as good or bad. It's going to be your communication around the product that you're delivering. If you're not properly, openly, and honestly communicating about the product that you're delivering, then you will never know exactly what your client actually wants, and more importantly, how they're actually feeling about what's going on and the de- and the product that you're delivering for them, AKA the hair that you're doing.

So, creating that type of comfortable space for them to share with you the truth is so important, because the majority of the time, they won't tell you how they truly feel, and they'll just leave you and ghost you and feel way too much shame or embarrassment to ever tell you why they actually left you. So, it's so massively important that you show up professionally, but also, and- and, you know, and confidently as well too, but also with some humility as well. So that way, you can make that person understand that you're just another human being who cares about them and wants to deliver a great service for them. That- there is nothing wrong with you showing up as a real-ass human being who makes mistakes and just wants everything to be good, and maybe sometimes is a little bit nervous about what you're going to be doing, or how your client is going to feel.

Because it's gonna show that person that you actually give a shit. So this do- so what I'm saying here is, this doesn't mean that every service has to be perfect or meet the expectations every single time. Like, you do not have to deliver on turning somebody from a boxed black dye situation to platinum blonde in a day to make it so you retain every single one of your clients. It just means that you have to be honest with the client about what they can expect, but also how you are approaching the service and how you are feeling about the service as well.

Honestly, confidence come, uh, co- honestly, you will come off more confident when you are vulnerable and you show humility with your client versus when you pretend that everything's okay and you just avoid the conversation in general. Here's an example that I just experienced, because I'm working behind the chair just like you are, and I literally just experienced this the last time I worked behind the chair. So, I had my client who has been coming to see me for a long time, uh, every three months. We do, like, a cool little, like, low maintenance highlight on her, okay?

And what she shared with me was she felt like around her hairline has been pretty dark every time we do her hair, and I explained to her the reason why that is, is because I really like everything to be blended and I want, like, it to grow out nicely, and I don't want to see a line when she pulls her hair back. And so that's why we don't go right up to her hairline and, like, blonde her out around her hairline, around the parietal ridge. So, I oftentimes will go through and do horizontal, um, teasy lights instead of doing the traditional, like, vertical around the hairline to make sure that it's right up to the hairline, and when she pulls it back, she immediately sees blonde, right? So, this time around, in the consultation, I heard her, I explained to her that, you know, this might not grow out as nicely, I'll do my best to make sure it's still blended, et cetera, et cetera.

But when I actually did the service, I am so nervous about things growing out in a weird way, and my routine, and what I specialize in, is making sure that things are blended, and so I still highlighted in a horizontal way, I just added a lot more foils. And when I rinsed it out, I was like, "Damn, this is still looking kind of dark when she pulls her hair back." Like, this is not what I agreed to. This is not what she wanted.

And I was, at the bowl, I rinsed it out, I toned it, and I was, instead of, like, instead of, number one, the fear of having to, eh, uh, sacrifice extra time in my day to fix something if I was honest with her about it, um, the fear of the, you know, shame and the vulnerability that I would have to share with her, that I did not deliver on what I expected to deliver on, and what I agreed to her on, all of that stuff was very hard for me to work through, to be able to own up to it and communicate it with her. But I knew that myself, I would feel so much better, and that she would be much more loyal to me and more appreciative to me, if I did share my concerns with her. So, I rinsed that puppy out.And I was like, "Okay, sister friend, here's the tea.

I don't know if this is going to be what you wanted. I'm not sure if you're gonna feel like this is bright enough around your hairline. I added a ton more foils, but I didn't necessarily change the placement, and I think changing the placement is what would have made this pop a lot more. Um, so, what's gonna happen is, I'm gonna bring you over to the chair where I'm gonna get those sides, uh, dry, and you're gonna tell me how you feel, and if you want me to pop in a couple foils around your hairline, I'd be happy to do so before you leave here, because I really want you to be happy."

And she was like, "Hunter, I'm sure it's fine. I am, I completely trust you, and I really appreciate you sharing this with me and being honest with me. It really shows me that you actually care, and I know not a lot of hair, other hairstylists would do that." So, we bring her over and she's like, "Yeah, next time, let's add a little bit more foils around there, but right now, this looks beautiful, and I love it, and it's grow, gonna grow in nicely for me, and I completely appreciate your concern."

So, guess what's gonna happen now? That client is never gonna fucking leave me. Like, she is never going to leave me. Even though that day I may not have delivered on what I wanted to deliver on, and maybe what she wanted, I created that deep relationship with her, and I created a plan that next time I will have, I will be taking into consideration what we learned together from that last appointment, and I'll be applying it the next time, and actively working on a solution to make sure that happens.

That matters so much more, and that will make your client perceive the product that you're delivering as a great one, because you communicated about it. And, I also opened up the door for honest and open communication in the future. Human beings psychologically want comfort and honesty and trust in the way that they're working with the th-, with the people who are doing services for them. And that type of communication is going to make it so your client never wants to leave you.

If you're always sweeping things under the rug, even if you notice them, even if you know your client's going to see it, even if you believe that your client is not gonna be happy about it, if you are just hoping that it just goes away and you ignore it and you turn a blind eye to it, they're gonna leave you. And you're not gonna be happy, they're not gonna be happy, and then they're gonna ghost you and never tell you why, and you're gonna know either exactly why or you're gonna be ignorant to the fact that, you know, you don't even know why they left because you aren't creating those honest conversations. You're not showing up with the same care that you would for maybe a new client that you aren't giving the client who has seen you 10 times. Right?

Which brings me to my next point, which is 68% of customers leave because they feel like the company does not care about them. So make people feel like you give a shit about them. And another way to make it so you f- your customers feel like you care about them, and another big reason why people will stay with you, but on the flip side also leave you if you don't do this, is offering a consistent service. Inconsistency is a massive reason why your clients will leave you.

Like I said, your client wants comfort and they want predictability and consistency. So, if your c- client experience is something that is inconsistent, you'll be setting yourself up for disaster. We oftentimes will focus on giving a new client a really next level service with a long consultation, extra time and attention, product recommendations, styling and maintenance instructions, lessons, and all that shit. Then we assume that they got everything that n- they need from us from that first time, but when they come back, we don't give them that same quality, and eventually, they will fall out of love with you and be able to find somebody who's cheaper, who offers them that same experience every single freaking time.

Okay? Y'all know that Sport Clips offers, like, a $15, like, full-blown experience with a hot towel and scalp massage and vibrating chairs and all of this shit? And they do it every single time because corporations such as that understand the importance of systems and a systematized customer experience that is consistent every single time. It's like, that's what you're up against, my friend.

That's what you are up against. So if you are approaching your client experience as a systematized, consistent thing, and no, I'm not saying you give your clients the same thing every single time. I'm saying that the experience and the quality of that experience is consistent. Right?

If you're not giving that, then you are very much setting yourself up for poor, long-tor- long-term customer value, okay? And your clients will find somebody who is more exciting and more, mo- and offering something that is much more next level than you. 'Cause they wanna feel that same feeling that they had the first time that they came to see you. Right?

So, the first service quality is the standard that you set in your client's eyes as to what they are paying for, and what they're expecting to receive when they come back to you every single time. And even if you think that the special things that you've done become a nuisance because maybe they say no to them every time, so like, let's talk about, like, um, if you offer a drink or if you offer a silent experience, my PVP students, I'm talking to you if you've been inconsistent with your ECF. If you've offered this once and they said no, or maybe they said no a couple times, then you should not take it away. Because one day, the client who always said no to a drink or a silent experience will really appreciate that you had that option and finally take you up on it.

But if you ask once or twice and never ask again, you're denying that person the opportunity that they maybe would've wanted, which is disappointing and uncomfortable. This also goes into, when it comes to if you're offering retail and add-on services, or offering something new and fresh. They may say no right now, but when you give them the idea and you planted the seed in their brain and it li- and you allow it to grow and them to get more comfortable with the idea, and saying yes to things, then you will eventually get that person to say yes, or at least never give up on the opportunity.... that you're giving to that person, because you may be projecting your own feelings about being annoying about it onto them, when it's really you just being nervous and your client is totally cool with saying yes or no.

Sales psychology and statis- statistics show that, on average, sometimes people need to be shown something seven times before they're bought into something, offered something seven times before they're bought into something. That's why you get retargeted Facebook ads and Instagram ads and social media ads all the time, of the same shit over and over and over and over again, be- 'cause these companies understand the value in paying for you to see a product seven times, because then it'll permeate in your brain. That's great branding, and they understand sale- sales psychology. So, fucking offer your shit consistently when it comes to your long consultation, when it comes to the scalp massage, when it comes to offering the drink, when it comes to your ECF for my PvP people.

Don't play fucking games with your client experience. That is a big, big factor in making sure that you're retaining your clients. Another massive thing that I learned from my own personal experience was inconsistency with your pricing. This is something that will make or break your trust with clients, hard, okay?

So, if you are not transparent about your pricing from the very beginning and every single time your client comes to see you, you are setting yourself up for huge failure when it comes to new client acquisition, and then, also, your retention. So, I went through a big transition of moving from two hours away from... or two hours to where I am now from where I lived. And, in the middle of it all, while I was moving, I was traveling a lot, so I took like a three-month hiatus.

I had a fair bit of clients in that transition, uh, particularly because I was moving far away, who went and tried out other hairstylists. And let me tell you, dude, a lot of them ended up coming back to me, and still drive to see me every six weeks, every three months. Two hours to come see me, in the City of Philadelphia, where traffic and parking is not fun and a lot of people are co- are uncomfortable being, going to a city from the suburbs. These people are still coming to see me after trying these other hairstylists, for multiple reasons, but the biggest reason...

well, not, not the biggest reason, but a, a very common thing that I heard from those clients was, every time they went to see that hairstylist, I heard this from like three of my clients, that every time they went th- to that hairstylist, the price was different, even though they felt like they were getting the same thing every time. So, you're cl- you're human beings, right? Our hu- us, as human beings, we want comfort and consistency. We want to predict what's going to happen.

I will avoid any other change of where I'm going to get my car serviced on because I am, know what the price is gonna be. I know that I got that price last time. I know how I was treated the last time. I know what the service is gonna look like from beginning to end.

In a very masculine and scary place where I'm very unknowledgeable, I want to make sure that I'm going to a comfortable and predictable space. Your clients feel the exact same way about you and your salon, and your price is absolutely the number one factor of whether or not your client will stay with you or feel like they can trust you or not. High key, money fucking matters, and we forget that money matters the most. We think about our services and the way that we're treating the clients, and yes, that stuff very much matters, but money is something that is very touchy, and we need to think very critically about how we are making sure that our clients feel like they are, they are very, um, clear about what the price is going to be.

And a- h- and if you can't offer a consistent price, make sure that you're honest and open about that from the very beginning so you can at least let them know. But this is why I love all-inclusive package pricing and why I teach it to my students, is because it's gonna be the consistent price every single time and there's gonna be no ands, ifs, or buts about it. You and the client are gonna have predictability when it comes to the price that they're paying and the money that you're making, and it's just straightforward and easy for everybody. I'm not saying that you have to have package pricing to make this happen for you, but I'm saying that it can be a really great way to make sure that you are offering a more consistent experience when it comes to your pricing.

It's also a big reason why I love online booking only, and that's why I have all my clients book online, because they're seeing and agreeing to the price before they walk into the door, which reduces my feelings of emotional discounting. It helps the client budget more, and it opens up more space for allowing for budgeting for add-ons and retail sales and all of the things that will raise your average ticket and increase your lifetime customer value. This is just the beginning, my friend. I have a whole second episode that I'm about to re- be recording for you that is gonna come out next week, where I'm gonna be talking about tangible things that you can do to increase your retention that are working in today's day and age, that I'm seeing in my own business, that I'm seeing in my students' businesses, the things that are getting my clients to come see me on a consistent basis, driving two hours, paying for parking when they get here, dealing with the terrible Philadelphia traffic on the Schuylkill.

My Philadelphians, you know what the hell I'm talking about. It is not cute out here in the Schuylkill, okay? The sure kill distress way, honey. Um, I'm gonna be sharing with you those same strategies next week, so make sure to subscribe if you are not subscribed to the Modern Hairstylist podcast yet.

So much love to you. I'll catch you in the next one. Peace out, girl scout. Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2024 Hunter Donia LLC.