Don’t Lose Contact - By Erin Snyder Dixon
Life is getting busier and busier. The salon is humming and it’s all you can do to squeeze in a standing lunch between clients. I can hear you groaning as I mention one more thing we need to be doing. But before you tune out, this one will save you time in the long run and increase the effectiveness of future business decisions.
It’s about those tattered client cards. You know the ones that haven’t been updated in…well, never.
I know. You know your clients and you know where to reach them if you need to. It’s all up there in your head.
What happens if someone else needs to reach them? What happens if for arguments sake, you trip and fall on your way into work and hit your head, developing amnesia. Okay, it’s far fetched. What’s a little closer to reality is that at some point you may need to delegate the responsibility of client contact, in which case accurate records are essential.
Let’s look at some of the reasons we haven’t/don’t update client records:
Time gets away from us
We don’t have a real filing system
We feel like we are getting too personal
We don’t think we really need the information
Here are some reasons why we should be maintaining accurate client records:
Your client list is at the foundation of your business. What is your business without a client base?
You may need to contact them at some point. Emergencies happen.
Demographic data can help you make important business decisions.
Client info is vital to assess client base expansion/shrinkage.
What’s in it for the client?
They get prompt notification of special events and promotions.
They are notified when appointment changes are necessary.
They get notification when more desirable appointment times open up.
Getting in the habit of updating client records is as easy as holding a promotion once a year to have clients fill out an update form. Offer a reward, such as a mini Nurture Oil as a gift for taking the time to fill out the yearly client card. You may also take the opportunity to ask for permission to contact the client via email or send them the salon e-newsletter.
Having the clients’ email address, home, work, and cell phone numbers gives you the ability to contact them at the time of day needed.
What about that filing system? It can be as simple as index cards or as elaborate as the contact section of salon software. It just needs to be accessible by other key people in the salon who may need it in your absence.
Since this important information some care should be taken in protecting it from theft and backing it up and storing it off-site in case of fire or other calamity.
I recently had the need to access this information. Luckily most of it was up-to-date. I had to be away from the salon unexpectedly and then for an extended period of time due to an emergency. Having the phone numbers stored allowed me to pay attention to what I needed to be doing and to delegate client calls to someone else. This was a huge relief in a difficult time. Looking back, the clients for whom data was outdated was for those I knew quite well. I simply knew where to find them. The lesson was to update everyone’s information—no matter how well I knew them or how long they have been coming to the salon. Had I done this it would have reduced the back and forth phone calls with the salon and eliminated a ton of wasted time.
Your client contact list is the bread-and-butter of your salon.
Tags: Client Contact, Salon Business Development
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