Losing a Salon Client to another Stylist at Work
Every hair dresser probably knows how awful it feels to lose their client to a co-worker. The agony in wondering what you did wrong can greatly affect your self-confidence, and you may even start to doubt yourself when styling a loyal client’s hair who has no intention of leaving you for someone else in your salon.
“What is she doing that I didn’t do?” is a question you may be asking yourself. But don’t worry, this situation does happen, and even though it may seem like an embarrassment to you, you can learn from the situation and turn it into a good experience.
Find Out Why
First off, you want to know what happened, right? Why did she choose my co-worker over me? There may be a few different answers to that question. You can start off by talking to your co-worker to discover why she chose to go to her instead of you. Does your co-worker style hair differently? Maybe her cuts are more modern. Maybe she specializes in curly or wavy hair. Maybe she can straighten out curly hair with an excellent blowout.
Any of these differences may be very important to your client’s needs. Every staff member is valuable to the salon for their different talents, and that’s a good thing! You want the salon you work for to be diverse to accommodate the needs of each individual.
If your client chooses another stylist at your salon because of her specific needs, something you may not specialize in, don’t fret. You have your own talents. Use them, market them and always make sure each client has a great experience, even if that means sending them off to a stylist that is better suited for them.
Be Professional
Addressing the client herself is not a good idea in this particular situation. She is still a loyal customer of the salon and that is important. Your number one priority as an employee is to make sure your salon doesn’t lose business. If you address the client personally, she may feel embarrassed and stop going to the salon altogether. Trust me, you do not want this to happen.
This will only cause problems with you and your boss and with your co-worker, and no one likes to work in a hostile environment. Tension between co-workers affects everyone in the salon, from clients to the staff, and that’s bad for business.
When addressing you co-worker about the situation, be sure to do so in a private setting, keep calm and be professional. Have an open mind. After all, it may not even be your fault. If you co-worker is professional, she will never make you feel bad about the situation.
Shrug it off
Don’t worry so much! Everybody is different, and different people like different things. Maybe you can learn something from this. If a co-worker has a great technique for curly hair, you can always ask her for pointers. Don’t ever think you already know everything; none of us do! All of us could use a little room for improvement.
Losing a client to a co-worker isn’t a big deal if it only happens once or twice. It’s when it keeps happening to you that there is a major problem. If that’s the case, do what you have to do to fix the problem, and fix it fast, because ultimately you are the one who will lose.