Have you ever scheduled an appointment to get your hair done, meaning scheduling an appointment for a set time, with a particular stylist, only to arrive and have to wait over an hour for someone to begin working on your hair? What also comes with that territory is you anticipating one stylist (because she is the best), only to find that she has passed you off like a red-headed stepchild to a lesser stylist?
For some reason, these type of stylists thinks it’s okay to completely trample on people’s time. That for me is a major sign of disrespect.
Add to that (at least for me) when you show up with the expectations of seeing one particular/assigned stylist only to be told that someone else who I have absolutely no rapport with, will be styling my hair, annoys me to no end. It is one thing if the stylist I am reassigned to is just as good as the main stylist, but generally they are not. In fact, the original stylist may have even passed me over to the lessor stylist hoping for that person to gain more experience, money, and clientele they would not have earned on their own.
Stylists: please consider since you are the one that generally schedules your own appointments, do not over book your clients!!!!
As you know some styling jobs take longer than you usually anticipate (since everyone’s hair is different), so please do not overlap your appointments. This makes customers angry as they have to wait longer than expected for their turn and disrupts whatever they have planned for their day.
Look at this from a business perspective, your customer is getting their hair done at a certain date and time because they have plans and they would like to look nice for them. Meaning you provide a service for the customer to walk in during their scheduled time and come out looking better than before so that they can achieve a specific goal. Whether that goal is dinner with their significant other or getting themselves together for a job interview this is a service they expect you to be professional enough to provide in a timely and efficient manner.
- The customer did not expect to walk into your salon, with expectations only to be turned away or have to reschedule the appointment because they did not schedule extra hours to simply wait their turn. It is simply rude, disrespectful, and poor customer service, besides that is what appointments are for!
- If as the stylist/business owner cannot stick to the appointment made but need to pass me off to someone else because of other reasons state that beforehand when I make the appointment, most businesses have this, it is called a disclaimer.
Whether the issue might be you are just that fantastic as a stylist and you are in high demand, or one of your employees is on vacation please, tell me when I call to book the appointment that you will have someone else style my hair. Then, and this is major, “ASK” if that is okay!
In the event that I agree, schedule the appointment with this new person as with any organization to seal the deal with the customer make sure you have all the resources on hand before making false promises that will deter the customer from doing business with you in the future.
This means, make sure that stylist is there at the time that I am scheduled to be there. In other words, the customer should not be sitting in the stylist chair, awaiting the stylist to arrive. In this instance, the stylist that the customer was passed off to should know the time of the appointment beforehand and be prepared to work on the customer’s hair at the “SCHEDULED” time when the customer arrives.
- That does not mean walking in 30 minutes to an hour after the customer has arrived for the appointment.
- Nor should the customer spend another 20 minutes waiting for you to set up (all without a single wash of your hands, before you insert them into my hair).
And trust me when I say, any customer (done wrong) will find another way around this in the future if the organization does not change its practice and operating procedures. The customer will definitely not continue to patronize a business that does not respect their time or them as a person. This is just horrible customer service and no matter how many times you apologize or say “sorry”, it does not change the fact that you as the face of the business or organization have disrespected them, by this example of poor customer service skills. If you have not done so already, please take a business class to ensure that you know how to not only capture new clientele but how to keep them.
And if you just can’t seem to manage your business and clientele, should you consider an Organization Development consultant to come in and analyze your business and communicate the error of your ways? You can do that, but my advice is free. Stop the double booking!
Have you encountered this? What was your solution?
The Imperfect Org 