Client Retention: Stop the Leaks

February is when you notice the gaps in your diary. Those clients who couldn't get enough of you in December aren't rebooked. Let's talk about retention, shall we? The three specific leaks in your business with three specific fixes. Hello, hello, hello my salon friends. Phil Jackson here, your queen of salons, coming all over the internet with a dose of my wise owl wisdom. How on earth are you? Achingly well, I hope. Are you all geared up for Valentine's Day? Are you going to be treated by a loved one? Do you remember in the old days when we used to send anonymous cards on Valentine's Day? When was the last time you got one of those? I don't think I ever did. I may have had one or two, but I suspect it might have been my mum trying to make me feel a bit better. Bless her. Anyway, 9th of February, this episode is released. Look at your diary for next week. Are we looking gappy? That's not just a quiet February. That's an indicator that you might be leaking. My darlings, while you are listening to your Uncle Phil, you are sat there leaking. Your Uncle Phil's not, of course, because I do my kegels. It's like a cat's anus. So we're talking about client retention and where we might see leaks in our businesses. And I'm going to suggest that there are three specific places, three opportunities we have to plug the gaps. Because if we can just get clients loyal, retained in the business and visiting frequently, we wouldn't be facing a gappy February. So by March, I want to see those gaps starting to fill up again. Most salon owners think that retention is about keeping people happy and they're not wrong. Of course, we want happy customers, but it's a little bit vague. And I think there are three specific points in that client journey that need a slightly different approach. Just saying that you're going to do better customer service or make clients happier is too vague. It doesn't fix anything. We need to identify where you're losing people in the business and fix those leaks before they occur. So where's the first place? Well, before they book, actually. Or maybe they didn't rebook. And this is my big drum to bang today. If your client had a great experience last time, maybe they intended to rebook, but they just didn't. And then days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and you've lost them. Not because you did a crappy job, but because you didn't take action. So why does this happen? Well, we didn't make it mandatory. We didn't have a reminder system in place. Life got busy. They forgot. Sometimes they get embarrassed.

If they've left it weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks fully intending to book and didn't get around to it, sometimes they're too embarrassed to come back. So they clear off and go somewhere else. Life got busy. Life got in the way. They're not rejecting you, but you're not in front of them. They've got to book that next appointment before they leave. And I know that sometimes a client will say to you, I can't. I haven't got my calendar with me. I'll just book online. But you've got to train your team to say, let's get your books in for next time. And suggest a timeframe for that as well. Don't keep it woolly. We're not saying, oh, I'll see you sometime in the next six to eight weeks. Say, I need to see you in four weeks time. Let's get that book now for you, shall we? It's not pushy. It's professional service. It's keeping your clients on track. It's making sure they get long-term excellent results from you. And that's not ripping anybody off. That's not being pushy. That's making sure we're doing our job properly. Now, occasionally, actually quite frequently these days, clients will say that they genuinely can't book. They need to see what their work calendar's doing. They need to see when they get home, what their hubby's doing, whether they can get childcare, blah, blah, blah. Get their permission to follow up. Nobody does this. And it's leaving money on the table. So if somebody says, I can't book now. I'll book in the next couple of days or I'll book it online. Then follow up with, I will text you next week if I haven't seen you booked in. Is that OK? Get permission to follow up. Set the reminder and then actually do it. And yes, I know that's a little bit of manual work. But if it's the difference between seeing busy columns in March and not, well, wouldn't you rather just spend a few minutes each day following up, making sure people get booked in? It means your retention rate starts to jump. When people's appointments are pre-booked, they tend to be more loyal. It removes friction. They don't have to remember because you've done the job for them. And it positions those regular visits as normal and important and creates consistency in your diary as well. So this week, have a team meeting. Have a little WhatsApp discussion. New rule starts today. Every client gets offered a new appointment before leaving. Track it for a week, see the difference. But don't forget those magic follow ups. There's nobody doing that. You'll be the first that I've seen. Leak number two is during their visit. So why might we be losing clients during our visit? It's not that you're doing anything horribly wrong. Most salon owners, most salon business owners,

most of my gorgeous build your salon audience are doing a good job. It's not the service that's the problem. The problem is that the service was fine. There was nothing wrong, but there was nothing that made it memorable. There was nothing that made a client think that it was anything more than okay. And okay doesn't prioritize your appointment as important. It doesn't bring people back. We need remarkable. So maybe the consultation was a little bit rushed. Maybe it wasn't a full consultation because your client's been coming to you for years. Maybe the routine was fairly service. Maybe it wasn't personalized. Maybe we didn't offer ideas for next time. Something exciting that the client might be able to try. Maybe your team's going through the motions. They haven't got the energy in February to make a client excited. That means the client doesn't feel seen. They just feel that you're doing the minimum to get by. So I want you to look for those opportunities where we can offer a little personal touch for every single visit. Now, I used to work back in the old days when Jack were a lad, as my mother would say. I used to work for a holiday company. And I worked for a holiday company that had a terrible, terrible reputation. And we had a budget per customer to try and find a personal touch, a little wow to make their holiday exceptional, something. And it might be as simple as just writing an anniversary card and putting it in the pigeon hole so that they could find it with their key when they went to reception. Or remembering somebody's birthday or taking somebody a magazine if they were feeling poorly. Just little personal touches. Price it in, but remember it every single time. Make the visit memorable. And I'm not talking about the quality of their service. I'm assuming that's already good. I'm talking about connection. Something that they get from you that not every customer gets. That they get from you that they didn't get last time. It shows that you remember. It shows that you care. Make notes on their customer records. How did that job interview go? Follow up from what they were talking about last visit. And maybe even just sewing that into your client, into your recommendations, into your product recommendations. I saw this product. I really thought it was going to be perfect for you. I couldn't wait to speak to you about it when I saw you next time. So make sure that we're following up in that personal way. And it's not manipulation because I'm sure you actually care.

What I need is for you to set some reminders, to set some processes, some systems in place that make that noting, that remembering, that caring part of your routine. People don't return to salons. They return to people who make them feel valued, who make them feel better. It's about that personal connection. If they didn't want that connection, they'd be going to some faceless, awful corporation. So look for those opportunities for a little memorable moment that just makes your client smile. And then finally, we're losing customers after they leave. And I'm talking about follow up. I'm talking about you not contacting them again in between appointments. So they end up drifting over to that competitor who's panting for new clients, ready to poach your lovely loyals. Out of sight is out of mind. We need a follow up system so that they know that we are thinking of them in between visits. They know where we are if they need us. And just hoping they're going to rebook is not enough. So I want you to start implementing some follow up messages. Every client gets a follow up message within 48 hours of their visit. It's not a sales pitch. It's not an upsell. We're not nagging them. It's just a check in. And we can template this stuff. And a lot of our salon software systems, go bless them, will automate some of these things too. But if you're old school, we could do this manually. You're only looking back two days on your calendar to see who needs a quick call. Most of the time people will answer the phone, but a voice note works really, really well. If you've got their details, you can send them a voice note on WhatsApp. If not, a text message is absolutely fine. Just make sure if you're templating this, if you're automating it, we change things up so they're not just getting the same follow up every single time. Now, I know lots of you are doing this asking for reviews. What I'm asking you to do is on top of that, just check in with their clients, see how they're getting on with their skin or their hair. Maybe we could start sewing in some product care tips if they didn't take anything. Maybe we could include that rebooking prompt if they didn't rebook as they were leaving the salon. But honestly, make it feel different each time. So we can template it, but change the template maybe every month or six weeks. Now, these three little fixes aren't going to solve everything. Sometimes clients do drift away and part of that attrition is why we need a flow of new clients. If your service is rubbish, fix that first. If your service is good and you're still losing clients or they're still not prioritizing rebooking, this is the episode for you. We need to get those reasons in place, start impressing with our service, start personalizing those follow ups as well.

So there we have it. What do you think? What have I missed? Why not reach out and let me know my email address at the bottom of the screen, phil at buildyoursalon.com. You know I love hearing from my Build Your Salon audience anyway. Your Uncle Phil loves talking salon stuff. Even if you just want to reach out and say hi, it would be lovely and make me feel that I'm not just shouting into a void. Just a few short days until I'm coming all over the airwaves again with another dose of my Wise Owl wisdom and until then, take care. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.