HAVE A RETURNING CLIENTELE

In my first year of school at Paul Mitchell the School, what more than one of my teachers told the class was one thing, and it was a shocker to me and the rest of my classmates, until I became a hairstylist in the "real world". They repeatedly said to us "when you become a hair stylist what your customers will look for is 70% personality and 30% your work quality". At first I thought are these people crazy or what ?! I mean come on if I butcher someones haircut are they really going to want to come back to me for the second time around!! I mean in reality I was thinking if I go to someone and they do not perform 100% on my hair and what I want, I would not go back to them ever again, right? However, let me be honest, I had probably gone to a hair stylist about 4 times in my life at this point and 3 of which were by my moms choice for a haircut and blowout and once was by my choice for a style for my cousins wedding. I never cared to worry about my stylists personality, but this might have been because I was a teenager who only worried about my appearance at the time. Anyway fast forward few years later, as I started to accept my own clients and work with each individual, I began to realize a common "comment" everyone kept making, and can you guess what that was? " Sona when I come by you, you're so easy to talk to and you listen when I talk." At first I just thought it was because I would easily understand what they wanted when it came to their hair, however after a while and the closer I became to my clients I realized and understood what they meant. It was not that I was understanding what they wanted for their hair, it was more like I was their therapist without the extra cost! I would listen to them while doing my work and would make no additional comments, until I was asked for an opinion, and when I gave them an opinion it was like hearing someone who is completely outside of their personal circle helping them in their current real life situations. This would help me and my clients connect on a more personal level! This connection would allow my customers to put their trust in me not only when it came to their hair but also because they knew once they were out of my chair their personal life wouldn't be left with someone who is going to be involved directly in their personal situation. I can go on and on trying to help you as a stylist to understand this type of connection but once you can master being more of a friend to your clients rather then treating them like a dollar sign in your chair, you will continuously have them back as a regular customer, whether they liked the color, cut, style or whatever you gave them or not the first or second time. Listening to what your customer wants and not giving your personal opinion when its not needed, is the key to a successful customer retention as hair stylist.