10 Tips- How to Communicate with Clients in the Salon
How to communicate with clients in the salon when you have nothing in common. Whether you have trouble with communicating and connecting with your customers or not, if you are introverted or extroverted, here are 10 quick and basic tips for breaking the ice.
Sometimes people are hard to get to know. They have a hard time warming up and sharing about themselves. But it’s not impossible to find that one thing that will help you communicate with clients in the salon.
Hair Consultation Questions- How to conduct a perfect consultation
How to Communicate with Clients in the Salon
1- Ask about them -See if YOU can connect with THEM
Clients come to you for themselves, not to hear about you. So ask your guests about themselves. You need to communicate and connect with them, not them connect with you.
People love to be sharers of information. Not gossip necessarily but the world that we live in today is a constant rush of new news, new movies, new events, and so on.
If you are a salon or barbershop professional, one quick and easy ice breaker is usually about hair. How do they like to style it? How much time do they spend on their hair in the mornings?
Sometimes even those brief and quick questions during the consultation will give you a vague idea of whether this guest is a business person, or a roughing-it at home and ‘woke up this way’ kind of person.
2- Keep it general- communicate with clients in the salon with the basics
‘What do you do for a living?’
Is a classic and basic first question for getting to know a stranger. It’s not personal for those customers who don’t like sharing personal information and can open up the conversation to other avenues.
Perhaps you know someone else who is in the same line of work, or maybe you’ve never met someone in that professional field and have always wondered how it works. Again, this ties into the natural desire to be bearers of new news.
‘Where are you from?’
Is another beautiful question that people love to talk about. For some, they want to reminisce and visit their memories of their childhood home. Or it offers an opportunity to communicate with clients in the salon on other travel experiences for the both of you.
Be forewarned though, many times when this question is asked the question is reciprocated. So be prepared to answer the same question if they turn around and ask you too.
Asking about family can be a touchy subject. Some clients may have moved away from home to get away from their family, or maybe they have difficult relationships that they aren’t ready to talk about.
Be careful asking about kids. I typically won’t ask any new clients if they have kids until they mention them, just because I’ve had too many awkward silences following the question regarding children because of tragic loss or infertility.
If your client mentions their children, ask how old they are, and what kinds of activities they like to do. Listening to music, playing soccer, or even teasing the other siblings is something we can all relate to in one way or another.
Be sensitive and listen to the tone. If this is a subject they don’t want to talk about typically the answers will be very short and will not encourage further discussion.
‘Do you have any pets?‘‘
Asking about beloved fur babies is always a safe and basic question for clients who just don’t want to open up about anything else. Finding a connection through a cat or a dog that loves you just as much as you love them is something most people have in common.
Even if you don’t have a pet of your own, most likely your clients will and will want to show you photos and share stories about fur babies. If you do have pets and are an animal lover too, this is a perfect connection that you and your client will have forever.
‘Did you see that new movie?’
Very few people don’t watch TV, watch movies, or stay up to date on the latest Netflix series. Ask what kinds of genres are their favorite, swap recommendations, or connect about what you liked or disliked about the last series or movie you both watched in common.
3- Communicate with clients in the salon by connecting through experiences
Asking about travel is another general topic that is very commonly discussed and easy to talk about.
When people travel they like to share about what kinds of sights they saw, food they are, music they listened to, and sometimes the history of the destination.
Looking forward to our next vacation is 100% something every adult can connect on. Guarantee there isn’t anyone out there that hasn’t ever been excited about a trip one time or another.
Talk about your travels. Talk about your experiences.
Learning how to communicate with clients in the salon by connecting through experiences doesn’t have to be about travel but it could be eating bad food at that restaurant down the street. Or connect about past events, eras, and memories.
For my generation, it’s talking about gel shoes, and Bratz dolls, and Lisa Frank. For others, it’s Michael Jackson, and big hair, and high-rise jeans.
Having something in common with a client can be hard to find sometimes but you’ll always dig it out somehow. Maybe you both were in gymnastics at some point in your lives, or both of you rode horses when you were growing up.
4- Communicate with clients in the salon through listening
Be attentive. For those of us who work behind the chair in the hair and beauty industry understand that breaking the personal bubble does something to people, they want to open up and tell you secrets that no one else knows.
Life is stressful, and as most of us know, sometimes you just have to vent. Letting out your stress and talking through the thoughts that have bounced around in your mind all day long is therapeutic.
Having someone who is just a listening ear is a treasure and hard to come by. I encourage you to be a safe place for your clients, as long as their sharing doesn’t compromise your personal safety and just let them talk.
❌ When listening to a client share their life’s stresses DOES NOT mean that you have to have a solution for them.
❌ It DOES NOT mean that you have to help them fix their problems.
❌ It DOES NOT mean that you should be involved in whatever they are going through.
❌ Communicating to your client through listening DOES NOT mean that you have to give your input in the situation.
👏 Just Listen 👏
✔️ Don’t interrupt, affirm what they are saying, and just hear them out.
✔️ Even if you don’t understand or agree with what they are saying, they feel that it needs to come off their chest. If you can relate to a difficult situation, be delicate in offering advice unless they specifically ask for it.
✔️ I strongly warn you, DO NOT become personally involved in your client’s drama! As tempting as it can be, that is not your job, and it is not wise.
5- Communicate with clients in the salon by being impersonal vs too personal
We’ve all heard the stories. The ones we wish we hadn’t.
Clients that don’t have an issue ‘connecting’ but in fact share too much just like to listen to themselves talk. Do not share your own all too personal and intimate stories with them in return.
If there are customers that pressure you to get personal and share what you aren’t interested in talking about just say so. Or tactfully change the subject to something else.
Topics that can become too personal usually are related to,
-Trauma
-Politics
-Sex
-Difficult relationships
-Religion
Ultimately it is up to you what you want to share with your clients. Again, review the classic questions and topics, sports, food, travel, pets, and the like are safe subjects to tactfully change subjects to.
Some clients truly want to get to know you in the most gentle and appropriate ways. What are your interests? What do you like to do when you aren’t working? Do you have hobbies?
Only talk about what you are comfortable talking about. If the client is asking, they will find something to connect about.
Every once in a while we get that one creepy client that wants to connect a little too hard, this is what I advise, pretend to connect with them on something that you really don’t have an interest in- football, water-skiing, or a bad TV show. Or if they’re really just not leaving you alone and become a risk to your safety it’s time to fire that client.
How to Fire a Difficult Hair Client
However, if the situation is reversed and you can tell that your customer doesn’t want to connect with you, in the same way as the above, find one thing that you can connect about (the beach, or puppies) and don’t push them to tell you more.
6- Connecting to clients doesn’t mean you have to share
Keeping it fairly impersonal is okay too, healthy even. You shouldn’t give your customers your life story.
Clients come to you for themselves, let it be about them.
If you want to share bits and pieces of your personal story and of your personal life outside of work, that is okay too! But do not overwhelm your client and be the only one talking while they are in your chair.
When your client asks about you, answer them. If they don’t, then find something to connect on on their turf. Find a common ground where they stand.
7- Don’t be dramatic
The technical definition of drama and being dramatic in short is- Making a bigger deal of it than it should be.
If a client is sharing something deeply personal, tragic, or utterly incorrect in your books, do not overreact and embarrass your client. The point of our job is to be approachable, to be a safe place for them to be.
Over-dramatizing your own life to your guests is not an uncommon occurrence in the salon, sad to say. But that is why I am bringing it up now, please don’t be that person.
Now, some customers thrive on drama. They love every detail and radiate it themselves.
I caution you not to buy into the trap of overreacting to their drama, or being tempted to share your own too much.
8- Respect the silence
Do you ever have those days when you just need silence?
Do you know those rare moments when you can escape the kids and craziness of life and just close your eyes and breathe in the quiet?
For some customers, the salon or barbershop is the only place they can do that. Don’t be offended when your guest just doesn’t want to speak.
That’s okay too!
Respect your clients who aren’t being rude when they don’t speak, they just want to relax, and being quiet is the best way they’d like to do that right now. That connects with them in a different way that they will appreciate.
Asking if they prefer quiet is a completely appropriate question to ask too. It is not embarrassing and shows that you are trying to read what your client needs at that time. If they do want to talk, they will after that point. But be sure to assure them that you don’t have any issues with their needing to rest.
9- Read the room
When clients share and want to connect with you on inappropriate subjects or things that you aren’t comfortable discussing, is it obvious that you aren’t comfortable?
Are others in the same shop, listening to the conversation uncomfortable?
Is what you are saying making your client uncomfortable?
Reading the room is another way to connect not just with your clients but respecting other clients and your fellow co-workers as well.
If your client has a headache and isn’t themselves, read their mood, their posture, if they are regulars then you will know when they need something else this time. Whether it’s silence or if they need to get something off of their chest.
Reading people is one thing that we, behind the chair in the hair and beauty industry, know well and are very good at. Don’t forget, whether you are a student, or spent years in the industry, that you aren’t the only one in the shop, pay attention and connect to others and read the room.
10- Be honest
We are taught in Cosmetology and Barbering School that in customer service, the customer is always right. This is false!
It is okay to disagree with a client. But don’t allow your differences to ruin the client-professional relationship. Be honest with them. Tell them that you disagree and probably won’t find a middle ground, so you’d like to avoid that subject from now on.
When clients tell you terrible news and you don’t know what to say, tell them that. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
Sometimes you get that client where you remember their face and know that you hit it off but don’t remember what you connected on before, simply say, ‘What did we talk about last time?’ You see a lot of clients, it’s okay to forget what you talked about before. Don’t worry, you’re human.
We all have bad days, it’s okay that if you aren’t feeling up to keeping up a chatty conversation, tell your guest that you aren’t up for talking this time. They will understand. ‘I have had a bad day and can’t really talk right now.’
Like we discussed above if your client brings up a subject you would rather not discuss just say so, ‘This subject makes me uncomfortable, can we talk about something else?’ There is nothing wrong with being honest about what you don’t want to talk about.
Sometimes we can play dumb and pretend that we know about this sport or that by just smiling and nodding, or just saying yeah I know, but not always. If there is something you genuinely would like to know more about then ask. Again, people love to be bearers of new information. Just say, ‘I don’t know much about that, tell me more.’
Sum it up– How to Communicate with Clients in the Salon
You can always find something in common to communicate with clients in the salon about. You just have to start with the basics, you can do it! Keep the topic on your guest, be kind, listen well, and read the room.