My advice on… Consultations
Could you be overlooking an essential tool to help you better connect with clients? Nicholas Nicola, founder of salon group Allertons, says possibly! Drawing on time spent behind beauty counters in department stores like Harvey Nichols and Selfridges, and now with salon sites in John Lewis stores, Nicholas shares advice on why carefully curated consultations can be transformative for business…
What do you consider to be the ‘perfect’ consultation, and what should it deliver for the client and the business?
I think we need to change the way we think about consultations. Currently, we use them as a means to an end (just something we have to do to get clients booked in), but we need to see amazing opportunities consultations provide. The perfect consultation would introduce the client to your salon, your brand, and your stylist, while also being a bespoke appointment that truly delivers for the client; listen to them, empathise with them, find out why they’ve come to you, the result they want, and most importantly set out truly to understand how they feel now and how they want to feel. If you get this right, what it delivers for the business is self-explanatory – you’ll create an army of fiercely loyal clients.
Are consultations a fundamental tool for salons and barber shops? If so, why?
Consultations are the most important service your business offers! Your client’s first impression of your salon or barber shop is how they discover you and their first contact (whether that’s via your website, social media, online booking, or telephone conversation). The second? An appointment or consultation. Your consultation is not an obligation or burden to get out of the way, but an opportunity to connect with your client, for you to sell your space and yourself to them, and to give them unwavering confidence in you so that they trust you and your opinion.
When should consultations take place in the client journey?
As soon as possible after the client’s initial contact. The sooner you perform a consultation and the more consultations you do, the busier and more productive your columns will be. I’ve said this before, but consultations are the most important service you offer, so the earlier in the client journey you conduct them, the more chance you have of gaining a client for life.
How long do you recommend a consultation lasts, and should they be a chargeable service? If not, how do you balance the time out of the diary for your team?
I would recommend 15 full minutes for a consultation – it’s the perfect balance of the time needed truly to listen to your client, while not taking too much time out of your column for a free service (yes, free!). I believe you should never charge for a consultation, it should be seen as an opportunity to introduce you and your skills to new (and existing) clients. Build in the price of the time lost during the consultation to your pricing for colour. Having said all that, always charge a deposit – your column time is a precious commodity, which cannot be wasted.
How often should hair professionals be consulting with clients? And as an owner/manager, how frequently should you be reviewing the way your team conducts consultations, and the actual results they deliver for the business?
Every client should have a consultation, either at the start of their service or obviously 48+ hours in advance of a colour appointment. Consultations make your client feel special, listened to and understood – don’t waste that precious opportunity. When measuring the success of consultations, this should be done on a daily, weekly and monthly basis – your appointment software should be able to run an automated report, measuring bookings from consultations (and more importantly, consultations that did not result in bookings), which helps you to see retention and capacity rates. Also, don’t forget the secret weapon of mystery shoppers! An under-utilised but super effective way of monitoring team performance.
Should consultations be bespoke to different types of clients (for example, new versus longstanding) and shaped by the hair professional delivering it, or is a business-wide template the way to go?
I believe the consultation is all about the client; if you are truly listening to and empathising with them, then a business-wide template will work every time, for every client. Listen, understand, and take action. If you do that, then they will always get what they need, and your business will always benefit. One extra piece of advice is to offer a consultation for every type of service you offer – who are we to tell a client they can’t first have a look at your space, or have an extra bit of reassurance, before they commit?
Outline some key consultation mistakes, and how to overcome them.
One thing can be done to correct all consultation mistakes: empathise. A consultation, as I’ve said previously, is not something to get out of the way, as quickly as possible, it should be seen as an opportunity. Empathy is taking listening to the next level – make it your mission truly to understand how your client feels today, what has brought them to you, how they want to feel, and what you can do to help them with that. Don’t tell your client what they should want, don’t go through the latest trends if that’s not what they’ve asked for, don’t assume your client knows hairdressing terminology (like what Balayage is or the difference between a half-head and full-head of highlights). And don’t be afraid to justify how much you charge.
Nicholas’s top tips for building and delivering a five-star consultation
1) Make your client feel welcome and valued, and let them know you appreciate the fact they have come for a consultation with you and your salon or barber shop. This is their first vote of confidence in you – make sure they’re right!
2) Redesign your consultation from the ground up. Come at it from the angle of a client who has never visited your space before, and is not a regular salon/barber shop visitor.
3) Build empathy into the whole process. It is important to have a check list of everything you need to cover, but be more fluid and dynamic with how you ask for the answers from your client, and let those answers change the direction of the consultation.
4) Think about your business. If you’re upping your consultation game, think about what other benefits you and your business stand to gain. If your client is there for a colour consultation, what other services do you think they’d like to complete the transformation (think manicures, brows and so on)? Do they need to use specific products before they come in? And do they know anyone else who they think would love your new approach?
5) Last but not least, get the buy-in from your team. Your consultation process, no matter how good, will only be exceptional if your team believes in it. Sell them the benefits of consultations and before you know it, your business will be transformed.