If you don’t know the problem, how do you fix it? If you don’t know what the client wants, how can you satisfy her? If you don’t know what the client doesn’t like, how do you know what not to do?
When a new client enters your space, she is just a stranger X who, with the right “hairdressing calculations and questions”, you must not only understand the stranger X but also find out exactly what she wants, what her needs are.. to be happy. On the other hand, your good old client is worth your “research” to find and do what she needs. These are the beginning of building trust with her!!!
And once that’s done, then the action begins… and the practical process, continuing many times, among other things, to talk , fishing for information, about your client’s personality, wants and hair. This has no time limit, the diagnosis can even be as long as the whole procedure.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis should be a now standard procedure, which is included in the time we have scheduled our appointment with a client customer.
If she is a new client, you need to get to know her and the problems she may have with her hair, in order to give her the desired result. If it is old, be equally interested in getting a proper diagnosis, because this is the way to certify your interest in her and thus make her trust and love you even more.
Your investigation starts from the moment the client enters your premises and sits in the waiting room. You notice her hair before you even have her sit in front of the bath.
I’m sure you know how to start a diagnosis conversation either from your experience as an experienced hairdresser or from your lessons as a beginner. Each of you has your own way of reaching out to your customers and gaining first the information you want and eventually the customer. The order of the questions should have a logic that will help you build the “puzzle” of each individual customer.
And having heard everything, it is time for you to speak, stating the conclusions you have drawn from all you have heard, explaining what you will do and justifying every move you make.
Yes, we listen to the client in whatever he or she needs to tell us (hairdresser = psychologist), but we do not fail to give our ideas and our final conclusion.
If nothing else we are the experts and from us every customer expects us to provide solutions for a possible problem and new ideas.
Here are examples of questions for the correct diagnosis
What is the client’s relationship with the salon? How often does she go either to get her hair cut, dyed or combed?
What does it do? What is her daily life like? If she takes care of her hair in her daily routine either with a product (mousse, oil, etc.) or with a blow dryer, or if she wants something that doesn’t need a lot of fixing. Does it come off? What if she likes to do her hair when she goes out?
Does she like short hair? She loves it and has always had it off?
Ask her to show you photos of her favourite hair style and discuss the pros and cons of each choice, always based on her personal needs.
