Business should not be an act of God
The girl who cuts my hair every 3 months, or sometimes 6 weeks, is on 4 months maternity leave.
Before she left I was concerned about cutting my hair and where I would have it done. She told me she would come in any Monday to do the necessary. All I had to do was call her.
I called her last week. The call was diverted to her partner who told me they do not work on Mondays and that I had to wait three weeks for my hairdresser to return.
I may not be the easiest person to get along with, but I expect people who I pay for their services, to at least fake concern. In that way we can both fake and be happy. I do not expect to be put on hold until such time as it becomes convenient again to make money out of me.
So, on I went to another hairdresser suggested by a friend.
Nice girl trying to make a living out of her trade. Nice salon shared with nail technicians. I am sure the nail technicians are also nice, although I did not sample their services.
I gave the hairdresser free reign to cut it as she wishes. I wasn’t as impressed with the job as my wife, which means whether I like it or not, I like it!
The interesting observation is that I left without the hairdresser asking for any particulars - no mobile phone number, no email, nothing.
Both instances illustrate an inability to engage with the customer. There is no interest, no effort to make the client the source of repeat business, no endeavour to create a community of clients. In fact, both hairdressers confirmed that they had no program of enticing clients to return, no program of ensuring that clients WILL return.
You walk in. You walk out. You come again. You don’t come again. Doesn’t matter because we will just keep on getting new clients. We don’t need to find out whether the old ones are happy. We don’t need to offer them any incentive to return.
These hairdressers will not grow rich from their business, nor do they probably want to grow rich. But would it not be nice to have a loyal following in a business with value that you can sell whenever you decide to call it a day?
It probably does not matter to them because business is an act of God. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen.
They turn up every day and they are available every day should clients wish to make use of their services. What more can they do?
Well, if I were a hairdresser I sure would have tried:
- collect name, surname, mobile phone number, email, any online presence such as Facebook;
- collect data about frequency of visits to my salon;
- make notes of replies to questions I posed while cutting the client’s hair such as children, interests, hobbies etc.
- find out how the client heard of my business and who referred them;
- why did the client decide to make use of me?
And do what with the info?
I’ll tell you another day if I decide not to buy a hair salon and stir up the local industry.
The bottom line is that I used a personal care service but I do not feel cared for at all. And it is not the only industry in my city that leave their clients feeling neglected.
All that because business and client service is not treated as a revenue generating activity but merely as an act of God over which we have no control.