Renowned salon business coach Neil Osborne shares his secrets to the art of dealing with rejection in salon, to the betterment of your salon business.
As a professional hairdresser, it’s common to get a ‘no’ from time to time, but how do you handle the rejection? How does it make you feel? Most hairdressers don’t like the feeling, and instead of trying harder, they get upset, retreat or withdraw from recommending for the rest of the day.
It’s your responsibility as a professional hairdresser to suggest, recommend and learn how to get comfortable with the occasional ‘no’, because the more you suggest things to your clients, the more ‘nos’ you’re going to get.
First, let’s look into why you love hairdressing. Is it the creativity, the shine of a new colour, the look of the latest cut you just learned, or the ‘thank you’ you get from your best clients on their departure?
Not surprisingly, being creative ranks the highest for most people, but being creative requires your clients to be open to and accepting of your suggestions. That also means you need to understand that not all clients are going to say ‘yes’ to all your suggestions. There’s good news though. You can increase your rate of acceptance, with just a few simple steps and four magic words.
The starting point, for this example, is the way you ask your client if they’d be interested in trying a new colour. Generally, you’d likely explain what you’re thinking – that’s called the ‘opening’. For example, “I’m doing a lot of warmer colours this winter, and they’d really look great with your skin tone”.
Once you’ve done that, you pause and wait for the client’s response and there’s usually a quiet, uncomfortable silence. So, you probably automatically start talking again to fill the empty space, because you’re worried the client isn’t accepting your suggestion. Due to your discomfort, you then likely change the subject to something else. This is referred to as ‘talking yourself out of the sale’. Is this sounding all too familiar?
Next time you try, rephrase the same example, using the same opening question. “I’m doing a lot of warmer colours this winter, and they’d really look great with your skin tone.” However, this time try attaching a ‘test question’, which is a short closed ended question.
For example, “how does that sound?”, or “how would you feel about that?” or “would you be open to trying that?”. All these are great examples of simple testing questions you can ask. Then stay quiet, don’t say anything and wait for your client to answer.
At this point, you’re going to get three possible answers. They can say ‘yes’, which is simple to respond to. If they say ‘no’, this causes discomfort, both for you and your client. You’ve both felt this moment coming, so you’re both feeling a little uncomfortable. Therefore, the pressure and discomfort mounts. The key behaviour at this moment is to defuse that pressure, by using a succinct defusing statement consisting of four simple words: “that’s not a problem”, because it’s not a problem for them to say ‘no’, is it? You also say it with a downward inflection in your voice and add a slight pause afterwards. Magically, your client’s shoulders soften.
Once you’ve defused the difficult moment, you can suggest an alternate option that’s a lower commitment. The interaction can proceed as follows.
Your Opening: I’m doing a lot of warmer colours this winter, and they’d really look great with your skin tone.
Your Test Question: Would you be open to trying that?
Client’s Response: No, I think I’ll leave it today.
Your Defuse: That’s not a problem.
Your Option: Would you like to try a few warmer highlights instead?
Your clients might otherwise say ‘maybe’. After many years I realised that it’s really a ‘no’ from somebody who avoids confrontation. So how do you respond? Always respect and view a ‘maybe’ the same as a ‘no’, so you then say “that’s not a problem” and offer an option/alternative.
This change in approach and language usually also changes the way you’ll think about ‘no’ and switches you from avoiding those situations, to someone who happily makes suggestions for your client’s new look.
As a professional hairdresser, it’s common to get a ‘no’ from time to time, especially when you’re trying to offer the best possible customer experience to your clients. From experience though, when you use a different way to ask, you’ll get different answers. Also remember “that’s not a problem”. Those four magic words will become your constant companions.
For more information visit www.thesalescatalyst.com.au
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