How to Create a Five Star Client Experience for Your Interior Design Business
Let me share a little story with you about a luxury experience I paid for that was so bad but that could have been so easily prevented.
The girl who has been doing my hair for the last seven years recently moved which left me on the hunt for a new hair person. If you are blonde, you will surely understand the struggle, unless you live in Arizona, where everyone does beautiful blonde. I actually considered going back to my roots because the thought of finding someone new and <gasp> going into a salon were so overwhelming. I was so used to having my girl come to me.
I STRUCK GOLD…OR SO I THOUGHT
After researching on the internet and then asking on Facebook, I took the recommendation from a very particular friend who has really good blonde and scheduled my appointment for color at a fancy salon a few towns over.
The salon went over some basics with me on the phone, like where to park and the location and I thought, this is great, we’re off to a good start.
BUT THAT WAS THE LAST I HEARD FROM THEM
My appointment date came a few weeks later and I followed their parking instructions (the ones I could remember) and arrived a few minutes before my appointment time….and then all hell broke loose. Well, I may be dramatic, but because this is my jam, I am very sensitive to bad customer service.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY #1
As I was waiting to be checked in (there was one person in front of me), the two front desk people were both on the phone and neither of them acknowledged me (no eye contact, no smile, nothing). Other employees at the salon saw me walk in but no one said anything.
Then someone older than me walked in and stood behind me in line, and someone came rushing over to her to ask her if she needed help. Huh? I was so confused.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY #2
When I finally checked in, the front desk guy told me I could hang up my coat and just head right upstairs to the hairstylist’s station. Huh? Wasn’t there something in the system that flagged me as a first time client? I told him I didn’t know where that was and that it was my first time here. So ugh, now I’m feeling confused AND like an idiot. I could tell he was frustrated as he told me to sit on the couch and wait and he would bring me up shortly.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY #3
So a few minutes passed and he finally finished up his call. He seemed very disgruntled to have to walk me upstairs but THANK GOODNESS he did because we went up four staircases and through a maze of stations (this place was HUGE!). He didn’t talk to me the entire walk there (basic customer service 101) and then when I got to the hair stylist’s station, she was busy with another client so I was told to go sit in another room to wait. Sigh.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY #4
So I find a seat in this new room and I see lots of women reading magazines, having tea, eating snacks, and relaxing, and it’s actually a really well-done room with lots of nice amenities.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY #5
I finally get called back for my hair color and the lady could not have been more serious and robotic. It was a struggle to get her to “loosen up” and I wished I had brought my headphones so I had a reason to not force the conversation with her.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY #6
Once my color was done she sent me off to the washing room and I waited again for someone to wash the color out of my hair. It was super awkward and I didn’t know they had separate people to wash your hair, so then I started to get nervous because I never carry cash and wouldn’t have cash to tip them, but then again, they didn’t tell me to bring cash or prepare to pay for the color to be washed out of my hair so what was I supposed to do.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY #7
So they finish washing my hair (it didn’t even feel good--I miss my AZ days of every salon being like a spa day) and then the hair washing girl points me to a room and tells me to go blow dry my hair. Sigh.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY #8
I walk into the blow dry room and there are products and blow dryers and community brushes everywhere. Ehhhh. No signage, no nothing. As a first timer here, I have never been to a salon where you dry your own hair so this was a bit unfamiliar to me...could I use these products, am I supposed to use these brushes that are stacked and dirty in a big wicker basket? Is my girl going to come to check my color to make sure it all looks good before I start to blow dry?
MISSED OPPORTUNITY #9
I finished up my own blowout and walked back over to the hair stylist to bring up my concerns about the brassy bits in the front of my hair. She was really busy on her iPad so I waited patiently for her to finish up and then she said “Hmm, does your hair normally turn that color?” You’ve got to be kidding me. Like this is my fault that my hair turned brassy where you just applied color?
MISSED OPPORTUNITY #10
After finding my way back to the front desk through the maze of stairs and hair stations, I could not get out of there fast enough. After paying a few hundred dollars for color only (which at the end of the day actually ended up being really pretty, minus the brassy bits that eventually faded) the experience was SO BAD that I left there feeling like I was totally ripped off.
THE ONE SIMPLE FIX
Now some of these issues cannot be fixed until they train their staff to welcome and anticipate the needs of their guests. BUT they had so many opportunities to make it right that would have been so easy to do if they had a system in place for how to treat their clients.
A lot of this could have been avoided if they had sent out just ONE email (get your own luxury client experience emails here) and done ONE thing internally. These two things would have transformed my experience and I honestly think I would have overlooked all the bad customer service.
Want to know the one thing they could have done that would have made this whole experience totally acceptable?
THEY COULD HAVE SENT A SINGLE EMAIL
The email I would have loved to receive would have done the following:
confirmed my appointment
laid out what to expect like a) someone will wash your hair so please bring cash for a tip, b) you will blow dry your own hair, c) we have snacks and drinks while you wait, d) we anticipate your appointment will take x minutes
reminded me about parking
reminding me about payment and gratuity options (can we tip on a card or do we need cash)
THEY COULD HAVE MADE THIS ONE INTERNAL NOTE
They should have noted in my appointment slot on their calendar that I am a new client and who my referral source was. This does so many things.
It lets them know that I need an extra level of guidance while I’m there. In the salon’s case, they should plan to book out an extra five minutes to give me a tour of the salon, walk through the amenities, show me where to put my coat, where the bathroom is, what the wifi password is, etc. I’m going to be there for a few hours, so this stuff would have been very helpful to know ahead of time.
When they know I’m a new client and they know my referral source, they have so many ways to break the ice and strike up a conversation. How do you know <referral source>, where were you going before here, etc.
But alas, common sense is just not so common. You agree?
MORAL OF THE STORY
Do a little bit of work ahead of time to define your policies and procedures, and then make sure your client experience is on point so your business is set up for success. In this case, even though my color ended up looking really pretty, I won’t be going back because of how bad the experience was.
Ready to create your own signature client experience? Walkthrough your own client experience process by clicking the button below and see where you might need to fill in your gaps.
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