Ensure an effective handover is part of your client service

The birthplace of many salon customer complaints is the humble handover, making this a crucial element of your client service, says Nergish Wadia-Austin, founder of PHAB Standard. Handing over a customer from one service to another and from one salon professional to another can be more complicated than you think. In salons all over the world this is the sign of a well-managed business. Managers, who have trained their teams in this specific area, reduce customer complaints by half. The handover itself is where most misunderstandings take place. Miscommunication at this time can prove disastrous. A simple example of where a lack of communication can play a big part in missed sales opportunities and lead to an incomplete service is the handover between stylist and the person assisting with the shampoo service. Most of the time this handover seems like a very mundane act that frankly doesn't even deserve a mention. Just yelling "shampoo please" seems to be all that is required at the time. That is not at all the way to proceed. Salons who train their teams in this handover procedure benefit greatly from being classed as professionals when it comes to their service standards and etiquette but also reap huge rewards from add-on retail sales and the recommendation of new services. It is the stylist's responsibility to handover the client for the cleansing service with confidence, a plan and the solutions in place. It goes without saying that if the consultation process is rushed or non- existent then this handover will always be rushed and uninformed. Once the consultation has ended and the customer's needs have been established, the stylist must, using the customer's language, instruct the shampooist of what is required at this visit. This instruction should be clear and conducted in front of the customer. It should include the name of the shampoo to use, how many times and why. Then comes the conditioner, what to use, how to apply it and why. All these instructions are heard by the customer who feels reassured that the stylist has listened to their needs and is communicating the bespoke solutions to their colleague.  Most importantly they have heard the names of the shampoo, conditioner and treatment that will solve their particular issues and knows that this salon holds the solutions to their haircare concerns. Add-on sales start here. Other places in the business where handovers can result in a customer complaint are reception to salon professional, and stylist to colourist. Crucially, each customer complaint has a starting point. In your salon make sure it is not the handovers!