Whether it’s a branded advertisement, a quick glance at your salon design, or a comment from a friend, first impressions have a significant influence on a person’s behavior.
However, recent interactions can be just as important, if not more. The recency effect explains that when people are asked to recall a series, they tend to remember the most recent events.
What does this mean for you? The interaction you have at the point of sale will leave a lasting impression which can influence a client's decision to rebook. The salon point of sale experience has the potential to turn a typical appointment into a lasting memory, or it can leave a bad taste even after providing an amazing service. Check out these tips to encourage customers to return:
Ensure Satisfaction
Obviously, clients will be pleased if you deliver what they expected. But to what extent do you make sure clients are indeed happy with the results from your service? Ask about their customer service experience, the result, and if they have any questions. If there are concerns, be sure to address them immediately.
Rebook & Upsell
Once you have ensured satisfaction, offer to rebook them. In this day and age with people always on the go, a client’s focus is often on getting out quickly and moving on to their next activity as soon as they get out of the salon chair. While you still have their attention at your station, talk to them about any products that will benefit them - whether to keep their hair healthy, simplify their daily styling routine, etc. Be genuine in recommending products that you truly believe will help them; clients can tell when a product is just being pushed at them to make a sale.
Smooth Transition
Rather than having the client walk up to the front on his/her own, create a warm and personal environment by walking the client to the salon’s front desk to pay for their service and products. If you aren’t processing the payment, be sure to politely hand them off to the person who is and thank them for their business.
“Anne will be taking your payment today. Thanks for coming in today, Mary. It was a pleasure serving you and we’ll see you on September 14th.”
Using the client’s name and mentioning the next appointment will remind your salon coordinator or receptionist of the client’s name to easily pull up an invoice and to let her know that Mary has already booked her next appointment so there is no need to ask again.
Quick Checkout
While you shouldn’t rush clients out the door, you also don’t want to take too much of their time. Checking out a client and processing their payment should be quick and painless. Offer multiple payment options (e.g. cash, debit, credit) to make the experience as friendly as possible for the client.
This is also a good opportunity to introduce your loyalty or membership programs. If they are already participating, let them know how many points they’ve earned this visit or what benefits they can still redeem this membership cycle.
