Maggie Rants [and Raves]

The Client Cycle

by Maggie Franklin | September 19, 2014 | Bookmark +

Why do clients need to speak disparagingly of their former nail techs? OK, OK, there’s a certain amount of smack talk required in getting to know a new client.

Did she leave because her last tech was always on the phone? Because she only did pink-and-whites but the client wanted nail art? Their hours didn’t jibe? She brought her kids to work? She left the salon and started doing nails at home?

I need to know some things about each client and what she did or didn’t like about where she was going before and who was doing her nails.

I respect that some clients don’t want to give me information about the who or the where because they don’t want to be perceived as gossiping. And for the most part, I respect that when a client was really unhappy with her previous experience, she needs to vent.

Mostly, these clients spend their appointments comparing their time with me to their last tech, “She never used that thing there,” pointing to the cuticle pusher. “She never put anything in that blue stuff,” pointing at the disinfectant. “She always burned me with the drill.” And so on and so forth.

But then there are the people who kinda take it too far, and eventually you find yourself noticing. When a client is no longer new, she’s been with you for a few months now, but she’s still talking about the last tech:

“I was always there for three hours!”

“She didn’t even have glitter.”

“One time, she told me all about how she had an affair on her husband...that’s just inappropriate. I don’t need to know that!”

Except, you’re thinking to yourself, “But you’re always here for three hours, because you won’t stop talking...and you keep telling me you don’t like glitter...wait a minute — didn’t you just tell me about how you started dating your husband while he was still with his ex-wife?”

If you spend enough time in the business, you’ll start to recognize these clients as their own category of people. They spend all their time trying to endear themselves to you, usually by tearing down any salons they’ve been to before they found you, but rest assured, eventually they will land in another tech’s chair and spend all their time tearing you down.

Suddenly you never asked her if she wanted nail art. You never told her you had gel. You took too long on her nails. You were always running late (she forgets she was always half an hour early). And you either overshared your personal life or didn’t share enough.

I realized I have a new one of these today. We’re in our honeymoon phase right now; she thinks I’m the best thing in the world. She wants a new stack of business cards every time she comes in, she can’t recommend me highly enough, and she spends plenty of time telling me how happy she is and that she doesn’t mind what I charge because I’m worth it…

She also spends a lot of time dissing her last tech. A girl who apparently hadn’t been doing nails very long and still took a long time to do them and didn’t know all the techniques or how to use every product. I just smiled. Nodded. And kept repeating, “Well, I have been doing this for 22 years. It takes a lot of practice before you get to this point.”

I predict this woman will stay with me through the holidays and wander off after the new year. She’ll find another new-in-business tech whose prices are low and spend all her time complaining about how expensive I was and how hard it was to get in with me.

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