I think what you need to do is to offer the best service possible, and offer something that the technicians you’re competing with don’t offer. If you develop a good rapport with the clients, she’s going to hang around. Your client may got to another technician while you’re away, but she’ll be back to you. If she doesn’t, maybe you have to analyze the situation and learn something from it, because a client can’t be stolen unless she wants to be.

Gay Kane, Great Nails Beaverton, Ore.

In our salon, the nail technicians have an agreement that if a client has her nails done by a technician once, the client stays with that technician. If the technician is too busy to work with her client, we ask the technician if she minds if we put her client with someone else. If the client has her nails done by another technician, we offer the client the choice of staying with the first or second technician. What’s important is that the client is happy.

Gina Virgona, The Nail Vanity Rochester, Mich.

I think I have a very good reputation with my clients. They wouldn’t think of going someplace else. I had surgery last year and gave all my clients to other nail technicians in the shop. All my clients came back. I think when you do a good job for your clients, they’ll stay with you. If someone is having a problem with other technicians stealing her clients while she’s away, I would advise her to check the quality of her work.

Wanda Prewitt, Hair Unlimited Salinas, Calif.

I’ve always worked in a shop where there’s an unspoken rule that you don’t steal someone else’s client. If your client wants another technician to her nails, she should tell you first. If both renter is having the problem of other technicians stealing her clients, I would recommend that she talk to the client. She should find out what other technician said or did to get her client’s business. Then she should confront the technician and tell her she didn’t appreciate what she did.

Pat Stringer, Pamper Me Please, Midland, Texas

I would recommend that the technician book her client’s next appointment before she leaves. This ways, clients feel obligated to comeback. Otherwise, I suggest she get help from a technician who works outside the salon. I have someone I used to work with do my client’s nails at her home when I’m gone. It’s good for her because she makes little extra money, and it’s good for me because I don’t have to worry about someone filling in for me and stealing my clients. If I want to take a few days off, I just call her and see if she wants to work.

Ellen Kuhn, Mane Attraction, Los Altos, Calif.

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