Bringing Smiles Back to Salons. Do you have a service culture of ‘Yes’ in your salon?

“Yes. Now, what was your question?” Saying that felt great didn’t it ¬… and it was even better for the person you said it to – perhaps a smile even appeared? One of the secrets in creating a memorable customer experience is to make your salon ‘better than it has to be’ and a simple way to start doing that is to master the art of “Yes,” which in turn gifts your customers’ with a smile.

There’s a Chinese proverb that says “A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.” That about says it all in retailing. Why is that? It’s been shown that saying “yes” strongly correlates to customers’ having higher satisfaction, loyalty and purchases … all of which helps give them an exceptional customer experience.

A recent survey by Gartner, a US-based marketing research firm, found that this year 89 percent of the companies surveyed expect to primarily compete on the battleground of customer experience. Just four years ago, the same survey showed only 36 percent of respondents felt that was their future.

Now the fact that businesses are striving to dazzle customers with unforgettable experiences probably seems like a big “duh” to you … especially given that salons have been striving to satisfy their customers for decades. However, the sad news is that for most customers, satisfaction is now their barely acceptable minimum.

Why? Because being satisfied isn’t meaningful, marvellous or memorable.

However, giving them an experience that’s wrapped in a smile – from something you’ve done, said or given – starts your salon down the road of more than just ‘satisfying’ and heads you toward delight and surprise.

So where do you start? With what you give, say and do…”