On today’s episode, I’m sharing with you just how to handle the 3 most common client issues that happen in your business and how you can enforce policies effectively with less worry about being the “bad guy”.
Those 3 issues are:
- Last Minute Cancellations due to emergency or unforeseen circumstances
- Fill when it really should be a full set “just do what you can” situation
- Refund requests
And I’ll share with you the policy you should have in place that addresses each issue, how to implement this policy and what the perk is to having a policy that addresses each issue.
If you’re interested in seeing an example of the policies I had in my lash business – you can download them at www.thelashpreneur.com/policies
And a quickie disclaimer – policies, client waivers, release of liability are all legal contracts and I advise you have any of those documents reviewed by a locally licensed attorney for enforceability and legality in your state/province. Nothing in this post is to be construed as legal advice and is for education and entertainment purposes only.
1. Client Issue # 1: Last Minute Cancellations due to emergency or unforeseen circumstances
a. Policy Solution: Sickness and Family Emergency cancellation policy
i. This policy states: If you or another person in your household has an infectious or contagious illness, please contact us as soon as possible to reschedule your appointment for a later date. For your safety and that of the staff and other clients, please do not come to your appointment sick. If it is assumed you are currently sick, your appointment may be cut short or cancelled and rescheduled for when you are healthy again. A one time allowance of last minute cancellation or reschedule will be permitted for sickness or family emergency. After that, the cancellation and no show policy will be in effect.
b. Implementation of this policy: The key to this being a long term solution to any last minute client cancellations is to have the conversation of: I totally understand XYZ came up – I want you to go take care of yourself and not worry about your appointment. This is exactly why I have the Sickness and Family Emergency policy where we offer a one time exception to our cancellation policy. Please be aware that this is the one and only allowance to our cancellation policy we can offer you and any future last minute cancellations will be charged NO MATTER WHAT.
i. That “no matter what” is KEY in YOU communicating to the client that no matter the situation moving forward – whether they were hospitalized, severely ill, or forgot to cancel cause they were hungover – your cancellation policy WILL apply. You have proof in your text or email exchange with this client now that you made it clear in no uncertain terms that they would be charged for any future last minute cancellations NO MATTER WHAT.
c. Perks of this policy:
i. You don’t have to be the bad guy when someone doesn’t show up to their appt because of a legitimate cause cause you’ve already set the expectation that you’ve extended the olive branch of human decency and understanding that ish comes up AND you also have a business to run where cancellations are detrimental to the stability of the business.
ii. This eliminates the need for you extra controlling and vindictive lashpreneurs out there who go stalking clients social media pages and find out the real reason they didn’t show up to their appointment. It doesn’t matter if a client chooses to lie about their “emergency” or not – your business has a plan in place regardless of a legitimate excuse or not.
iii. You have written proof of a signed copy of your policies agreeing to this policy and a screenshot of the exchange with a client about the use of this policy to share with any sort of banking disputes that the client was made aware and agreed to your policies and the charge for the no show. Doesn’t always guarantee a bank will side with you – but you’ve done your part.
iv. COVID EXCEPTION – during covid and shutdowns and strick regulations and contact tracing – we all need to be flexible and use our best judgement even if, at times, doing so goes directly against our policies. Unique situations call for unique solutions – so use your judgement and make a call that is most aligned with what feels right to you with any covid-related cancellations.
2. Client Issue #2 – Fill when it really should be a full set “just do what you can” situation
a. Policy Solution: Fill Policy – Minimum # of extensions remaining per eye to be considered a fill
i. This policy states: We recommend our clients to come back every 2-3 weeks for their fill appointments to ensure your natural lashes remain healthy and your extensions stay looking full. We also educate our clients on proper aftercare of extensions to ensure each client gets the maximum retention out of their lash extensions. We do require 30 extensions remaining per eye to be eligible for our fill appointments. If a client has less than 30 extensions per eye, the fill appointment will be adjusted to a full set service at the current full set price if time allows or the appointment will be rescheduled to a future agreed upon time for when a full set appointment is available.
b. Implementation of this policy:
i. First is the education of this policy before a client ever receives the service. You could include in your policy that you recommend following the aftercare steps provided to you at the end of your service as well as prebooking out your future appointments as a best practice to minimize the possibility of this scenario occurring.
ii. Next – educate on the importance of following aftercare and how the aftercare you recommend helps them to maximize their retention and minimize needing a new full set in the future.
iii. Lastly – when in doubt – count it out sis. If you’re not sure if a client has enough extensions left you can say “Ooo Susan – what happened? Your retention seems to have gone down a lot since your previous appointments.” and then let the client try to explain what happened. One of two things usually happens – either the lashes started falling out soon after her last appointment which is usually an issue you can troubleshoot based on your application and reviewing your notes from her last appointment that my have contributed to poor retention OR she noticed after a week or so that her lashes started falling out more which would usually be due to a seasonal shed or improper aftercare. Either way – that’s a whole other episode on retention that I’ll save for another day – your handling of this event is what we’re focusing on today.
iv. You would then count the extensions. If she meets or exceeds the minimum # of extensions – then let her know and educate her on aftercare again so she doesn’t risk being this close to needing a full set again and possibly recommending your retail items that help with retention like a cleanser. Possibly advise her on coming back in sooner than usual to her next appointment as well so she doesn’t risk needing a full set and/or reminding her of your client satisfaction policy which I’ll share about in a minute if she notices her lashes aren’t lasting very well within the 72 hours of her last appointment so you can fix it before she needs to get a full set.
v. If she doesn’t meet the minimum # of extensions – you could do one of two things. Give her a warning that you’ll make a one time exception for today and just “do what you can” but next time it will be a full set OR say “unfortunately you don’t have enough extensions remaining to be considered a fill and you need a full set. I’m going to change your appointment to a full set today OR I need to cancel today and reschedule your full set when I have an appropriate amount of time to complete the set. I recommend giving them a one time warning cause most clients aren’t going to be all too excited about unexpectedly paying for a full set and staying for a longer appointment without a fair warning. But I leave it up to you if you want to offer a warning first before enforcing this policy or not.
c. Perks of this policy:
i. You stop feeling like you have to give away your time for free or provide less than stellar results for a client because you’re rushing to get as many extensions on cause she was basically bald coming in.
ii. This also creates the opportunity for you to educate a client on proper aftercare and often times leads to them purchasing a lash cleanser because the alternative of not purchasing your $20 cleanser is risking paying for another $150-$200 full set.
iii. You eliminate the confrontation and confusion of having a percentage of extensions remaining which is typically where this policy goes way wrong. You can’t honestly tell me you know the difference between 48% extensions remaining and 53% extensions remaining – yet you are charging a client very different prices based on your made up assumption of a clients retention. This is highly unfair to a client which is why they challenge your assessment of their lashes and most of you cave to “just doing what you can” with the time they booked or extending their service time to get them back to full but without charging for that extra time. A client can justifiably argue with you about percentage remaining all day long. A client cannot argue with a finite number when you physically count each extension remaining. So you eliminate the debate on fill or full set.
3. Client Issue #3 – Refund requests
a. Policy Solution: Refund + Client Satisfaction policy
i. The no refund policy would state something like: You are paying for artist time, product and other expenses used to provide you with a service. No refunds will be given for any reasons on services or product. If you are unhappy with a service or result, you may contact us within 72 hours of your appointment to discuss your concerns and if a fix can be done to address your concerns, it will be done so with a complimentary 30 minutes express fill. Any concerns brought up after 72 hours of your last appointment or if you failed to follow the proper aftercare instructions a recommended fix will be offered but at full price of the service recommended.
b. Implementation of this policy:
i. This policy is great to remind every client of at the end of every appointment so you are WELCOMING them to communicate openly with you. You could say something like “My goal is to ensure you are over the moon with your results/lashes. If you get home and for any reason you’re not in love with the results – please let me know within 72 hours of today and give me the opportunity to see what I can do to address your concerns.”
ii. The key to success with this policy is to be VERY clear about htis prior to any service being delivered. If you are not going over every policy in person during your consultation with a new client – then you risk a client asking for a refund AND being super pissed about it if you don’t give her a refund. Knowledge of there being no refunds is how you avoid refund requests.
c. Perks of this policy
i. Most refund requests are due to a client being unhappy with the result and not feeling as if the experience or result was worth the money invested. There are times when this 100% warranted on behalf of the client especially if you struggle with retention. If a client’s lashes don’t last more than a few days – then I think all of us would want our money back for a service that didn’t deliver the desired results. And I encourage my society members to take ownership and responsibility for the results they get in their businesses – which means that if you struggle with application or your application method or adhesive doesn’t last more than a few days – then own it that the client’s undesired results were due to your application. Most issues with an unhappy lash client within 2-3 days of their appointment is due to improper application no matter how bomb you think you are. Most of the time – it’s lashes falling out way too soon because the lash artist can’t get the adhesive to last. Your client shouldn’t have to suffer through your learning curve unnecessarily. HOWEVER – does that mean that you give back hard earned money? Not necessarily – hence why I like the client satisfaction part of this policy. We’ve already made it clear that no refunds are available ever – BUT we want to ensure happy clients. And what we can offer a client when there’s an issue that is likely caused by adhesive struggles, retention issues, maybe the client didn’t like the styling or the length or how sparse the lashes are – is a 30 minute free fix appointment where you spend 30 minutes just working on fixing the issues – whether it’s applying more lashes where the previous ones didn’t last, going longer or shorter as much as you can in the time provided, adding in more extensions if they were too sparse, etc. This 30 minute fix will make a good bit of difference to a client’s unhappy results/experience. If they choose not to take you up on this – then that’s on them and no refunds, so no solution.
If you’re interested in seeing an example of the policies I had in my lash business – you can download them at www.thelashpreneur.com/policies
Episode Highlights:
- – The policy solution for last minute cancellations
- – Recommended content of an effective Fill Policy and how to implement it
- – How to implement a No Refund Policy
- – How a Client Satisfaction Policy will help your business and keep your clients happy
