How to Increase Customer Loyalty as an Esthetician - Part 2
A Guide to Loyalty-Gaining Customer Service in the Esthetics Industry
Given the fact that the esthetic business has its roots in the service industry, establishing a strong sense of loyalty from the customers is a crucial factor to obtaining and maintaining success. Among many things, a big factor in which this loyalty stems from is the estheticians having a positive attitude towards providing superb service to the customers.
Esthetic Loyalty
For those who finds themselves in the esthetic and spa industry, you will find your business falling under the category of the “service industry”. Service industry refers to any kind of business that provides non-tangible actions to elevate the quality of life and offer comfort and convenience. With that being said, this means that since we are the ones who provide services, there is always a “customer” on the other end who receives the service. A customer’s loyalty towards the esthetic industry is very closely tied to the provider’s attitude towards customer service.
In today’s society where more and more things are being digitized, the process of building a relationship between two people requires a lot more delicacy, which when done correctly will also build a sense of loyalty.
However, one thing we can all let out a sigh of relief over is that unlike many business and services that can easily be replaced by robot and automations, the estheticians in the spa and esthetic industry are irreplaceable.
While capturing the eyes of potential customers through flashy advertisements and marketing tactics to draw in people might work for a while, creating an establishment that customers decided to visit and continues to return with a grounded sense of loyalty should be the ultimate goal. The theories and techniques that are used for customer service is something that would inevitable take time to learn through practice. However even without much experience, small things such as a welcoming smile, gentle touches, calm and soothing tone of voice, the eagerness to listen to and resolve any concerns, and overall respect towards the customer can be enough to come off as amiable and provide a positive, healing experience.
First Impression
Well, how does one successfully form this sense of loyalty, you might ask. The answer to this question is a lot simpler than it may seem. One of the most important factors that decide a customer’s attitude is their first impression of the business.
Generally speaking, a first impression is decided by 3 major components; 60% visuals, 20% audio/ambiance and 20% conversation. With that being said, the way that the business is physically presented towards the customer makes up the majority of how the overall establishment is being viewed. Key elements to focus on for theses visual components include cleanliness of the interior and the estheticians’ friendly demeanour.
This would also mean that it would be very important not to make mistakes such as having careless attitude towards waiting customers, presenting products and equipment in an unorganized fashion, and being unprepared when greeting customers. Small things such as being genuinely happy and excited to welcome customers can easily be the first step in acquiring their loyalty towards the shop and the estheticians themselves.
Customer Complaints
There will inevitably be instances where customers may be asking to do something that you are not comfortable with, or situations where a customer is being impolite and disrespectful. In these cases, blind loyalty towards them just because they are customers is not necessarily mandatory.
However, it is very important to carefully assess the situation and try to figure out the cause behind the negative interaction before moving on to take further actions. In most cases, everyone involved is at fault in some varying degrees but sometimes it’s hard not to be biased towards yourself and blame the other person, in this case the customer, for the cause.
Purposelessly apologizing will result in nothing but escaping the situation without resolving the foundational issue that caused the incident. Furthermore, simply classifying the customer as a “rude person” in order to justify your attitude should be avoided as this will only have an adverse effect on both sides.
What would be the appropriate way to deal with a customer’s complaint regarding our services then? The foremost important thing to do would be looking at the situation with an impartial eye and not letting your personal opinions or emotions falter the factual information. This will help identify the reason behind the customer’s dissatisfaction, in which then we can go ahead to explain and clarify. As stated earlier, a troublesome person-to-person interaction would be much harder to deal with if there are any emotions involved while viewing the situation as it is natural to be partial to yourself. However, if you view the situation from a customer-to-esthetician point of view, it may be easier to understand that the customer might have a different, or even a higher standard of what they expect in terms of service to be worth their time and money.
A simple way to determine if the customer is being unreasonable or if your service really was unsatisfactory would be getting a secondary opinion, perhaps from your coworkers. The ability to view and resolve a situation in an objective manner is crucial in not only becoming more professional when clarifying the services you provide (or not provide) to avoid future conflicts, but also improving yourself as a service worker.
A Positive Presentation of Estheticians
Our job involves having very close contact and relationships with another person which I believe can be very difficult and delicate at times, but could also be exciting and enjoyable compared to other jobs. This means that presenting yourself as a welcoming and friendly person is just as important as being a skillful and highly-technical esthetician.
I can guarantee that this kind of positive attitude will not only work in favour when initiating and developing strong relationships but also in boosting your own self-confidence and satisfaction while working.
We spend the majority of our lives with customers. It’s truly important to remember that as the number of valuable customers increase, the more prosperous and cherished our lives will become as well.
