SUMMARY:

• When clients take a break from lash extensions or leave altogether, the first thing you should do is not take it personal. There are so many reasons why client’s leave and usually, it has nothing to do with you.

• When losing a client, if you have an opportunity to get feedback, do it. The feedback you receive may help to improve your business and possibly prevent the client from leaving.

• It’s so easy to think negatively when a client leaves. But always be optimistic. A client leaving just opens up a spot for you to take on another amazing client.

• Listen to the audio to get the full training

• I recommend Acuity Scheduling for online booking which helps you to create loyalty packages to keep clients coming back. Here’s my affiliate link to sign up.

• If you enjoyed this episode and would like to learn more business tips like this, consider joining my monthly program, The Lash Masters Monthly where I teach lash artists tips and tricks to master their lash application and build a profitable lash business.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

What do you do when a regular client tells you they aren’t coming back to have their lashes done or that they’re taking a “break” from lash extensions?  That’s what I’m going to be talking about in this weeks episode so stay tuned.

Ok so what do you do when one of your regular clients tells you they aren’t coming back to have their lashes done?  Or if they tell you that they’re taking a “break” from lash extensions?

Before I tell you how I’d handle it, I want to share a personal story with you.  I don’t know how many of you knew this but California is just now starting to reopen for lash services throughout the state due to covid-19.  So I haven’t worked with any lash clients since mid March.

But since March, I’ve kept in touch with my regulars and they’ve all expressed how they can’t wait until the shelter in place is lifted so they can have their lashes done again.  One client in particular, I’ve been in contact with more than anyone else because although I love all of the clients I work with, she is one of my favorites.   Stay with me because I’m going somewhere with this.

So last week, my county announced that lash artists will finally be able to open with guidelines for reopening.  So I contacted all of my clients who already bought their services in advance first and sent them a private link to my calendar before making it public.  And then I sent my favorite client a dedicated text message to let her know that I was opening my calendar and to let me know when she wanted to book before I made my calendar public.  

Within minutes she responded letting me know that her schedule was super crazy, she had taken up a new hobby in place of lash extensions and that she was taking a break from lash extensions.  And when I saw that message, it was like my heart dropped into my stomach.

I knew it wasn’t personal but she was one of my most faithful clients that I seriously always looked forward to seeing.  Even my daughter loved her.  I mean, I’ve even made her my special sweet potato pies for her birthday because I know how much she loves sweet potatos.  So to me, the idea of not seeing her for a while feels more like a break up or a loss of a loved one.  

I know it sounds crazy and like I’m being a little bit of a drama queen but my clients have been with me for years and I really work hard to attract amazing people and build great relationships with them. So to lose any client hurts. 

So if you’re like me or even a milder, less dramatic version and it hurts emotionally to part with your clients, I have a few tips that have helped me so that when clients leave, it doesn’t sting as much.

The first thing you should do when clients leave is take a deep breath and whatever you do, do not make it personal. Most of the time when clients leave, it has nothing to do with you. And no matter what, do not jog your memory and think back to their appointments and replay your conversations, your interaction and over analyze to figure out what you may have done to cause them to leave. Honestly, if it was something you did, their telling you they aren’t coming back wouldn’t come as a surprise anyway because you’d know exactly what happened to cause the break.  Trust me, I have experienced that as well. 

Seriously, there are so many reasons why clients leave.  Lash extensions are something that’s nice to have but they aren’t a must have for most people.  Even the people that tell you they can’t live without their lashes.  And when it’s time to tighten the budget, lash extensions are one of the first things to go.  And even if it’s not a money issue, there are so many reasons why people stop getting lash extensions that has nothing to do with you.  So it’s just not worth stressing about it or doing mental gymnastics over it. 

For the client that I told you about earlier, I haven’t seen her in 7 months because of the pandemic.  So with that much time passing, she could have easily just gotten used to how she looks without lash extensions.  Or she could have discovered an alternative that she likes more. In her case, shes in a season where her life has changed a lot and she’s gotten extremely busy. So trying to keep up with lash appointments isn’t something she has the time for in this particular season of life.  Again, it has nothing to do with me.

The next thing you can do is ask for feedback.  Was there anything you could have done differently to prevent them from leaving?  There are some cases where theres nothing you can do to keep your client coming back like when they move further away and in some cases to other states.  Unless you plan on dedicating your lifes work to their cause and you’re moving with them, that’s a situation that’s out of your control.  

If your client is honest with you and shares that there was something else you could have done to  keep them coming back, be receptive to that feedback.  Use their honest feedback as an opportunity to improve your business so you don’t lose more great clients.  You never know, their feedback may give you an opportunity to salvage the relationship so they don’t leave.

For me, I know that I charge more than mostly everyone in the area I work in.  So not everyone can afford me.  And when I made the shift to charge premium prices, I lost some clients.  But because I asked for feedback and a few of those clients told me that they couldn’t afford me anymore, it prompted me to create a loyalty discount for my regulars.  I personally hate the idea of new client discounts because I feel like it positions you as a discounter and people come to expect that from you all the time.  And I also hate seeing companies I do business with offer special pricing to get new people in the door only to not take care of them in the future. So that feedback helped me to create a loyalty discount for clients where if they buy a package of 3 touch ups, they save a certain amount and if they buy 6, they save even more.  So I’m essentially rewarding them for coming back.

And even though creating that loyalty system didn’t change everyone’s mind, it helped me save a few and even prevent clients from thinking about leaving because of price.  So I say all of that to say, feedback is a gift.  And when you’re open and seeking feedback, how you use that feedback can help to create a better experience for your clients and improve your business.

I personally use Acuity online booking for my business and with Acuity, I’m able to create discount codes and packages that are unique to my business just like my loyalty rewards plan for clients.  I love that Acuity makes it so easy to for clients to book their appointments but for a reasonable price, you get access to so many amazing features just like the option to create classes, discount codes and bundle packages.

I’m not sponsored by Acuity but it’s the online booking service I’ve used for years and I highly recommend for lash artists all over the world.  If you want to check them out, I’ll leave my affiliate link in the show notes so you can sign up for their service.

The last suggestion I have that you can use when  a client leaves is to be optimistic.  And what I mean by that is, it’s so easy to go into a negative place when things like this happens.  I know for me, I can really go dark and I know a lot of people have been conditioned to go negative. But I’ve learned clients leaving isn’t necesarily a bad thing.  Just like friendships, some relationships are meant to be in your life for a season rather than a lifetime.  Especially in business.  

So yeah, it may not feel good to lose a client but look at it on the bright side, now you have space for some new, positive energy.  Remember, it was YOU that attracted that amazing client that’s leaving in the first place.  You’re the reason why that person came into your life.  And if you did that once, know that you’ll be able to do it again and again and again.  You have the power to attract amazing people into your world and if a client leaves, whatever the reason may be, that just creates a new opportunity to bring in more fresh, positive energy.

So what do you do when a client dumps you?  First, don’t take it personal.  There are a million reason why clients leave and most of the time it has nothing to do with you.  Next, ask for feedback because what you learn through your client’s feedback just may help you to improve your business.  And lastly, be optimistic.  When a client leaves, you’ll have a little more room for another amazing client in your business.  

Now if you like what you’ve learned here and want to go deeper, I actually teach lash artists the skills they need to master their lash application and I also teach how to build a lash business that is profitable, that’s filled with clients you love working with and one that you enjoy in my monthly program, the Lash Masters Monthly.  I’ll leave a link for you in the show notes if you want to join and look forward to seeing you there.

Got a topic you want to see covered in one of these episodes?  Just leave a comment for me below this episode or hit the contact button and send me a message.  You never know, I may just cover that topic in a future episode.  Thanks again and let’s make this a great week!