When you smile sweetly and remain calm, it is very VERY difficult for someone to come back at you. But retaliate with anger and a raised voice and you are doomed ... nothing useful will ever be accomplished that way. Think calm thoughts geeks and don't get riled. So often today we are taught to be aggressive (they call it assertive but that is not right because they teach aggressive!!) and that being this way will get you results. Well it does get results, but seldom the kind you are looking for. Remember my post form long ago, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" ??? Revisit that thread if you haven't read it ... it turned out to be a really good one.

As to your 2nd paragraph, I would say, "If you respect me as a professional, I feel obliged to tell you that if you continue to (do whatever she is doing) against my advice, I can no longer take the risk of doing your nails." (then offer her an alternative) "But if you use (say Solar Oil ) on a daily basis, you will see within 2 weeks that your cuticles will shrink back tight to the nail plate and you will no longer have any reason to cut your cuticles to make them look tidy."
If you can solve this problem for her by offering her a solution, you will have a convert for life.

Thank you for your help. I am definitely going to follow your advice

Geeg's approach works wonders, really knocks the wind out of the sails when a client is spoiling for a confrontation and possibly a free or discounted service since they know they are right and will make sure everyone knows just how right they are. When you are pleansant and non combative it usually throws them off and they are unsure how to keep themselves angry with out making a total fool of themselves.

A smile, pleasant tone and genuine understanding or sympahty depending on the situation, usually will correct even the most awful of encounters. (even when they swear or call you names- don't loose your cool- redirect the situation and offer plausible solutions)

Brilliant thread thanks

fab advice Gigi thankyou ,
I would give you a million rep's , or a big thankyou hug , if I was able to lol
every post I have read I have been nodding along to

I have a question ...

How do you reeeally persuade a client with short nail beds, to NOT have long free edges,
some of them just will not be advised,
I have come accross this myself, quite a few times, and was embarrassed at the fact I let them go away with nails that long, and that they would be telling people it was me who did them !!!

I tried the nicey nicey approach and always failed, I tried the custom blend approach, and showed before and after pictures, ...and still failed, (mostly to do with CBM being a higher price)and I know from the threads, this is quite a common occurance !

So what would be the best way, to change their minds, or really sell CBM ?

Thankyou Gigi , (hope you are all having a lovely night xx)

I don't charge more for CBM - it doesn't take me any longer or change the way I constuct the nail, so I just use my opaque mix for zone 2 instead of my perfect pink but I always use perfect pink for zone 3 cos I think it looks more natural....

So, I sell it purely on the visual aspect (although I have one regular in particular who has longer white than pink and when I did extend her nail beds asked me not to again cos she doesn't like it......). At the end of the day, you can minimise the amount of free endge (within reason), but if the client is paying the client chooses..... Even when they're wrong!!

I'm sure others will do it differently, but that's what I do..... hth's

All you can do with any client is to make suggestions, give them your reasoning behind those suggestions and maybe show examples of 'good nails' 'bad nails' in the form of photos or nails done on colour pops that will show them what maybe would be a prettier look for their nails.

At the end of the day, some clients have their own fixed ideas in their heads of what they want and if they want it .. you do it. It really doesn't matter if you personally do not find their ideas pleasing and I doubt the whole world is going to find out that YOU did them and make a judgement never to darken your door!!

Many nail technicians don't know how to make a pretty nail enhancement and it's for sure most clients do not know ... they only know what they see and what they see is often what you have described (unbalanced ugly, to us anyway, nails).

It is often easier to persuade a client to your way of thinking over a period of time spent with you rather than on the first visit. It takes time to build trust with your clients; so softly softly and you will get your way in the end but maybe not the first time!

this is brilliant, things that had been niggling me seem to have niggled other people and gigi has answered alot of things that i needed help with

xxxxxx thankyou Gigi xxxxxxx

What if you have the situation where the client brings in some of her own products for you to use and then asks you if you will discount the price of the service for her??
Some of us have been faced with this question and many just cave in and say, "OK I'll do your nails for x amount less?" Usually your discount is FAR more than the cost of any product the client supplies.

If this ever happens to you, don't cave in so quickly. Explain that although a small amount is included in your service price for the products, it is really your time that the client is paying for. The cost of the product is so minute compared to the time that what you would really knock off the price would be silly even if you could accurately calculate it, which you can't. This answer usually makes the client think differently about things.

I offer 10% discount if a client re books within 4 weeks, only if they re book before they leave though.

it means i know where i stand with my appointments. I like tolook at my book and see its all booked up, rather than wait around for walk ins.

Can I just say how much I have enjoyed reading this thread so far . . . I have a feeling it will be the longest ever!!

I have also picked up some fab tips for when those tricky situations occur.

Geeg you are a saint. Thank you so much for giving your valuable time and expert advice.

This seems like a great idea. Never thought of this.

My dilema is that I have a few regular clients that constantly mess me about with appointments, I dread to think the amount of money ive lost in the last year because of them and the time wasted, but however hard I try I don't seem to be able to say stop messing me about !!

With one client in particular she has a facial once a month but there is usually a drama which ends up with her changing appointment about 5 times then cancelling at the last minute.

I am not fully booked so I would be missing that £30 if I sacked her as a client.

What do you think I should do and say to them ?

Geeg, May I ask a question in relation to the above post please?

Us home based geeks seem to get messed about alot with clients cancelling etc.... Why do we put up with this?

Do clients mess us about because they think we are easily manipulated simply because we work from home? Are we seen therefore, as less professional or serious about our jobs as opposed to a salon tech/therapist?

Afterall, clients expect to pay less for a homebased or mobile tech, so do you think they automatically place us in a lesser bracket so to speak and can walk all over us?